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A Sacred visit to India

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A sacred visit to India India is the country with the second largest population in the world. Initially, being larger in land space, it has now become the present India. Being a country which gives priority to agriculture, nature, art, religious views, various languages spoken in different states and the nature friendliness in all ways is a great inspiration and change which is needed for an amazing experience. To make it more simple, it is a great "getaway". Why exactly is this visit sacred? For us Buddhists, India is very important due to the facts  related with the history of Buddhism. India is also called as "Buddhabumi" by Buddhist and hundreds of Sri Lankans visit the Sacred places every year. So this year, thanks to my parents, I got the chance to visit those places, see them with my own eyes and worship them with a heart filled with happiness. Leaving the Katunayaka Bandaranayaka International Airport late at night, we landed to Indira Gandhi Airport

Trip to Katharahgama, Sri Lanka - Part III - Final

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Trip to Kataragama Part III- Kirivehera Temple and Devalaya (Visit my previous posts for  Part I  & Part II of this post ) Kataragama Devalaya Speaking of the Kataragama Devalaya, it is believed that it is the place where the Kataragama God resides. The premise is situated a few meters away from the Kirivehera Temple. The passage from the temple to the Devalaya consists of several small stores which sell fruit baskets, garlands and flowers for the purpose of donating to the Kataragama God and other gods. It is really colorful when you see these stores during the night. Usually, regardless of which time of the day it is, this place is always crowded with thousands of people. But the day which we visited was a special day as it was the presidential elections, therefore, everyone has decided to stay at home instead of going anywhere. Well, we didn’t do that apparently. This is a picture of the passage from the temple to the Devalaya that I could capture. I got this s

Trip to Katharahgama, Sri Lanka - Part II

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Trip to Kataragama Part II- Kirivehera Temple and Devalaya (Visit my previous post for Part I of this post by clicking here ) Kirivehera Stupa According to the history written down in the Mahawansa Chronicle, by accepting King Mahasen’s invitation, Lord Buddha, followed by 500 Arahant monks visited the King’s Royal Garden named as “Kihirivane” in Sri Lanka. A golden chair had been kept prepared in the middle of the Royal Garden on which the Lord Buddha could sit on and preach a Dhamma Summon (where the stupa is built on now). Additionally, around Lord Buddha’s chair, the King had also taken steps to prepare 500 seats honorably for the arahant monks who had arrived with Lord Buddha to his Royal Garden as per his invitation. The King too listened to the Dhamma Summon preached by Lord Buddha and attained Sovan State (a stage in the chain of attaining Nibbhana). At the end of the Dhamma Summon, King Mahasen has requested for some memorable treasures which could be use

A visit to Katharagama, Sri Lanka - Part I - History

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Trip to Katharagama Part I- History "Visit my previous post on “ Sri Lanka - Gem stone of the Indian Ocean”  if you missed it" On a Friday night, after an exhausting day, I got back home late from University after lectures. Surprisingly, I found my mom packing our travelling bags and as soon as she saw me, she told me to get my travelling bag ready with sufficient clothes for two days and a night. I was so tired that I thought I was dreaming since I thought I heard something my mom was likely to have said during holidays “Let’s pack-up and go somewhere”.  I suddenly got the feeling that my exams were over and it was our holiday season so I was going to go on a long trip during the weekend. A couple of minutes later, I came back to reality and asked my mom again what she said to make sure that I wasn’t actually dreaming. As soon as she repeated what she said earlier, I told her “Woaw.. I love trips during the weekend” and I started packing my bag. The na