Last shots from Mumbai

This was just a few hours before taking off for Paris. Jagadish (on the left) was sitting just behind me in the meditation hall

Atapi sampajanno satima

I've been back to the vipassana international academy in Igatpuri for a last ten day course.





The monsoon got on at the same time as the course.



Main pagoda



There are more than 300 cells in it



This is a meditation cell inside the pagoda



:)

Global Pagoda

The global pagoda is a project initiated by Goenkaji. It will be "an ideal bridge for peace, tolerence and harmony across all the communal and regional devides splintering India as well as the world today. The Global Pagoda will be a vehicle for the spread of the Buddha's true teaching that emphatically opposes any dogma based on sect, cast and religion".

It is located in Esselworld, in front of Borivali, north Mumbai


This is the town of Borivali









8000 meditators will be able to sit together under this dome. It is twice as large as the previous largest dome structure in the world.



Each sound has about ten echoes under the dome. It creates a very strange atmosphere, as if being in the fourth dimension.






Small side pagoda



This is what it will look like

Shatrunjaya, Palitana

The hill of Shatrunjaya in Palitana, state of Gujarat, North-West India, is the main Jain pilgrim place. It is an amazing place. One of the best I visited during this whole trip. To reach there, one has to climb the hill, which is 600 m high (about 1800 ft). Prepare for a flood of temple pictures. There are 108 main temples and more than 800 smaller shrines. It's a city of temples.


Jain temple in the city of Palitana.






Ok, I really begin to look like an Indian. It's time to go back home.









I had to climb these stairs between 11 and 12 am. it was quite hot, and there was nearly no shadow on the way.



Hilltop

















































































































































It was possible to get on the top of the main temple, where renovation works were being done.



View from there
























Pictures from inside the temples were not allowed. There were a few wonders there as well.