Day 2 – Tradition, religion and birthdays
Geplaatst
op 25 februari 2019 om 13:09 uur
The day started with singing, because it was Karin’s birthday! So right after opening our eyes, I treated her to the best singing ever after a few hours of sleep. Hahaha!After our meditation up on the roof, we had breakfast. For some reason, that breakfast was quite intense. We sat down with two other members of the group, and started talking about personal experiences. I shared my journey on the camino from last year, and explained why that was so emotional for me at that time. Before I knew it, tears were running down my face. I guess the people in the group make me feel secure enough to share these things. After breakfast, we split up into two groups and went with a guide to explore part of Boudha and Pashupatinath. We had a great guide, who explained so many things and details. It was really amazing to listen to him. We first went up to the stupa, which we had seen a number of times already. However this time he explained Buddhism and the purpose of the stupa, and also the whole meaning of the stupa and all of its features. We walked on to have a quick coffee/masala chai, and then he led us to a Thangka Center. He explained to us that the family running this thangka center are family members of the Dalai Lama. They teach and train people to paint thangka’s. A thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala. We received a very nice explanation of the thangka painting, and saw some people working on their thangka. Absolutely beautiful to see! After this we moved out of Boudha, up to Pashupatinath. Pashupatinath is a place where there is a Hindu temple, a very famous one. Many hindus from various countries come here, like a pilgrim’s journey. We watched several rituals taking place outside the temple, because we are not allowed to enter the temple itself. A lot of priests were sitting outside, blessing the offerings people in the end bring to the Gods. A lot of happy faces as well here! The temple is devoted to Shiva, Lord of Destruction. Behind the temple one can find the cremation site. This is where the dead are brought to be cremated at the river bank. When we were there, one dead body was burning and several others lay there to be cremated. I felt like I was intruding on something so very emotional and personal, but this is how the people here do this. So we watched, stood there for some time, took pictures, and listened to the explanation of our wonderful guide. It made me feel humble, being a part of all of this. We left Pashupatinath behind and headed back to Boudha. This time by taxi. There we had lunch, together with one other member of our group. A lovely lunch! Then we rushed back to the hotel, because I already booked Karin and myself an Ayurvedic massage as a special present for her birthday. The massage was amazing, I almost fell asleep during it!
I had to miss the yoga today because the massage was unfortunately scheduled during this. Luckily we have yoga every day J. We went out for dinner at the Roadhouse Café, and had some good food there (as all the food so far is amazing out here).The end of yet another great day.
Reacties
Petra
Geplaatst op 26 februari 2019 om 09:30 uur
Ik loop enigszins achter met t volgen van je blog, maar desalniettemin mooi om je ervaringen te lezen.
Op dit moment oer-Hollands in de trein onderweg door de groene polder klinkt t allemaal nog exotischer en bijzonder. Geniet ervan!
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