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From 9 to 20 March 2024
Summary Itinerary
Clicking on the days of travel in the summary itinerary will bring up the detailed itinerary for that day and vice versa clicking on the day in the detailed itinerary will return to the summary itinerary
Detailed Itinerary
Flight
Free afternoon
We will meet at Delhi airport (in this case the Travellers were already taking a course on their eighth visit to India).
The journey usually takes between 1h and 1h40min depending on traffic (route here). I suggest departure by car from Om Shanti Retreat Center in Gurugram between 10:30 am and 11 am, arriving at the airport by 12:15 pm. If I can help in any way, please let me know.
Arriving in Dehradun, we will take a taxi to our apartment in Rishikesh. If there is time, we will walk to Ram Jhula for the fire ceremony at the end of the day. Sunset that day: here
Flight: 9MAR IndiGo 6E2134 Delhi 13:55 pm Dehradun 15:00 pm
Swami Dayananda Ashram
Walk
Aarti Ceremony
Suggestion for the beginning of the day, a walk alongside the Ganges to an important Vedanta study center. As our conversation takes place at the ashram, we can walk through the jhulas (suspension bridges) areas of Rishikesh.
Depending on your arrival time in Rishikesh the day before, we have three fire ceremony possibilities for the end of the day. Closer to where we will stay we have the Aarti puja at the Parmarth Niketan ashram. The other two are a little further away. We can see on the day.
Vasistha Guha
Free time
After our breakfast, a little further from Rishikesh, we will visit the cave of a Vedic sage, one of the great seven Rishis of India. Always a very special experience to be able to pay homage to the great yogis, to sit in the same place where he lived and meditated during the winters. We can also walk along the beach next door, on the banks of the Ganges. These are very suitable and pleasant places for meditation and reading texts.
An extra activity option for that day is a special rafting trip through the (in this region very clean) waters of the Ganges.
We suggest that we leave the rest of the day free so that, depending on what we have done in our previous days and how we feel that day, we can think about the best way to enjoy the day. We have some possibilities that we will talk about. We really suggest not planning our days in Rishikesh in a very fixed way as sharing our experience works much better. Much more in line with the proposal of this region and how our days work better in places like Rishikesh. If we think about the various possibilities, great. Wanting to think in advance about what we will do is usually a path that closes us off from very special possibilities that happen during our trip. At the end of the day, we can participate in another of the fire ceremonies.
We will wake up early to go to Dehradun airport, from where we will catch our flight to Delhi. Connection scheduled for 3 hours and then we continue with the next flight to the former capital of Emperor Ashok, today Patna. Quiet end of the day for tomorrow to continue our journey overland.
Flights
12MAR IndiGo 6E2253 Dehradun 09:50 Delhi 10:55
12MAR IndiGo 6E2425 Delhi 13:55 pm Patna 16:00 pm
nalanda
Shanti Stupa
Vultures Peak
In the morning, we will travel for approx. 3h to the archaeological site of the very important Nalanda University. Nalanda for centuries was one of the most important centers of Buddhist studies that attracted students from many parts of the world, mainly between the 10.000th and 2.000th centuries. There lived around XNUMX students, XNUMX teachers and there was a library larger than the one in Alexandria, for example. Among the several great masters of Nalanda, known as the Indian Pandits, some of them were: Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka, Chandrakirti and Shantideva. For centuries, many of these scholars and yogis were invited by Tibetan kings to cross the Himalayas and take Buddhist studies to Tibet. Thus, the Nalanda tradition remains alive to this day, studied and practiced in traditional Tibetan shedras (universities) and monasteries in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, also in important universities in Europe and North America, where there is an important modern exchange with neuroscientists, physicists and educators. We will visit the monasteries of Nalanda, as well as temples and important stupas. It is certainly a very special and inviting place to practice meditation individually or together, as each traveller prefers, as well as read excerpts from important Buddhist texts written at this ancient university.
We will then continue for approx. 40 min to our hotel in Rajgir. Check-in, lunch, then we continue to Shanti Stupa.
As Buddha and his students lived walking (through the places we are visiting), due to the dangers of a trip like this during the rainy season, in these months of each year they stayed in places offered by the kings of different regions. We will then proceed to the Peace Stupa, or Shanti Stupa, in a beautiful location on top of a mountain, built by a Japanese Buddhist project for world peace, in many places around the world. From the stupa we will walk to the very special Pico dos Abutres, where Buddha had a hut. This is the location of the important text and teaching called the Heart Sutra. Very quiet, also on a mountain next door. We can offer our incense, as an (invitation) to do our practice, including here the reading of the Heart Sutra itself and comments from current masters on this sutra.
Car trip
Mahabodhi Temple
We will travel today for approx. 3h to the place where Buddha became enlightened, the holiest place in Buddhism, Bodhgaya. We will stay at the following location _______, where we will check-in. From where we can walk, visiting some temples, to the city's main temple complex, the Mahabodhi. It was there that Buddha sat for a few days until he purified all his obscurations and realized the nature of our mind. We can do the same, sitting next to or even under the Bodhi tree, a ficus religisosa (fig tree), in the exact place where Buddha became enlightened. This place is also called the Vajra Seat, the seat of the diamond or the indestructible ray as well as our natural condition, our essence. We will be among pilgrims, lay and monastic, from all over the world. Mantras, incense, mind training practices from different traditions for our different mental dispositions. After becoming enlightened, the Awakened One (Sanskrit: Buddha) contemplated his experience for a few weeks at different points around the Bodhi tree. These locations are marked so we can contemplate the same reflections on our day in Bodhgaya.
Car trip
Walk through the Ghats
Aarti Ceremony
We will travel by car for approx. 6h from Bodhgaya to Varanasi. Check in to our hotel and then visit later in the day.
Today we will visit one of the oldest cities in the world still alive today. We will take a walk through the ghats in the old part of the city, where we will witness an ancient ceremony. The fire puja or Aarti Puja, conducted by Brahmins (caste of Hindu priests) and hundreds of pilgrims from all over India on the bank of the sacred Ganges, is full of music, symbols, mantras, smells, a lot of devotion and, for those who study the scriptures sacred, a very deep and sophisticated knowledge about the functioning of the human mind. Time to return to our hotel, with all these impressions, practically the same ones that both Hindu saints and yogis, like Buddha Shakyamuni himself, had in this same place during their walks, training periods and teachings. A good rest for a special start to the day, early tomorrow.
Tips on the morning tour:
Suggestion from ____________
After sunrise we return to the hotel for breakfast and then we go to Sarnath (the hotel is already halfway there).
Ganges Sunrise
Sarnath
End of free day
We will wake up very early to reach the Ganges before sunrise. We will board our rowing boat to go up the Ganges and witness the sunrise of the sun god, Surya, from our boat. We will observe pilgrims performing their pujas (rituals) at the beginning of their days, in what is the most sacred place in the Hindu tradition. Calmly, led by the goddess Ganga, we will return to the route we have taken now until a ghat (staircase on the riverbank) a little further on, where we will disembark and have the opportunity to walk through the many alleys, among thousands of small and larger temples, from the old part of the city. There is a famous temple in this region called Golden Temple or Kashi Vishvanath. Its history is important for us to understand the different moments of India. But not so much your visit. To visit we need to leave our belongings outside. Honestly, it's not one of the most interesting parts of the tours for many Travellers. Each Traveller can see what he prefers to do at that time!
Back in our vehicle, we will have a good breakfast at our hotel and then head to Sarnath. _______ and then we will visit the important Deer Park. Very peaceful place, where Buddha turned the Wheel of Dharma for the first time, that is, where he taught for the first time, approx. 2500 years ago. We can do our meditation practice individually, sit for a few minutes, walk, read, photograph, whatever each traveller prefers. We will visit the Mahabodhi temple where there are relics of Buddha (behind the main statue) and a “granddaughter” tree of which Buddha sat and became enlightened. A simple and always very special visit can always be to meet _______. We will see first-hand the practical results of these tools.
End of day at leisure (with guide) to enjoy more Sarnath, return to the ghats region of Varanasi, enjoy seeing a spice market or the famous silks of Varanasi.
Flight
Bhaktapur
Today we will wake up early for our flight to Kathmandu Valley in Nepal.
On the way from the airport to the area where we will stay on the edge of the valley, we will visit one of the valley's three Durbar Squares (palace squares), the beautiful Bhaktapur (bhakt: devotion/devotees and pur: Hindu city). A listed city, with limited vehicle flow, walking through its alleys, palace, temples, such as the potters' square, is like getting to know a little about the daily life of medieval times in Nepal. Bhaktapur is the place where, for example, the film Little Buddha was filmed.
Flight 17MAR Buddha Air U4162 Varanasi 08:50 Kathmandu 09:30
After visiting Bhaktapur, we will head to a quieter region of the Kathmandu Valley. In total there will be approx. 2h30 to Namo Buddha. In a previous life, Buddha Shakyamuni, when he was still a bodhisattva, encountered a hungry tigress with nothing to feed her cubs. Buddha, due to his level of achievement, offered his own body where there is today a Thrangu Rinpoche monastery. We will have a very peaceful end to the day with a beautiful view. If the weather is clear, we will be able to see the snow-capped Himalaya mountains from our hotel at sunset and sunrise.
Flight 17MAR Buddha Air U4162 Varanasi 08:50 Kathmandu 09:30
Namo Buddha
Swayambunath
boudhnath
We will start our day with a visit to Thrangu Rinpoche's monastery. Just below, after a pleasant walk, there is a stupa where the Buddha's brothers, in that life, kept his relics. There we will begin our practice of completing the three main stupas in the valley on the same day. So we will follow Swayambunath.
The second largest stupa in the valley is called Swayambunath (translation: self-arisen). Legend has it that the hill where the stupa is located was where the bodhisattva Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, picked a lotus flower after emptying the lake in what is now the Kathmandu Valley. We will have a view of the entire city and make our koras around this important stupa.
We will then follow the third stupa. If we have time, we will now take a walk through the Pashupatinath temple complex, which is located around the Bagmati River, sacred to Hindus. In addition to the main temple, dedicated to the most peaceful manifestation of Shiva, Pashupati, there are dozens of small temples also dedicated to the Hindu god of destruction and reconstruction. It is also the place where Nepalis who are able will be cremated to ensure a good passage or release (moksha). If it fits better, we will visit at a later time. The important thing is that we look at each location with quality. We'll see how our day goes.
Now in the great stupa (Tib: chörten)from Boudhanath in our Tibetan neighborhood, full of monasteries, among nuns, monks and lay Tibetans, sometimes great masters, together with them we will make the last koras (circummbulations) of our day, being able to spin the famous prayer wheels with millions of Om Mani Padma Hungs, recite mantras and light lamps (mainly in the late afternoon and early in the morning). Practice completed, we can take advantage of one of the cafes or restaurants around the stupa to observe and assimilate a little of this ancient culture, with so much wisdom.
kopan
Patan
Kathmandu Durbar Square
Thamel
At the beginning of the day today we can visit one of the main monasteries in the Kathmandu Valley, being a good opportunity to learn a little about the projects of its great masters. So, we will try to visit _______. It is an important study center for Sherpas, often from the Everest region, and foreigners from around the world.
After the first visit of the day, we will head to Patan's friendly Durbar Square, very famous for its artists and beautiful temples. There we will visit a small, very well designed and very educational museum of Hindu and Buddhist art. Nearby, we will visit the small and beautiful Golden Temple, used to this day by Nepalese Buddhists from the same ethnic group as Buddha Shakyamuni himself. Patan has a good option for our lunch, it is an excellent place to buy Buddhist statues (as in Boudha too), of excellent quality, as well as to walk through these medieval streets and their temples.
At the end of our day we headed to Kathmandu's Durbar Square (Palace Square). The durbar squares of the Kathmandu Valley were built by kings who were heirs of the Malla dynasty, in the 17th century. XII to XVIII, which, in this case luckily for us, competed in architectural beauty. There are numerous temples of different Hindu gods around the palace. We will then walk to the travellers' neighborhood in Kathmandu, Thamel, with countless good restaurants, mountaineering shops, Nepali crafts, bookstores, for a good meal and, if someone needs it, to buy some clothes, for example, for trekking or future trips.
Flight to Delhi during the day for flights back to Brazil later in the day.
Arrival and return to Salvador. We hope you had significant experiences and learning during your travel days in India and Nepal!
Flights
21MAR Klm KL0872 Kathmandu 03:20 Amsterdam 09:05
21MAR Klm KL0791 Amsterdam 09:55 Sao Paulo 18:00
21MAR Klm KL9359 Sao Paulo 23:30 pm Salvador 01:50 am