February 21, 2009 – I a writing this a the airport in Atlanta awaiting our flight so I only have a moment. I wanted to update everyone regarding Venerable Geshe Gyeltsen and the monks. The monks are staying in Long Beach until April to do the prescribed prayers and rituals for Geshe-la. A group of us are escorting Geshe-la’s holy body back to the monastery in India for the proper cremation ritual of a high lama of his achievement. There is a group of nine of us traveling with his holy body and doing prayers throughout the trip of three days. There is another group of ten (including Lobsang Wangchuk) coming to join us in India on separate flights and we should all get there on Tuesday the 24th and the cremation will take place right away as it is the last day of the Tibetan calendar year. Wednesday the 25th is Losar (Tibetan New Year).
The whole group, with the exception of me, will return within two weeks. I am planning to stay for 3 months and return around June 2nd. I don’t know how much internet access or time I will have, but I hope to post some of the experience of our trip and my stay in India on the blog. This has been a sad but also an inspiring and transforming experience for all of us involved. A precious and rare opportunity to participate in the transition process of such a highly realized lama. We must have had some amazing karma to be a part of it. I hope I have some left when its over =).
Stay tuned — you never know what will happen next.
One Comment
Hello,
My husband, Sam Nelson, who now lives in Australia was a student of Geshe-la’s and we visited him in Long Beach every time we flew back to the States to visit family. I’m not sure if condolences are appropriate in this case (not being a Buddhist myself) in that I think that Geshe-la is fine = it’s just sad for those of us left behind.
Sam is flying to India on Wednesday 25 Feb arriving the 26th in Hyderabad where he will be attending a friend’s wedding. He then wanted to make his way to Gaden Shartse in order to pay his respects to Geshe-la. It was only on reading this blog which we found through Googling the monastery in order to find out the best way to get there that we discovered that Geshe-la’s body is being flown back to India.
My question is what is the best way to get to Gaden Shartse – Sam will be flying from Mumbai on about the 2nd of March. We were thinking of routing him through Hubbli but not sure where he should go from there. Would you be able to send some information? You have my email address or you could post a reply here.
I realise that you are also in the midst of travelling and so may not be able to answer – I’m sure we’ll find the way somehow!
Wishing you a safe journey. I loved Geshe-la very much too – he was like a cheeky grandfather figure to me. I am so honoured to have known him and so glad he got to meet my children on our last trip through LA in 2005.
Best wishes,
Nadia Nelson
Perth, Western Australia
PS – we also know Lobsang too through the Long Beach centre – not sure if he remembers Sam from Alaska.