Very few places attract me back as does Bali. This is my second visit. My first was last year and I just realized why. It is the spiritualism of the place. The Balinese are so connected to nature and the divine that for me, even as a Bhutanese, it is inspiring. I just attended a fire and water ceremony at a 13th Century temple where they pay gratitude to the water god and the fire god. Nowhere have I felt water as so sacred than here in Bali.

We say in Bhutan that if you maintain the connection with the deities, they will stay. If not, they will leave. My own feeling is that Bali, which is considered as the land of gods, is still very much “a land of Gods” – meaning the gods have not left.

I hope, in Bhutan, we will continue to stay connected with the outer and the superior beings so that the place is blessed for all time to come. May be we don’t feel it. Like, they say, fish cannot feel the water till they are out of it. But those thousands of tourists and visitors do.

Lastly, with so much problem that we are facing with water, maybe we need to re-invoke our water god (But do we have one?)

sdr

sdr

cof

sdr

sdr