It remains one of the most powerful and personal callings for someone on a quest for transformation and inspiration: the pilgrimage — a journey to what are believed to be sources of connection to the sacred or divine, the holy places.

Many of the best-known religious pilgrimages involve a million or more believers or devotees, such as the Hajj, or sacred Hindu celebrations in India. A pilgrimage can be required by religious law, or begin with a singular calling, an inner urge, felt by the pilgrim for closer communion with the divine, however the spiritual or universal source is named or described.

Why do people all over the planet from nearly every tradition take up these sometimes arduous adventures of spiritual devotion? What do they hope for?

In this conversation we hear from two longtime Portals friends who recently completed what some people might call the pilgrimage of a lifetime, to the source high in the Himalayas of the sacred Ganges River, in Hindu belief the home of the Goddess Ganga. Jeff Vander Clute, consultant and author, and Grace Boda, teacher, consultant and executive coach, share with Aviv Shahar the feelings and power of their pilgrimage to this divine source.

Among their insights:

• Pilgrimage is an opportunity to be individually transformed, and to plug into a universal power and give back into the collective — a seemingly nonlinear impact on the field, this planet and the people who inhabit her.
• It was a total life reboot; a reorientation from rigorously mining truth in every circumstance, to expressing love grounded in truth.
• It’s reaching an edge physically, out of one's comfort zone, and needing to access other energy, other capacity, with the mental experience of dropping the structures and formations that block higher communion.
• When we Source, we open to the inspiration, and it brings a kind of knowing of right action — what the moment calls for. We can respond accordingly, and roles emerge; if a Sherpa is needed, we’re suddenly a Sherpa.
• If there is shadow anywhere, there is shadow in me; if there is woundedness, there's woundedness in me. We co-participate in the field of healing. None of us is above the work required.
• If there is a Second Coming, it is all of us. This time, the upwelling impulse of enlightenment is collective — a collective presence and awakeness — which fills us from a source beyond any personal identity.

This conversation is part of the continuing Portals discovery into what is emerging on the frontiers of human experience in this time of profound change. Information about upcoming special events can be found on the Events page. Also visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel.