Day 14: Leh Kalachakra

Today is the 3^rd day of Kalachakra. The first 3 days has only prayers and the Kalachakra teachings starts only from the 4^th day. Since we will be leaving Leh tomorrow it’s my only chance to visit Kalachakra and see the Holiness. Still I was not all sure whether H.H will be present for the prayers. Even if he is present it is still not known if it is possible to see him live at all.


 The prayers were scheduled to start at 7 am. By the time I came out of the homestay after breakfast it was already 9:30 am. I was not sure how to reach the venue. The venue is around 8 km from Leh. The homestay owner told me that there are share taxis from Leh gate. Only thing is that I didn’t know where Leh gate is. I thought it should be somewhere near to the main gate. A strange thing then happened in between. I dreamed of someone showing me the route to Leh gate from the main square. In the morning, after breakfast, one of the guests at the homestay showed me the route to the Leh gate. It was the same route as I dreamed!!

By the time I reached the venue it was around 11.15 am. The prayers were going on, with H.H in charge of the ceremony. He was sitting on the stage with other monks inside a glass panelled room. The guest could see him only through the big screens put outside the glass rooms. Since I was an Indian I could sit only with other pilgrims far away from the stage. The seats are arranged in such a way with foreigners and VIP on side of the stage. Monks & nuns in the front and then the general public at the back.

I was a bit sad that I couldn’t see H.H live. When I chatted with one of the volunteers, they suggested that I try to be on the side of the venue at the end of the prayers. H.H will be leaving through that way by car after the prayers and then I could catch a glimpse of him then. I decided to try my luck. I walked along the sides of the venue. As I was dressed more like the western tourists with my SLR camera hanging on my neck most of the volunteers mistook me for a NRI. So nobody stopped me and I ended up in the foreigners section. I sat there till the end of the prayers.

At the end of the forenoon prayers I walked back to the edge of the venue. H.H passed by on his car on his way to his residence for lunch. It was a strange feeling to see him live again. I was taking snaps and at the same time not at all aware of what I was doing. I felt happy and glad that I came here.

In the afternoon after lunch I came back and sat on the same place. But this time one of the volunteers got curious and checked my pass. He requested me to go back to the public section as I am not allowed to be in the foreigner section. I went and sat in the section he suggested. Then one of the women police officers told that this section is only for nuns and I should rather sit in the section infront of it, which was actually for the foreigners. I showed her my pass and told that I am an Indian. She said its ok and I can go and sit in the foreigner section! Again by some crude luck I ended up in the foreigner section for the afternoon prayers.

Though I didn’t understand a word of the prayers, which I guess was in Tibetan language, I felt relaxed and happy to sit there and listen to it. It was more or less like I was in trance. A bit exaggerated, of course! Overall I felt really happy to be there. Some of the foreigners were lying and sleeping during prayers. Though some volunteers informed them no to do so, some of them didn’t care. I didn’t like it. To the Tibetans H.H is equivalent to God. And to be in his presence is like a lifelong dream for most of them. By lying and sleeping in such a religious function is in my opinion lack of respect. If they are feeling tired then they should rather go back to their hotel and sleep. By showing disrespect to the religious function they are misusing the special privileges they are given as a foreigner.

After the prayers I again ran to the edge of the venue to catch a glimpse of the H.H. Again it was a sweet strange feeling of happiness as he passed by on his car. I was really happy that I got a chance to see him again.

In the evening Bru & I walked around in Le hot do one last shopping. For me it is to scan around the hundreds of beautiful handicrafts in the Tibetan markets. Bru went for the Chilling to Sangam rafting (approx. 3 hrs) during the day. I also wanted to do that. But for me more important was to visit the H.H. Also I have already overspent the budget for this vacation. We had a small dinner in one of the corners of the Leh town. Our last dinner at Leh!!