Towards the Namdroling paradise. Part 3.

Into the heavenly realms of gaylug, kagyud and nyingma studies, inserting purity of sacredness in the form of blessing, we had ourself inside every monastery towards every reach from our stay.
Magnificently standing there for more than 30 years, the temples are the echo of thousand tibetans crying for their homeland, monks for their religious freedom and childrens for their himalayan toys. The traditions and cultures well preserved and the temples destroyed in Tibet are rebuilt in every part of their refugee settlements. It is so painful to learn that the rinpoches and great lamas of Tibet are all struggling to keep their Tibet alive for the future generations, moving around the world spreading the message of non- violence.

With our gelong guide, we visited each and every lhakhang whose doors remain usually closed but was open in all when we reached.

After feeling spiritually satisfied, we reached back to our dormetory and there was our proprieter, our boju, 76 year old angaay. She invited us for a tea and we had a long conversation about her family and her life. Winkles marked around her face but smile shinning ever green, softly would her voice flow with an accent of a pure tibetan. She showed her care towards us like her own grandchildren and we could feel presence of grandmotherly love. She lives there all by herself, a house built by her son who is a khenpo. She says, " with my Sons prayers, I can still run, move and jump like a child" when we said, she looks so strong even at that age.

 With our Boju!!

The next morning, when we were to leave, she again invited us for tea and it was very touching she had woken up early, keeping a small glass of milk to prepare us a tea. She gave us a wonderful hug and a kiss when we came out of house. A bell of emotional thud surrounded our heart. It was as though we were going back to college after being on a vacation with our famiily.

With a final goodbye, we made our journey back to our college after feeling fulfilled and packed with blessings.

Towards the Namdroling Monastery. Part 2.

Brightly colored spectrum of VIBGYOR scattered into an arc above the shinning golden plated statues as if the god and goddesses of heaven has seated immobile guarding the purity of the sacred temple. A sudden gush of peaceful feeling prick the heart of every viewer visiting for the first time as soon as the arc of heavenly rainbow is spotted.

"Gateway towards the paradise", should it had been, the entry majestically leads to Zangdopelri and the huge golden temple. Trees well nurtured which were planted years before when Penor Rinpoche with few monks took refuge in this land after the Tibetan invasion, has now shooted up so beautifully that a remarkable difference can be made between the vegetation within the monastic premises and the vegetation little bit further away.


  It is said that the temple was built with only 300 rs that His Holiness Penor Rinpoche had when he first came there in 1960s. Only the ground floor was built at first, slowly the 2nd,3rd and the 4th were added.

Two of us, after our nap for 2 hours, put on our gho and started our venture towards the cleansing our mind into the Zangthopelri Zhingkham.

With a sacred expression of sadness, the ground floor carries the statue of Guru Rinpoche and it is said when Penor Rinpoche had himself liberated from the earth, the statue grieved as well and a marked difference in its expression is recorded in a footage before and after the His Holiness. It was un-believable.

Up above on the 2nd floor had the statue of Guru Rinpoche with his two consorts on either sides. Towards the left was the Penor Rinpoche's statue in a meditating position. After he breathed his last, his body had been in that position for 7 days.

On the 3rd was the Chenrig Zig and the top most had the statue of Lord Buddha.
The temple was a depiction of how the real Zangthopelri existed in the heaven which we ordinary beings would perhaps never get to be there.

"GOLDEN TEMPLE", as it is said to have been named by a foreigner and is spread like wise, lies few meters away from the Zangthopelri. A small opening leads way into a giant hall with giant statues of Lord Buddha at the middle, Guru Padmasambhawa towards the right and Yepamey statue to the left in the far end of the hall. The walls painted brightly depicting the history of god and goddesses in their search towards truth, attaining nirvana and subdueing the evils.

Hundreds of indian tourist crawled over the floor, some coming in, some out, mostly snapping pictures. We offered our prayers and headed towards Droelma lhakhang.

The area surrounding monasteries had flowers, green tall trees and grasses growing fresh all over. Well plated flat stones in between as if the sacred garden of heaven was brought plucked from above.  If one wish to experience paradise, Mysore monastery will have you in.

Our first day visit ended with some Tibetan momo and indian biriyani. Traditional Tibetan shops occupied the area outside the gate with ant- like tourist crawling all along the streets. Finally, we headed back to our room for the second night doze off.

Towards the Namdroling Paradise..part 1..

The journey on the plain pavements of India usually carries me swiftly without disturbances through my throat but this time i felt my head spinning as soon the pungent smell of bus poked into my nose as my journey towards the paradise i longed to go for till now kick started.

Its was 9.30 p.m. Lights off but the rays from television screen hanged on the metal wall near the first front seats hit brightly over us.

There we were in the middle of Bangalore city with our heads too heavy as if a pumpkin had been placed above and as if the pool of liquid were all dancing inside. In such condition we stepped into the second bus and sleep of tiring journey knocked us out for almost 5 hours with sun radiating directly upon us from the window. With dust swirled yellow around our hair and robe, we reached the heart of Mysore town. It was similar to any other indian town, busy with traffic, shops everywhere and film poster pasted on every wall.
Through the same bus station, we headed onto another 2 hours journey towards khushalnagar from where the GOLDEN TEMPLE of Namdrolling paradise was only 30 minutes.

As we neared towards our destination, the air itself seemed to be welcoming us with fragrance of multi-coloured flags and   lungdar raised onto trees and houses.

The vegetation greened with tall evergreen trees, beautiful flowers, and grasses grown well carpeted over the earth even at this season of the year. The place felt truely blessed. Well, a familiar looks with red robe and shaved head riding a bike ran in a sudden gush towards the way opposite to ours and finally, we had ourself on the pathway leading the heaven of Mysore Buddhist monastery

We called  our host, a bhutanese monk who was a relative of our friend. He greeted us with a charming smile on his face and  three of us went in search of a room. All the monastic guest houses were packed, even the rest of the hotels outside were full. Tired and weary,  we went into further search and finally an old women proprietor of two storied house  at her seventies rented two of us her room underground which was quite big at 200 per night.  We took a shower and finally took a relaxing nap till we dozed off completely.

To be cont.....