Travelogues  
A Western Pilgrim in India – 2

During the winter of 1835, a sixty year old Hindu pilgrim by the name of Khudiram Chaottopadhyaya stayed in Gaya for about a month, making offerings and worshipping at over forty-five places by the streams and on the hills surrounding the town. Having fulfilled his obligation to his ancestors, he felt an overwhelming gratitude to the Divine Lord who made it possible for a poor, unworthy man like himself to be able to accomplish all this. That night he had a dream in which he saw his ancestors in celestial bodies, graciously accepting the sweet cakes he had offered. Overcome with emotion, he bowed and touched their feet. Suddenly the space was filled with a great light. His forefathers stood reverently worshipping, their hands folded, on either side of an extraordinary Being in a luminous green body, seated happily on a great throne. Khudiram approached and prostrated before the Being. Pleased by his worship, the Great One told Khudiram he would soon take birth as his son. Upon returning to his home in the village of Kamarpakur, Khudiram's wife related an experience wherein she had been overcome by a brilliant light shining out of the local Shiva temple. Chandra Devi was pregnant with the child who was to become Sri Ramakrishna. 

Several months after his Awakening, the Buddha delivered a sermon to an audience of 1,000 fire-worshipping ascetics on a local hill called Gaya Head, which is identified with the head of the great asura. Here, the Buddha utilized imagery that quickly penetrates to the heart of the audience -- in this case, the metaphor of fire. Upon hearing this talk, the entire audience realized arhathood. 

Vishnupada Temple at Gaya. The open pavilion with the red roof in the foreground 
is a shelter for poor pilgrims and possibly where Khudiram stayed during his visit here. 

Moving through the dark on steel rails, I attached myself to my bags and fell asleep. A few hours later, I awoke as the train was moving slowly through a dimly lit station. I looked up at the man across from me and asked, 'Gaya?' He nodded and smiled, pointing out the window. As the train was starting to pick up speed, he helped me drag my bags toward the door where I quickly thanked him, kicked them off, and jumped out onto the platform. It is near midnight as I drag them out of the station past the cabs, and across the plaza to the nearest hotel. After securing a room, I hit the streets looking for something to eat, but apparently far too late to expect anything like dinner in Gaya. Settling for some coconut sweets and a soda, I head back to my room and put on santosh music, and read a few selections from Padma Karpo (whom Guenther has dubbed the Kagyu Longchenpa). 

In the morning I am off via bicycle rickshaw to the Vishnupada temple in Gaya, one of the main holy places for devotees of Lord Vishnu. Having read in the guide book that they have recently begun allowing white tourists in, I hang around the entrance and inquire, but today does not seem to be favorable. I wander down to the bathing ghat which leads out onto the sandy bed of the Phalgu River. Noting the huge stacks of firewood, I come upon a small gathering tending a funeral pyre. Another corpse enshrouded in saffron colored cloth awaits cremation on the side. I wander around outside the temple, relax in the shade of the guest shelter, take pictures, buy a few small copper replicas of the holy impression and am finally approached by an older teenager who knows I am interested in getting inside. He leads me around into an alley not far from the main entrance where we enter his family's shop. Motioning me to the back, we climb a ladder of stairs into an upper room used for storage. Amid crates of soap and soda, he opens a small door and suddenly I am looking directly into the shadowy cool of the main temple. The octagonal frame surrounding the Footprint was visible. A few heads turned in surprise and although he insists there would be no problem, I am sure this is not the proper way to enter; I simply smiled at the people we had interrupted and asked the boy to shut the door. 

– Continued Page 3

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