KATHMANDU: Ram Bahadur Bomjan – Nepal’s ‘Buddha Boy’ whose followers claim he has meditated without food or water – is back in the news with media reports suggesting that he plans to be buried alive while meditating.
The teenager from Ratanpuri village in southern Nepal’s Bara district has remained in the headlines since he surfaced under a tree in the Charkoshi forest in 2005, meditating cross-legged, just as the Buddha is depicted.
Clad only in a strip of white cloth, the boy was the object of intense reverence as well as curiosity after reports said he had been praying at the same spot in the same posture for nearly nine months without food or water.
Then, just as abruptly as he had surfaced he vanished, prompting a long search by followers, villagers and security forces. He reappeared in a nearby forest and reportedly told his followers that he had left the earlier meditation site because it was getting too crowded.
This year, Bomjan was reported to have disappeared once again only to resurface in the Halpuriya area of Bara district where he was said to be planning to embark on an even more difficult form of meditation.
Bomjan now plans to begin patal samadhi (underground meditation), a private TV channel reported yesterday, quoting a local journalist.
According to reports, his followers have already dug up an eight-foot deep trench in which Bomjan plans to descend. The trench will be then filled.
Asian religious traditions narrate tales of holy men being buried alive, braving extreme heat or cold and subjecting the body to other torments in order to master the senses and attain salvation.
A question is being asked whether the district administration will allow Bomjan’s followers to bury him. There has been no official response. – IANS
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