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Varanasi pilgrim
Temporarily living on the ghat. I really messed up big time today. Our guide holds bus bazaar's after returning to the bus in crowded areas. It is a way to try to keep the hawkers at bay and ensure we don't overpay for a trinket. While visiting the Bodi tree in Sarnath I became interested in a carved elephant. I was pleased with myself for talking the hawker down to $20 and with Ray agreeing, purchased it. An hour later, on the bus, the identical item was sold to our group for $2.00 --- OOPS! Lesson -- always listen and do what your guide says.
Up at 5:00 a.m. and back to the ghats and boat ride on the River Ganges. Another incredible experience, minus the scary rickshaw ride. Even in the early morning it was a very busy place but with fewer crowds than last night. I hope I don't repeat myself but want to add a few more facts as I had pen in hand on the bus this morning. The Ganges is sacred because of the 2 bodies of water coming together and is considered a life force (flowing water) -- the union between the soul and body. The body is cremated
Priests
Priests with umbrellas offer blessings to pilgrims. and returned to mother earth with the soul reincarnated. One strives to reach the highest level within oneself, nirvana, thus no longer needing to be re-born. According to our guide, the Digambara Jains, who totally commit themselves are demonstrating a kind of penance ---- they are experiencing a new life, living in the lap of mother earth as a mother coddles her child. Seeing themselves as a child, they do not mind their nakedness. People feed these men and ask for their blessings -- whatever they don't need for substanance, they give away. They want to leave the earth with no material possessions, only knowledge, good karma and devotion.
The main body of Hindus do not care how cold or polluted the water is as they immerse in the Ganges. We saw whole families together as well as groups of men or women worshiping, bathing, joyfully splashing and even doing laundry. The locals often bathe daily, as the holy water washes away sins. On the way to the ghats, vendors sell empty jugs to fill and take the holy water back to their homes and temples.
After breakfast back at the hotel we traveled a short distance to
Ganges
Blessings from the holy waters of the Ganges. Sarnath which is where Buddha gave his first speech. Sarnath is the birthplace of Buddhism which started as a philosophy but has since turned into a religion for many. I will not repeat the story of Buddha, but briefly, after he was born his mother died a week later and he was raised by nobility. He was married at 16, fathered a child and after seeing so much strife in the world, decided to search for truth. We visited the Buddhist Temple constructed in 1931 on the site of his first speech to his 5 disciples and walked under the bodi tree which was grown from a transplanted branch from the original tree where Buddha became enlightened about 150 miles away from Sarnath. The Bodhi Society of India is headquartered here and a museum where the original statue of the teaching Buddha is housed.
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CHARLES K. HUYETTE
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THANK YOU BRENDA AND RAY
I'VE FOLLOWED EVERY BLOG, PARTICULARY WATCHING THE PICTURES. YOUR TRIP IS ANOTHER REMINDER HOW FORTUNATE WE ARE TO LIVE IN SUCH AN ADVANCED SOCIETY AS IN THE USA. I'VE SEEN THIS IN THE SO. PACIFIC AND RUSSIA. LOVE CHAD