15 Year Old Nepalese Boy Meditating Under Tree Has Not Eaten For Six Months
UPDATED
Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:13 AM GMT By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Authorities in Nepal urged religious groups and scientists on Sunday to help solve the mystery of a meditating teenaged boy who some believe is an incarnation of Buddha.
At least 100,000 devotees from Nepal and neighbouring India have flocked in recent weeks to a dense forest in southeastern Nepal to see 15-year-old Ram Bahadur Bamjon, who, his associates say, has been meditating without food or water for six months.
Shanta Raj Subedi, district administrator of Bara, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Kathmandu and where the boy is meditating, said he had requested the Lumbini Development Trust, a Buddhist panel, and the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology to get to the bottom of the mystery.
"We want to investigate claims that the boy has survived for so long without food or drink," Subedi said.
Bamjon sits cross-legged beneath a "pipal" tree, which is sacred to Hindus, with his eyes closed in meditation. He does not speak and followers are only allowed to see him from a distance of 50 metres (165 feet).
The young mystic is hidden from public view at night behind a curtain drawn by his followers. Doctors observing from a distance have said the boy is breathing normally but is weak.
Local journalist Govinda Devkota, who has visited the site,
said the boy sits with a shawl across his chest from armpit to shoulder, in the same posture as Buddha is shown in pictures.
The number of visitors had reached up to 10,000 a day but fewer people are going to the retreat now, he said.
"He sits motionless from dawn to dusk when visitors are allowed to see him. This demands something," said Devkota. "But whether he is an incarnation of Buddha, I have doubts because we don't know what he does at night. This must be investigated."
His mother, Maya Devi -- the same name as that of Buddha's mother -- said Bamjon, the third of her seven children, is a quiet boy who kept aloof from friends.
"Initially, I was worried about him. But now I am happy. He is in devotion to Buddha," Devi told Nepali daily, Rajdhani.
Buddha, who founded Buddhism, was born a prince in Lumbini, a dusty village in Nepal's rice growing plains about 350 km (218 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, over 2,600 years ago.
He attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in the eastern Indian state of Bihar that borders Nepal.
By Thomas Bell in Bara District, Nepal
Thousands of pilgrims are pouring into the dense jungle of southern Nepal to worship a 15-year-old boy who has been hailed as a new Buddha.
Devotees claim that Ram Bomjon, who is silently meditating beneath a tree, has not eaten or drunk anything since he sat down at his chosen spot six months ago.
Witnesses say they have seen light emanating from the teenager's forehead.
"It looks a bit like when you shine a torch through your hand," said Tek Bahadur Lama, a member of the committee responsible for dealing with the growing number of visitors from India and elsewhere in Nepal.
Photographs of Ram Bomjon, available for five rupees (4p) from his makeshift shrine, have become ubiquitous across the region. "Far and wide, it's the only topic of conversation," said Upendra Lamichami, a local journalist.
He said no allegation had yet emerged of Ram breaking his fast or moving, even to relieve himself.
Santa Raj Subedi, the chief government official in Bara district, appealed to the capital, Kathmandu, for assistance in dealing with the influx of visitors, and for a team of scients to examine the case.
Local doctors failed to reach a final conclusion, although they were allowed no closer than five yards from the boy mystic, declaring that they could confirm no more than that he was alive.
The popularity of the phenomenon is partly because it resembles an episode in the life of the historical Buddha, who was born 160 miles away around 543 BC. The Buddha achieved enlightenment when he meditated beneath a sacred pipal tree for 49 days.
Ram Bomjon is also sitting beneath a pipal tree, in the same posture as the Buddha is depicted, but his vigil has already taken longer.
Ram's mother, who is called Maya Devi, like the Buddha's mother, admits to anxiety, particularly at meal times. But she tells herself: "God took him to the forest and I have faith that God will feed him."
She said: "He's definitely got thinner. Early in the morning he looks sunken, like there's no blood in him, but as the sun rises he seems to get brighter and brighter."
The fervour increased last week when a snake is said to have bitten Ram, and a curtain was drawn around him.
After five days it was opened and he spoke. "Tell the people not to call me a Buddha. I don't have the Buddha's energy. I am at the level of rinpoche [lesser divinity].
"A snake bit me but I do not need treatment. I need six years of deep meditation."
Despite his protestations, "Buddha boy" is famous.
A thriving market has grown in the once pristine forest, supplying pilgrims with everything from chewing tobacco and bicycle repairs to incense and sacred amulets. The ground is covered in litter.
A fence was built around Ram's tree to prevent pilgrims prodding him, then a second, and now a third is planned, as well as a bus park, leaving Ram at the centre of an ever growing circle of rubbish.
Prakash Lamsal, a businessman said: "Some people are selling 2,500 rupees [£20] worth of tea a day.
"These lamas [monks] are going to build mansions out of this. If I wasn't a bit embarrassed I'd take a van down there and set up a stall."
having personally been there on the spot,i have developed a very high
esteem for the arduous meditation of the teenaged boy.my very first glimpse
of him seemed to clear off half of my skepticism.he was there on
padmasana,the meditating crosslegged posture, and i watched him without
interruption for as long as i was there.he was there like a perfect statue
and the silence of the forest seemed to be in perfect combination.its been
about a month of that visit and some of my friends who watched him two days
ago,found him in exactly the same posture and more interestingly, all of
them also saw a flame radiating out from the bodhisattva's palms,which
evidently was seen by all the visitors who were present on the
occassion.the rationalists might call it a mass hallucination, hypnotism,
fraud or whatever but they would all see it infront of their own
unbelieving eyes if they just took the trouble of coming to the place .he
wont go away anywhere, he will be right there on the place for years and
there is plenty of time for all skepticisms to clear away. in my opinion no
matter how much advancement we have made in science and technology,how much
of physics we have known, how much of medical physiology we have
conquered,we as rational beings havent so far succeeded in obtaining any
rational picture of the reality.we might have moved to quantum physics but
something as basic as gravity is yet pending a proper definition in the
world of physics.so where are we actually?? are we really in a position to
discard anything outright on the basis of known science when so much is yet
unknown in the world of science.i believe there are vast mysteries pending
to be explored and vast sources of energy unquantised or unmeasured in
science . there is a different real spiritual world out there with infinite
power and energy, which is hidden to us because we are masked by our side
of the reality.science should always be for truth and if the truth is right
there infront of us and if it seems inconceivable,science should find a way
to define it and make it conceivable,even if it means lending the hands of
spiritual learning.other wise , it would be foolishness on our part to
discard anything looking impossible when from that very science,we seem to
accept highly inconceivable facts like creation of the universe from a
point of infinite density,the origin of life from nonliving elements, the
yet dubious questions of evolution etc etc. i urge all scientists of the
world to come to the place,investigate and see it for themselves.apart from
the question of real or unreal, there is the question of "the cause"- why
he is taking this arduous venture at an age when, the rest of his agegroup
are enjoying the fulfillment of the desires naturally cast upon
adolescence. in a world torn apart by conflict, by animosity, by cruelty
and by war, the noble cause of bringing mankind together in a garland of
peace and love definitely deserves our full support......MAY PEACE PREVAIL
ON EARTH!!