LEH

On the last day of my seven day lone vacation in Leh I went shopping  to the local market as I wanted to buy few things from there. This was the only time when my shopping was not about branded clothes, and artefact . I was so much moved by the feel of Leh , it's people , who are so simple and hard working and smiling almost every time u make an eye contact with them . I did spent lot of time talking with them and am glad that I did that. It was one of the roughest and toughest vacation, yet very healing and I am so proud that I made it. This post is just about one of the seven days I was there..

A Glimpse of my shopping :

I picked up a semi precious neck piece made by a local  Leh women during long ,cold winters . Made mainly of turquoise and embellished with other materials such as coral, silver, lapis, pearl, and amber are worn all over Ladakh, after lot of insistence on the fact that I will look gorgeous once I place it on my neck,  I ended up obliging her with my generosity :-) Its the traditional wear of the place and I am wearing it to my workplace on few occasions . And yes , she was right ,' I do look gorgeous and I thank her for making me buy :))

After I had a quick bite at German Bakery , I went ahead  to shop that deals in selling of hand made Meditation Bowl ( they also had machine made but I found the sound too harsh) I picked one for myself with a deeper vibration ( that I craved for, for almost a decade) . I have read a lot about this technique of meditation in various Zen books. I am trying it on daily basis though not perfected but quite close to what I learnt from the old lady who gave me a short demo of how to use the bowl for meditation. 

Later, Tasting street food at few stalls I zeroed on my last buy and picked up an art piece which has Buddist chant OM MANI PADME HUM hand written by Monks living in different monasteries . I plan to get it framed and put it on the wall of my living room. I was informed that the recitation of ancient sacred Buddhist texts are chanted every day by the monks living in various monasteries , following different sects of Buddhism . 

Besides, It is done for spiritual and moral well being of the people, by appeasing the wrath of the evil spirits and invoking the blessing . Chanting is done either sitting indoors or dancing in the monastic courtyards or in private houses . The chanting helps in the meditation process, in attaining enlightenment and getting liberation from the sufferings of the world. I was introduced to this chant through a video on YouTube while searching for meditation vibrations through chants and music. 

नमस्ते