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Showing posts from 2020

Bits and pieces of my experience with the Pandemic

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Never had I thought, there would be a time in my life where I would be lying on a couch in front of the television counting death tolls every other day. The little virus with a crown on its head has shaken the world. Literally! The global pandemic as announced by the WHO in mid - March this year, has been causing a lot of panic and trauma, taking thousands of lives whilst leaving millions in pain of getting affected and of separation from their loved ones.   Countries have put up movement restrictions at the borders, almost all countries are under lock down now. Some countries who had been relaxing measures are re-imposing them after the second wave. The most powerful economies are falling apart and are being affected harshly, stock markets and share businesses are reportedly going down, hospitality business such as hotels and travel companies are hitting its lowest. Trade wars are rampant, international organizations are being blamed, country leaders are being blamed. Alas! The wor

108-Kora (circumambulation) of Dra Karpo Lhakhang in Paro, Bhutan

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In Buddhism, kora (which means circumambulation) is the act of walking around the sacred site in a clockwise direction. Buddhist pilgrims do kora of the religious temples, sites, objects, etc to gain spiritual merits; cleanse sins of past and present lives and purify negative karma; and to attain spiritual and mental enlightenment. Pilgrims usually recite mantras and say prayers as they do the rounds. Bhutan being a Buddhist country, Kora is very prevalent and no temples are usually seen without pilgrims doing koras. However, the trend of 108-kora is quite a new thing in Bhutan, started or at least grew its popularity only a few years ago. It may have existed earlier amongst the elders but it became a good new thing to talk about and show off on social media handles recently, me being one of them :D. Honestly, apart from gaining spiritual merits and   cleansing  off sins, I don’t know the specific reason behind circumambulating the temples 108 times. Of course, the fact that t

Visit to Five Tsheringma Lhakhangs in Paro, Bhutan

Note :  Had completed the draft of this article in 2018, right after the visit but thanks to my laziness and mild A lzheimer (created my own disease) it was left incomplete. Did a bit of revisit to my incomplete work today and here it is for your reading pleasure and reference for the visit, in a layman’s way of expression.  In Buddhism, the five Tsheringma sisters as the name suggests are the Goddesses of longevity or long life. It is believed that if one worships the Goddess, he/she will be blessed with long life and good fortune. We visited the five temples in December 2018, believed to be the abode of the five Tsheringma sisters, all located in Paro in the four different directions. Legend has it that, if one visits all the five temples in a day, the Tsheringma sisters would grant you with all your wishes and bless you with good fortune. There is supposed to be an order of visit to the five temples, some believe the visit should start from the eldest sister's templ