Tragically, a spiritual irony has unfolded along the Nepal-Tibet border. Many of those caught in the devastating flooding were making a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a place considered sacred by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and followers of the Bon tradition.
What to know about the Mount Kailash pilgrimage site after floods in Nepal and Tibet | AP News
Mount Kailash holds sacred significance for Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and the Tibetan Bon tradition. Each associates the mountain with different beliefs and sacred histories.
According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, the mountain is considered the home of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, and Parvati, a Hindu goddess associated with marriage, fertility and motherhood.
Followers of the Tibetan Bon tradition regard it as a seat of spiritual power and associate the region with Tonpa Shenrab, the tradition’s founder.
Geographer Emily Yeh, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, who has conducted research in Tibet, wrote in 2017 that Kailash is associated with the mythical Mount Meru, considered the center of the world in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology.
The surrounding landscape also figures in local legends and Himalayan traditions. “Shared Sacred Landscapes,” a book published by ICIMOD in 2017, gathers some of them.
One story tells of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, who visits villagers longing to make the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. Nanak teaches them that the true pilgrimage is a spiritual journey within themselves.
Pilgrims travel to the mountain for purification
India’s government operates an official Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage from June through August or September each year, with routes through the states of Uttarakhand and Sikkim. Private operators also organize pilgrimages through Nepal.
Pilgrims traditionally walk around Mount Kailash rather than climb it, completing a roughly 33-mile (53-kilometer) circuit around the mountain.
The journey around the peak is believed to cleanse pilgrims of their sins and can take about three days to complete. Hindus and Buddhists traditionally circle the mountain clockwise, while followers of Bon travel counterclockwise.
At nearby Lake Manasarovar, some Hindu pilgrims bathe in its waters as a ritual of spiritual purification.
Yeh wrote that Tibetan pilgrims stop at monasteries and other sacred sites along the route, touching prayer beads or their foreheads to features believed to bear sacred imprints. Other rituals are meant to test a pilgrim’s merit, sin or fortune.
Scripture repeatedly warns us that we cannot find God by creating our own path to Him. Yet since the beginning this has been the pattern. Remember, Satan could care less if you worship him. He just does not want you to turn to the one true God. There is one God, one Savior, and only one way to be reconciled to Him. Isaiah 45:5 declares:
“I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.”
People all over the planet hunger for something more, but sincerity alone does not make something true. No matter how much someone believes or how hard they search, a false god cannot become THE true God. If their “truth” does not match with the truth found in Scripture, then it is counterfeit and meaningless. This is quintessential Gnosticism.
Scripture is very clear about where humanity is headed when it searches for the divine while rejecting the God who created us. Throughout the Scripture, the Lord commanded His people to tear down idols, destroy pagan altars, and refuse the worship of other gods. Here are just a few examples:
3“You shall have no other gods before Me. 4You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me” - Exodus 20:3-5
13 “But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God).” - Exodus 34:13-14
25 “You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.” - Deuteronomy 7:25-26
The reason was simple: He alone is God, and He will not give His glory to another.
We see where all of this is headed in the final chapters of Scripture. Every false religious system and every counterfeit path to God will eventually fall under His judgment.
1After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” 4And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. 7 In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ 8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. - Revelation 18:1-8
There is only One that can take away the sins of the world. Not a mountain, not a temple, not a ritual, and not even a spiritual experience during a pilgrimage. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that.
Remember, having spirituality is not the same as knowing God. By searching in the wrong place you can actually be led farther away from Him. Even if the supposed mountain is a sacred pathway to the “divine.” We don’t need to go very far at all. In fact, you can communicate with the Lord from right where you sit. God has already come down to us as Jesus Christ. He is the door. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. Seek Him today!
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. - John 10:9
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. - John 14:6
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