Some hundred miles away from
Thimphu lived a monk in a far flung village in the east. He was tall, good
looking and Azzha Galong was also the only monk in his small community. The
village where Azzha Galong was considered as a precious jewel was isolated from
other villages. Though the village had no road and electricity, the community was
self-sufficient and happy. Nobody in the community ever felt the need to go out
of their village.
 |
| Azzha Galong standing in front of the Monastery. |
One early morning when Azzha
Galong was untangling the prayer flags beside the monastery, he saw a monk
coming towards him. Azzha greeted and invited him into the monastery. The monk told
Azzha that he has lost his way to his village in the other side of the mountain.
Azzha assured him that he will ask his village men to help him find his route
tomorrow and requested the monk to stay overnight with him at the monastery.
After much discussion on
Buddhist philosophy and religious practices over a butter lamp burning in a
corner, the monk started sharing his recent visit to Thimphu, the capital city
of Bhutan. The monk told Azzha how different a life of a monk is in a city. He
told Azzha that monks in the city drive biggest and the most expensive cars,
wear branded clothes and eat continental cosines in five star hotels. And he
also told azzha that the monks in the city use iphones to talk, laptops to read
religious e-books and they speak foreign languages too.
Listening to what the guest
had to share, Azzha got lost. In fact, he couldn’t resist asking more and more
about the unique monks until the butter lamp in the corner went off which only
compelled the two monks to stop their uncanny conversation. The news of the monks
living their lives differently triggered Azzha’s mind and he starts thinking about
visiting the capital city along with the monk. The monk also agreed to help
Azzha reach Thimphu and spend sometime there.
The next morning Azzha
informed the community that he would be going to Thimphu and would be staying
there for a week. He assured the community that he would be back to perform the
annual ritual of the village. With the word to return soon, Azzha went along
with the monk for a week to stay in Thimphu and enjoy the modern life.
While in Thimphu, the monk
friend introduced azzha to all the monks and nuns who live in spacious and well
furnished bungalows. Azzha enjoyed each moment of his life in Thimphu; The ride
in the most expensive cars, tasting continental cosines in five star hotels and
wearing branded clothes along with his red robe.
On returning back to the
village, the villagers informed that the elder most member of the community
expired in his absence. The monk of the nearest village was also out of
station. They couldn’t perform the funeral rites for aagay Sangay and without
the rituals they had to also bury him under a tall tree next to the small
stream that rushes behind the monastery.
Azzha Galong felt the lost and
resentment for not being able to perform the rites for Aagay Sangay. Amidst the
lost and resentment, the recent visit to Thimphu kept him exuberant about the
life he had during his short visit. The images of tall buildings and the
fly-over bridge, high speed rush of the cars he travelled in and the exotic
cosines he tasted kept creeping in and out of his otherwise holy mind. The temptation
lingered more and so deeply that he decided to go back to Thimphu soon.
...........................to be continue.
(sketch courtesy: Tara Devi Sharma(My betterhalf)
