Sat. Feb. 27, 2010

I am back in Varanasi and able to type, so will try to catch you up.
Smita bahoo's nephew, Micky, was a great help to us. He is the son of her younger brother, not the profligate older one who blew the family fortune. He kept checking on us the whole time we stayed in Gaya. I was happy to hear that he worked for an insurance company, which is a booming business in India. Insurance means fewer destitute widows. We never did make it to the Root Institute in Bodh Gaya, so we just stayed at the Gharana Hotel in Gaya and traveled around from there. We hired a taxi for the whole three days, which was quite a luxury. The driver's name is Santosh, another great young Indian man. He was very talkative and kept JP and Aradhana laughing. As the trip went on, he decided that I was to be his dadiji on this trip, and he treated me as such. He stayed by my side the whole time, taking my hand through crowds and up and down treacherous steps.
On our way to Rajgir we passed mile after mile of farmland. I wondered how many were GMO's and how much pesticide had been dumped on them. I decided to suspend judgment on the whole matter due to my ignorance. We passed a huge dump truck filled will little kids, their heads barely peeking above the half lowered tailgate. We keep waiving to them, tickling the heck out of them. Simple pleasures in this land of simple living.
We are in the land of the Buddha now. Our first stop was the Vishwashanti (world piece)stupa. It was high up on a mountain with a long walkway around the mountain. The view was lovely, all forest and farmland. We made it two-thirds up, but could go no farther. The whole way Santosh is telling me "slow, slow", as if I had any choice in the matter. However, we could clearly see the peak where the Buddha would meditate and give talks to his followers. Here I was, following the same path the Buddha had walked. There was a ski lift which went to the top of the mountain, but it was broken. Fine with me, it looked terrifying.
Santosh is so funny. He thinks that if he speaks slowly enough, I will understand what he is saying in Hindi. Finally he tries a new tack: he is going to teach me Hindi. From then on, he tells me the name of everything in Hindi, like he really thinks I am going to remember. But like a good girl, I repeat each word after him, as he is now my teacher. Aradhana looked worse and worse as the day went on. The poor thing gets migraines from being in the sun. Of course she never told us this, I had to ask what was wrong with her.
Our next stop is the Kund. This is a hot spring with supposed curative powers, especially for skin ailments. You know I splashed tons of water all over my bumpy face, figuring this has got to work better than the meds the Ayurvedic docs gave me. The water was 120 degrees and felt wonderful. I also soaked my feet in it. The steps to the springs were very old, steep, and uneven, but Santosh had me firmly in hand, shooing other people out of the way as though I were a queen.
Then we were at Nalanda, the great Buddhist university that flourished from the fifth century until being destroyed in the twelfth century by Bakhtiyar Kilji, a Moslem invader. This is one of the great tragedies of human history. Nalanda was the first international university in the world, bringing people from all over the eastern world together to study and share ideas. All that we know of life at Nalanda comes from a Chinese student, Xuan Tsang, whose writings survived in China. There were 10,000 students here and about 2000 teachers. The library was so extensive, it took six months for the fires to go out. I think of the other great tragedy like this, the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria, which was destroyed by a Christian archbishop. Both are incalculable losses for humanity, both in the name of God. I wonder if the good religion has done really outweighs the bad. Greater minds than mine will have to decide that. Also, Sariputta, Buddha's great disciple, was born here in Nalanda. There were many visitors from all over the world while we were there, including many monks from Tibet and Thailand. Nalanda had been totally buried until 1861 when it was excavated by Alexander Cunningham. It's amazing how many of the brick structures survived, at least in part.
Next stop was the cremation site of Mahavera. Remember, he was the contemporary of Buddha who taught a more ascetic path. The shrine is in the middle of a lake, accessible by a long walkway. It is said that after his cremation, the demand for his ashes was so great, more and more dirt around it were removed, forming the lake. Aarti (last ritual of the day) was being performed in the small inner sanctum of the temple as we went through. It only had room for about 15 people, so JP and Aradhana just walked through. I stayed and chanted aarti along with the devotees. It was close enough to the Hindu aarti for me sing along. The three major precepts of Jainism are: non-violence, live and let live, love one another. They take these precepts very seriously, and often wear masks so as not to breath in and kill small flying insects.
Finally we arrive in Bodh Gaya where, on a full moon night in 632 BC, Siddhartha Gautama reached enlightenment and became the Buddha. The entire large compound is a beautiful park bedecked with flowers. There are thousands of people here, but it is very quiet. You can feel the sacredness of this place and naturally become quiet. Aradhana turns to me and says, "There is something special about this place, Dadiji". There is a long walkway around the huge temple and many people are traversing it as they softly chant. One side of the walkway is lined with prayer wheels which you turn as you walk. I turned each one, adding my own prayers for world peace. The temple is set much lower than the walkway, so you look down on the beautiful grounds surrounding the temple and the temple itself. The alter of the temple is the exact spot where the Buddha reached enlightenment. We first walked around the perimeter before going into the temple itself, which is situated, of course, under the branches of the enormous Bodhi tree. Remember, this is the descendant of the original tree that Ashoka's wife had chopped down. This temple, called the Mahabodhi Temple, was built in the eleventh century atop the one built by Ashoka in 300 BC. The original one was destroyed by invaders. As we entered the temple itself, the feeling of peace flooded through me and ,naturally, the tears came. I made my way in line to the alter itself, where I bowed my head and touched it, tears flowing the entire time. The whole compound, inside and outside the temple, was crowded with people from all over the world meditating together, a sea of monks in maroon or gold, thousands of devotees in white. I also noticed many child monks, some quite small, being watched over by their older brother monks.
After enlightenment Buddha stared at the Bodhi tree, unblinking, for one week. The place is marked by a small stupa.
Six weeks after enlightenment, the Buddha was meditating in an open area when a violent storm came up. The cobra king himself came and sheltered Buddha from the rain. JP said that Bramha, Shiva, and Indra also came to protect him. Hindus believe Buddha was an incarnation of Shiva. A large lake formed at the site and there is a statue of Buddha sitting under the cobra's protective head. The lake is called Mucalinda Lake, the abode of the snake king. A woman is feeding the hundreds of fish in the lake and we stay awhile and watch them writhing about. The energy here is much more sacred than that of Sarnath. We had tea with a man JP met through Kevin Bryan on our last trip. He is very wealthy but also very humble. He commented that my Chinese coin earrings were very auspicious. Maybe that is why I always wear them instead of the many others I have.
We ate lunch at the very fancy Sujata Hotel. It had a real Western toilet, complete with automatic flush, automatic faucets, and toilet paper !
We stopped at a Myanmar (Burma) monastery where Kevin had stayed on our last trip. It was very peaceful with a large treed courtyard. A sign informed that in order to stay there, one must abide by the five precepts of Buddhism: Abstain from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, and intoxicants. We went into the mediation hall where a man was doing extremely slow walking meditation, where one is to concentrate on every movement of every step.
We stopped at the Jay Sri Mahabodhi Viharam, where on Feb.2, 2007 the Dalai Lama enshrined relics of the Buddha, along with those of Sariputta and Mahamocallana under the statue of Buddha there. The walls are covered with paintings of scenes of the Buddha's life.
As we left Bodh Gaya for the train back to the Moghul Sarai station, Micky came to see us off.
While we were on the train, which was only one hour late, Aradhana and I spoke of this or that. I will describe the conversation about "something to do with psychology" tomorrow. She also mentioned that the government of India is passing legislation regarding the rights of homosexuals. I was very happy to hear this.
Anil was there to meet us as our train rolled into the Moghul Serai station. The trip home, which is about 12 miles, took one and a quarter hours due to the congestion. It usually takes 45 minutes. The extra delay was caused by the coming of Holi. The excitement was palpable. Tomorrow it begins, although I saw guys already covered with color.Time to try again for the Ayurvedic docs at BHU.

Peace,
Nadine