In Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association News from India…
Over the years, our Beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has lovingly offered funds to provide warmth and comfort for the wandering monks and nuns during the colder months in India. In January 2023, with concern and care for the renunciates as in the past, Master has allocated US$40,000 for the purchase of their needed supplies.
From January to April 2023, our local Association members traveled to many remote places, ashrams, and spiritual groups across northern India. Care packages, which included blankets, caps, socks, gloves, shawls, dried fruits, vegan food and sweets, were delivered to a total of more than 7,000 holy truth seekers over four months. Beginning from Jammu in the country’s far north, the relief team presented materials to 250 spiritual practitioners after their special prayer meeting at a temple in the Akhnoor district. In the Punjab state where many pilgrims pass through, warm blankets were handed out to approximately 500 monks in Ludhiana. With the help of local officials in Prayagraj, relief items were distributed to around 1500 truth seekers who had gathered for a holy dip in the Ganges River during the Kumbha Mela festival. In Dharamshala and McLeodganj, the home of Tibetan Buddhism in India, the relief team provided care packages to 300 Tibetan monks and nuns who stayed in the remote hilly areas. Meanwhile, monks in various temples and religious places also received winter supplies, including 500 monks in Ajmer and Pushkar, 1500 monks in Gurugram, as well as 6 monks living in the caves near Guptakashi in the northern Himalayas.
In February, our local team distributed materials to 450 monks in the towns of Pithoragarh and Almora, where pilgrims travel on foot to reach Mount Kailash, and later similar supplies to 250 spiritual aspirants in Rishikesh, a holy city in the foothills of the Himalayas. Additionally, vegan meals and winter packages were offered to monks from across the country, including 350 in Vrindavan, the city of temples, and 500 in Ujjain.
From mid-January to mid-March, our Association members also handed out cold weather supplies to 800 spiritual practitioners along the banks of the Narmada River in Jabalpur, where many stayed and meditated in small huts. At the birthplace of Lord Rama in Ayodhya, vegan food packets as well as vegan meals were offered to the wandering monks from all over the world, while winter blankets, warm accessories, and snacks were given to 210 monks in Uttarkashi near Gangotri, the origin of the Ganges River.
Lastly, in late April, our relief team visited the Badrinath Temple in the upper Himalayas, which was closed for six months due to extreme cold temperatures and excessive snow. Warm blankets, caps, socks, and shawls were provided to several resident monks who meditated there for 12 months. Additionally, during the temple’s opening ceremony, around 200 wandering monks and nuns were also offered a nutritious vegan meal and winter items while being introduced to Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan). The local practitioners were very grateful to Master for the vegan meals and warm goods.
“Good wishes to Her family. Whoever is Her family, whether it is the worldly family, the householder family, the monk family, whichever family it is, wishing Her happiness. Whoever is connected with Her family, may they remain happy; this is the blessing I give. I pay my regards to Her from the bottom of my heart. And I wish to appreciate Her work, but I think I’m a nobody to praise Her. She does such a great work. I can only pay Her my respects. On behalf of Lord Badrinath, we invite You, Mother, to come and grace this place with Your presence again. Please come to bless Your children. Mother, You are doing such great work. I bow in front of You, at Your feet to thank You.”
With sincere and humble gratitude to Master, for Her gracious example of love and care for the holy truth practitioners, we thank our Indian Association members for their dedicated efforts. May Heavens continue to bless the venerable renunciates, and may their all-renouncing courage and faith inspire the multitude to seek God more than ever before.
