Bodh Gaya: The Importance of Mindfulness in Travel

I'm sure we've heard "Bodh Gaya" more than any other place's name, and some of us have dreamt of visiting this place for so long. But not everyone is blessed equally, at least if your dream of visiting is still pending.

Mahabodhi Temple

In my case, I was blessed that the monastery bore all the costs for some 300 monks. Sometimes, I feel that what I've achieved can never be compensated for with what I do in this life, though I don't have much to show materially. Yet, I feel the tightness of having a lot!

As soon as we reached Bodh Gaya, one of our friends from Namdroling Monastery received us and brought us to our rented apartment that would be home for the next 13 days. In a season like this, finding a good room with required amenities is competitive. Somehow, Pema managed to get one for the six of us.

In our group, two could neither speak nor understand Hindi, two of course understood and spoke a little, while another two were a bit more advanced. I fell into the third category, which means I was bound to talk and do miscellaneous activities.

Since we reached four days ahead of '35th Nyingma Monlam Chenmo' on the second day, we were informed to reach Vulture Peak, the place in Rajgir which is approximately 75 km away. This meant we were supposed to wake up early in the morning because the bus takes nearly three hours. We missed our 2 a.m. alarm. 

The 22-hour journey the previous day and night on the bus actually made us go deep into sleep. I don't know if it is luck, but something woke me up. I checked my phone to find it was 5:56 a.m. I couldn't believe it, rubbed my eyes, carefully squinted before uttering, “yalama chu tshe khung dewa la!” One of them quickly responded, “Hung? Mangi du ko.” I showed him my phone, “5:56 dewa la.” By that time, all hurried from their mattresses and rushed to their belongings.

Many of our friends had called us on messenger, some even tried calling us but received no response. Hoping to reach the place on time, we had to take a taxi. We couldn't make it to the oral transmission of Prajnaparamita, but at least got satisfaction that we sat for a few minutes in the presence of our own Guru and chanted a short version of the same scripture.

To be continued.......