Kushinagar: Where the Buddha died

Where the Buddha died

"All created things must pass, nevertheless, strive diligently", someone said before ending his journey in a little place that was fitting to his teachings. An endearingly scrappy little place on the Ganges’ plain beholds Kushinagar, place, where Buddha died after delivering his last words. This relatively unknown town of Uttar Pradesh holds great importance and reminds how the spirit of the times of India amidst its spiritual collision came face to face with the mortality of the enlightened. And all these happened in here, in Kushinagar. For you, it would be a very different kind of travelling, as you shall visit the place not as a tourist, but as a person in search of truth. Here, you will not visit the places, where a figure of substance delivered his speeches or hung on to his quest to reform the society. It is the town that has given the great man his rightful place to rest, when he reached at the end of his journey. A visit to this place will strengthen your conviction in the teachings of Buddha.

It would be a better option to reach Kushinagar from Sarnath, some 52km from Gorakpour City. A ramshackle old town will greet you in the midst of ruins and agriculture land. It is vivid that the place is underdeveloped and it is nor like Bodh Gaya or Lumbini, but as you are aware of the fact that you are not just a tourist, it is the call of life and its meaning will aspire you to visit the place, you will visit Kushinagar as not just a place, but a moment framed in time, where God had visited with the teachings and perceptions have been broken with the mortality of God and eons have passed since then. The place of course holds religious significance, but strangely, you will find the ignorance about the importance of the place amongst the natives, than learned travellers like you. In here, you need to stay and spend time, to know the historical significance of Kushinagar, to know the trails of knowledge of the times of India, and how the nation lived in its different states of time in perpetuity. Government Guesthouses are the better options to stay and avoid local owners, who are not so affable with the travellers.

With the change in mind set and social fabric, there has been an increase in the flow of tourist and pilgrims from China. During the last couple of decades, there has been a resurgence of interest among the affluent classes to travel to these lesser known places and educate themselves through gathering more experience. Even, the group of Maitreya project is much active in this area. The group wants to build a Maitreya Buddha statue as tall as the Statue of Liberty, in the midst of Kushinagar’s rural poverty. Though, there is a Stupa in the place, but it once held some remains of Buddha. Now, the humble spot, where the Buddha died awaits the visitation of your conscience, to connect to a history of almost 2,400 years. Inside the Stupa has been rebuilt, where awaits a massive monolithic stone statue of the dying Buddha carved out of red sandstone from the 5^th century to level you in the calm calculus of your mental frame.

The dimension of the statue alone has an everlasting impact. It has a very strong aesthetic impact; however, it especially makes an impression on Buddha’s posture at the time of his death. Feel his state of being that is emphasized, for it is the posture of a man dying and your presence will open the senses to relate to Buddha as a human being. A human being like you. Experience the strong feeling that is divine and that is attached to the human destiny and to you, as well – the mortality. Experience this spiritual destination, with no rituals to perform, but to sit quietly in the infinite silence of the little place left unknown, with no priest, but a few monks meditating, or placing flowers at the stupa, and some burning incense. Go for the peaceable experience of a life time.

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