My Vacation - visit to Gautam Buddha Tapobhoomi,place of Nirvana and Kashi Vishwanath

I am very fond of reading and visiting places across the globe specially the places which has some history. My parents-in-law live in Gorakhpur. So we extended our Holi holiday to extended vacation. We planned a visit Kushinagar, Sarnath and Varanasi also. We took an early morning flight from Delhi to Varanasi so that we have full day to spend in Sarnath and evening in Varanasi. A trip of enlightenment, faith and self-realization  -this is what I want to call . Unexpectedly serene, completely different experience.

We took a taxi from the airport to travel to Sarnath, which is 10 km away from Varanasi. A place where Gautam Buddha gave his first sermon to his 5 disciples. Sarnath has Dharmarajika stupa, Srilankan temple built by Anagarika Dharmapala. This temple has paintings of Gautam Buddha from birth to nirvana. A complete journey of his life. It is also developed by Thai, Japanese, Korean, Chinese government. The Ashoka Chakra and Ashok pillar is also placed in museum. After lunch we drove back to Varanasi city.

Banaras, now Varanasi, is situated in bank of holy river Ganga. It not only holy place for Hindus but also for Jainism. In older times, it was called as Kashi – Shiva ki Nagari. Firstly we visited Kashi Vishwanath Mandir- one of the 12 jyotiling of lord Shiv. It is situated near the bank of Ganges which is close to Dashashwamedh Ghat. Varanasi has around 85 ghats. These ghats are named after the kings and queens e.g. devi Ahilya ghat, Munshi Prem Chand Chat, Mansingh Ghat, Narad Muni Ghat, Brahma Ghat, Karnataka State Ghat, Tulsi Ghat- where Ramacharitmanas was written by Goswami Tulsi Das, Rajendra Prasad Ghat, Harish Chandra Ghat, Manikarnika Ghat, etc. from there we went to visit Ramnagar fort and in the evening attended Arti. The River Ganga was full of little lamps as if all the stars have started sparkling in the water.

Next day we started very early in the morning for Gorakhpur where we met our relatives and family members. Relaxed for a day and planned to visit Kushinagar - A place which is considered as one of the 4 dhams of Buddhism. The four Dham's of Buddhism are Lumbini, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya and Kushinagar. Kushinagar is around 50 from Gorakhpur towards Bihar. The importance of this place is because Lord Gautam Buddha gave his last sermon in 543 BC.It’s a place of Nirvana for Him. This place has Chinese temple, Thai temple, Japanese temple, Burmese temple and etc. People belonging to Buddhism come here to discover the roots of Buddhism. What impresses me the most - the sense of belongingness by the people who comes from different part of world. The chant of “Buddham sharanam gachhami” made the entire atmosphere filled with peace and oneness. People who are from different culture, language and thoughts. Everyone has joined hands to excavating the facts about Him.