[Personal Account] Trip to India - Parinirvana of my Guru (3 August 2011)

(Day 1 @ India) 3 August 2011

After almost 15 hours of traveling, we finally arrived at the house of Rinpoche in Gaden Shartse Moanstery, in Mundgod, South India. Today is also an auspicious day, it is the day Buddha Sakyamuni first turn the wheel of Dharma.

heavy beating on the car window

raining

It was rainy season in India, heavy rain welcome us when we arrived (a final obstacle and blessing?).
As we slowly walked in the rain towards to the compound of Rinpoche's house, we began to hear the sound of chanting. It gets clearer and louder as we approached the house. Then we could see hives of activities in the compound. The monks were putting up tents in preparation for the eventual cremation of Rinpoche's body. We were surprised to find out that the cremation would take place within the compound of the house. The crematorium has already been constructed. It is constructed in the traditional Tibetan styled which is reserved for a great teacher.

The partly constructed crematorium

putting up the tent

Chanting by sangha

light offering

Once we have unpacked and settled down, we were lead to the private quarters of Rinpoche. As we walked up the stairs in the rain, our hearts were heavy. It is a very tiny room, with four of us inside, there was almost no room left. The atmosphere was calm and serene. With full devotion in our hearts, we paid our respect by first making a prostration, then offering a khata (a Tibetan white scarf) to Rinpoche. We stayed for a few minutes, and said some private prayers in our hearts, then we were led out of the room.

Geshe Jampa Lobsang then sat us down and brief us on what had been happening in the Monastery. We were told that Rinpoche is still in his meditative state. As far how long Rinpoche would remain in his clear light meditation, it would depends on the wishes of Rinpoche. Geshela said that Rinpoche could be waiting for all his students to arrived at the Monastery before he exit the mediation. In our mind, we quietly rejoiced at such manifestation by Rinpoche, it is a clear sign that Rinpoche is indeed a high realised Dharma practitioner.; and we were also overwhelmed with gratitude that such great being had accepted us and taken us under his care on the path towards enlightenment.

Rinpoche's Throne at our centre in PJ

After lunch and rest, at 5pm, all Ronpoche's students from Malaysia and Singapore, gathered at the annex room next to Rinpcohe's private quarter to pay our homage to our Guru by reciting the traditional text of Lama Chopa (literally translated as “offering to the Guru”). The words and meanings of the text now began to hit us more strongly than ever. Many of us now realised that our Guru NOW would not be with us physically, it is only through our devotion and our practice that we could keep our Guru alive in our hearts and minds.

We would be doing Lama Chopa three time daily (6am, 3pm and 5pm).

[Personal Account] Trip to India - Parinirvana of my Guru (2 August 2011)

(Day 0 @ KL-India)    2 August 2011

We were told that whenever one is embarking on doing things which are considered to be meritorious, you would face various challenges. They said good things should not come so easily, it is with that you would appreciate what you achieved. Some also said it is an purification process, with every challenges or obstacles overcome, your negative karma also gets purified.

Even since we decided that we would make our way to pay our respect to our beloved Guru His Eminence Kyabje Khensur Jampa Yeshe (who entered in parinirvana last Friday), we faced challenges after challenges.

Before we even could travel, we had to face mundane things like applying for leave from work, seeking approval of family, clearing of work before taking the break, applying visa, booking air tickets..etc. Some of us got our visa only a few hours before we need to check in at the airport. Even when we had landed in Bangalore Airport, we encountered issues with the immigration officer - something would normally be matter of course.

Then, of course, it was 15 hour grueling journey to the monastery.

It always during traveling to the monastery, when we complained about the journey, it would then dawn on us how difficult it must be for Rinpoche to travel to visit us in Malaysia and Singapore. It is then our hearts would fill up with gratitude towards Rinpoche for his compassion and kindness, for despite his old age and ill health, he would also make his way to bring Dharma and blessing to us.