From November 19th to the 24th, 2009 Palden Dorje a.k.a. Ram Bahadur Bomjan will be giving blessings in Ghadi Mai. He plans this appearance in order to protest the sacrificing of tens of thousands of animals before they take place on the 25th at the Ghadi Mai Festival near Nijgad in Bara District. This Ancient Nepali Festival has taken place once every five years over several millennia.

I completely support him on this one.

More about Gadimai

Ram Bahadur Bomjan has started his public appearance from November 10 to November 18 2008. He’s given a 45 minutes long speech and is planning to talk to his devotees for few hours everyday for a week before returning to his meditation. According to LTJ, who’s been there: “his speech was about 10 minutes long. He repeated it with great self control 3 times over ad verbatim in the same voice because people were missing it”

Here’s what we know about what he said so far from different sources.

Nepal Samacharpatra writes:

Bomjan says that the level of violence and death has increased in the country because society has failed to follow the religious path. And that’s the reason for human suffering. Bomjan also claimed that he’ll bring peace to the society through his meditation.

Ram Bahadur Bomjan speaking to his followers in Hallori Jungle (photo credit: Nepal Samacharpatra)

According to a Nepali blog mero sansar (There’s a short video too):

He tried to link his life story with lord buddha’s by saying that he’s started looking for peace after witnessing a cremation of a dead body at the age of six. During his 45 minutes long talk he got stuck several times and had to whisper with his helper lama to complete the speech, which gives an impression that he’s still not ready to preach independently.

BBC is also writing about his reappearance.

Officials say that hundreds of devotees, including many from neighbouring India, trekked to see him on Tuesday.

A message from Palden Dorje (google groups, you have to be a member to view the group’s content)

Palden Dorje wants to help bring peace to the world. We have to do karma, learn to love each other, and trust in God. We have to make peace amongst each other and realize we are one. God is one all over the world.

The official site of Ram Bahadur Bomjan has his biography for quite some time with some very interesting photos, including his underground meditation pit.

Lively and very special group of people discuss about Ram, his meditation, life and spirituality on Ram Bomjon – Palden Dorje, Google Groups, you should become a member to have a first-hand news about Buddha Boy. Recently there’s been a news that Ram has changed his robe to white and is giving a public audience in two months. This might mean he has come to realize the ultimate truth (Emptiness) and maybe is ready to teach…?

Here’re excerpts from the discovery channel documentary:

48 hours of continuous observation and Ram isn’t moving

Buddha Boy Secret techniques

His first message was for peace to the world.

Murder, violence, greed, anger and temptation has made the human world a desperate place. A terrible storm has descended upon the human world, and this is carrying the world towards destruction. There is only one way to save the world and that is through ‘dharma” (religious practice.) When one doesn’t walk the righteous path of religious practice, this desperate world will surely be destroyed. Therefore, follow the path of religion and spread this message to your fellows.

when you read the translation of his message it is very powerful, but listening to his speech in Nepali was not that great. To me it sounded like a teenager trying to deliver a memorized speech. The second video was another attempt…, It was clear that either he was reading the speech or was another memorized one.

Having that said, I still think he’s very special and is up to something but the whole spectacle that organizers are trying to create around him and make him a great guru before he becomes one is just wrong and sad.

Let me know what you think!

The report seems conflicting — first it says that Khatri was taken into control for three hours before being attacked in presence of committee members, and later quotes a committee member Yekananda Kunwar, who says: “Khatri was attacked because he tried to enter the meditation premises with a Khurpa (Nepali knife) when no one was around”.

To me, all this sounds a bit strange — a person meditating for peace resorting to violence, but again the facts are not clear yet! hopefully more details will emerge soon.

[Thanks for the link, Bharat.]

According to Inspector Rameshwor Yadav of the Area Police Post Nijgadh, Bomjon was inside the bunker-like square ditch of seven feet.

“We call it bunker,” he said, adding, ” Although it’s seven feet deep, there is no lack of oxygen inside,” said Yadav, who claimed to have seen him going inside it from close range Monday.

A police team, under the command of Yadav, had gone to the place after word of Bomjon being on underground meditation spread in the area.

“His face was clean and hair was combed well,” Yadav said. According to him, “the bunker” has been cemented from all sides with roof of tiles.

So, some people think he’s looking for a peaceful place to meditate while others think he’s doing this for popularity and more money. I think he’s doing this for the same reason Buddha did 2600 years ago. Of course it’s a different matter whether he’ll be able to attain enlightenment or not. I’m not sure about his followers, but I’m quite sure about him, that he neither cares about money nor fame.

Bomjan now plans to begin ‘patal samadhi’ (underground meditation), a private TV channel reported Monday, quoting a local journalist.

According to reports, his followers have already dug up an eight-feet 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.

I’ve no idea what this means or will lead to if it’s true. I just hope that he knows what he’s doing. Searched Google to see if anyone has attempted this before and found this interesting overview of Scientific Studies of Contemplative Experience by Michael Murphy.

Like heart stopping, the live burial of yogis has excited the interest of several researchers. A physician, Rustom Jal Vakil, published an account in the British journal Lancet of such a confinement that was witnessed by some 10,000 people near Bombay in February 1950. According to Vakil, an emaciated sadhu named Ramdasji sat cross-legged in a subterranean 216-cubic-foot cubicle and remained there for sixty-two hours. His pulse remained steady at eighty beats per minute; his blood pressure was 112/78; and his respiratory rate fluctuated from eight to ten breaths per minute. Though he had some scratches and cuts, Vakil wrote, Ramdasji appeared “none the worse for his grueling experience.”