A Brief Slice of Heaven
July 11th 2010
Laughter of many little children as they darted around us, shy smiles as we walked about with our camera’s photographing anything that moved, some heads bent over books memorizing their contents in classrooms, others tending to daily chores and everyone waiting for the Saturday evening screening of a Bollywood flick in one of the larger classrooms. No, I am not in a Residential Primary School but the Kagyu Nalanda Temple at Bylakuppe.
In July 2010, Sumita and I headed to Bylakuppe, a Tibetan settlement near Mysore for a photo vacation. Bylakuppe, surprisingly, is said to be the largest Tibetan settlement outside of Tibet. I would have imagined either Dharmashala or Sikkim, the seats of His Holiness Dalai Lama or His Holiness Karmapa to be the largest.
Having previously, through some friends, received permission to stay within one of the monasteries we set out at around 9:00 AM. After multiple stops as is normal with us photo enthusiasts to shoot a view of a road, the landscapes and even a mango seller we finally reached Bylakuppe at around 2:00PM. Entering the settlement was quite overwhelming as we really believed we had reached Tibet sans the Himalayas. We received directions and reached the Kagyu Nalanda Monastery shortly and were received very graciously by Norbu Lama who would be our host for the next few days.
It is an interesting dichotomy to note that Nalanda, one of the oldest universities first instituted by King Ashoka in Bihar is now in Mysore and is the youngest of the Monasteries in this region. Not knowing what to expect, we quickly freshened up in the room accorded to us and made it in time for the afternoon prayers at 3:30 at their temple. As the chants began accompanied by the beats of the gongs and the horns of the trumpets the whole atmosphere within the temple seemed to reverberate with intense power and serenity at the same time. I am a self declared agnostic however, it is difficult for me to explain the tremendous sensation of peace I felt within the space. I was torn between photographing this moment and just sitting down and being a part of the moment.
The Kagyu Nalanda University is the youngest within the region and was founded by The Venerable Kalsang Rinpoche and his son Karma Rinpoche who is recognised by His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmappa as the re-incarnation of Tulku Rigpe Dorje of the Nanduo monastery in Tibet. Work on the Monastery started in 2001 with the foundation of the Boddhisatva trust and was inaugurated in 2005 by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa. Kagyu Nalanda is neither as large or as grand as the neighbouring and older Namdroling (The Golden Monastery. Being young it has only 65 monks in training of which the majority are children starting from the age of 4. It was fascinating and humbling at the same time to watch the little monks go about daily life in the temple.
The day starts at 5:00AM with the morning prayers followed by breakfast at 7:00 am and the classes follow. After a break for lunch and the afternoon prayers at 3:30 they continue their classes till evening. After an early dinner at 7:00 you can hear the little children practising their lessons, prayers and chants. You can also hear them practising the prayer trumpets till well into 9:30 when all lights are doused and the temple sleeps. However, in all of this seemingly serious and disciplined routine you are still aware that these children are still children when they award you those fleeting smiles and shyly peep around corners to watch us walk by. There was also one child who shyly asked us if we would take one more photograph of him and then ran away when we lifted our cameras. If I didn’t know better I could have sworn we were in a Montessori albeit with a different uniform.
The children are taught early to care for the environment and every second Saturday is celebrated as environment day where they set out to clean the nearby villages with their own hands. It is lamentable that the lessons of the young monks are lost in our minds while we still persevere to soil the environment in every way we possible can. Watching the young monks do all of their own work including cooking, cleaning, sweeping and at the same time being children, Monks and Students at the same time taught me a huge sense of humility.
In the 2 nights and 3 days that we were there it felt like time had come to a standstill and all was right in the world. If the efforts of just 65 young monks can do this imagine the impact on the world if we can but share a few of their philosophies like living in peace and caring for your environment. Which God you believe in or not, is secondary. When we left, we were touched when the Monks draped a prayer shawl around us as a gift and wished us a good journey. I am sure that it will not be too long before we return there for another little slice of Heaven.
The one thing that rankled during our stay there was the fact that despite this being a Government of India Protected area, there is provision for only 8 hours of power in a day and that too mostly in the night and minimal water supply. It is sad that these basic necessities that most of us take for granted is not even close to being a priority by the local Govt. When will we begin to change or remove that sense of apathy that dictates the lives of most of us myself included.
I deeply appreciate the invitation extended by Karma Rinpoche to experience the Kagyu Nalanda way of life first hand and the enormous hospitality afforded us by Norbu Lama. Thank you.
