the meaning of pilgrimmage to the Holy Dham

Once, Srila Prabhupad brought a distinguished guest ,Sri Prabodhanda Upaydyaya and a few of us, his disciples to meet Srila Gaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaj.Babaji Maharaj nodded his head after introduction and remarked that, 'now you should stay here and do HariBhajan in this Holy Dham'.However ,the guest replied ,'not exactly for I have bought the return train ticket back to Calcutta'.At which Babaji Maharaj retorted back ,'then you shouldn't have come ,for this Holy land is only for those who want to come and seriously do Hari Bhajan'.(service to the Lord).
In actual fact, Srila Babaji Maharaj was instructing all of us that just to meet a Saint out of whimsical curiosity or just to see new and newer places was not actually the real meaning of a pilgrimage for by doing so neither the actual benefit of the association of holy saints nor that of the wandering in the holy spots are obtained.The main reason for pilgrimage is the association of the holy saints.This actual association can never take place unless one is surrendered to the pure devotees.This means surrender of all one's own whimsical ideas , a positive service attitude and proper inquiry.The mood of buying a ticket to the Holy Dham but with a resigned or lackadaisical attitude of returning back to continue to enjoy our senses as usual goes to show that there was no surrendered mood to the pure Devotees. Consequently, their nectarine words and teachings will only fall on deaf ears and just be in vain.We have heard this story repeated often times by Srila Prabhupad to us, that insincere people who take Diksha(initiation) but want to go back to their old ways(return ticket) will never be able to take to Hari Bhajan. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur in His 'Saranagati' has given similar instructions in this context.In conclusion, there is no difference between their teachings and they all point out to exclusively, causeless and unalloyed service to Sri Krishna.