Man in the world is like a ship on water; If the ship of his existence is empty of the water of the material sea, the sea is at his disposal, but if he spills water in the ship of his existence, he has to empty that water by pumping.
prayers and pilgrimages are like water pumping
Water pumping
Ayatollah Haeri Shirazi said: Imagine a ship sailing on the sea. If the water waves and pours into the ship, the ship becomes heavy and sinks a bit in the water. In the next attack of the waves, more water falls into the ship, because it has been lowered and approached the surface of the water due to the previous wave.
Man in the world is like a ship on water; If the ship of his existence is empty of the water of the material sea, the sea is at its hand, but if he spills water in the ship of his existence, he has to empty that water by pumping.
Prayers and pilgrimages are pumping water from a ship. It is mentioned in hadiths that a person must ask for forgiveness seventy times a day.[1] It's like a wave spilled some water on your ship and you have to haul seventy buckets of water out of the ship.
[1] - Mohammad Baqir Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 6, chapter 3, p. 182. «وانّه ليغان على قلبى فأستغفر اللّه فى اليوم سبعين مرة»