Source: CNN Varanasi, India
A10-hour journey on Indian roads can be difficult and this one, fueled by faith, was more so.
Dinesh Chandra Mishra packed moth-eaten woolen blankets for the trip along with muslin and cotton quilts that had once been crisp and white. He also brought a single-burner kerosene stove, kitchen utensils and a rough estimation of clothes — though he could not possibly calculate how long he would be away from home.
He spent one-fourth of his monthly schoolteacher’s pension to hire the car that carried him and his belongings as well as his mother, sister and ailing father from their village of Gopalganj to Varanasi.
From the start, he was conflicted about the trip. It was not emotionally easy to bring his father to this city with only one purpose: to die.
Many years ago, Mishra’s grandfather had spent his final days at a “liberation house” for dying pilgrims in Varanasi. Now the destination was the same — Kashi Labh Mukti Bhavan, one of two remaining homes for those who arrive here at the eleventh hour, when death is imminent.
To take God’s name and die in Varanasi is to attain moksha, a term that can be interpreted in many ways but is generally understood by Hindus to mean freedom for the soul, a release from the constant cycle of rebirth.
Categories: Asia