Lokuttara Mahavihara Activities

Lokuttara Mahavihara | Aurangabad Mahavihara | Vihar in India.

http://lokuttaramahavihara.org

Monks Training

: Ven. Bodhipalo Mahathero is very well respected monk for his deep knowledge and practice of Therevada Buddhism. Till now he has guided few hundred monks, throughout India. As of now, there are around 8-10 of his desciples in Aurangabad. He regularly takes training programmes for the junior monks, as Venerable feels that if monks are trained properly and if they practise and preach the correct dhamma, Buddhism will again spread throughout India. For this he has now planned to construct a separate residential Monks Training Centre to create more residential facility than now, which would be able to accommodate around 100 monks.

Sunday Dhamma School

Because of the initiation and constant persuasion and guidance of Venerable, there are 10-12 Sunday dhamma school for kids/ children have started in various viharas of the Aurangabad city. Venerable himself trained some of the lay persons, upaskas for this activity. He has also trained some youths for this purpose. Children are taught about basic principles of dhamma in a very simple manner, starting from how to bow before the respected monks, how to respect their own parents etc. They are also taught about life and mission of Buddha. There are various competition that are taking place within the kids, like essay competition, debate competition, drawing competition etc. there are separate cultural programmes also where the students get a chance to perform in various cultural activities. The classes also concentrate on overall personality development of them. It is the endeavour of Most Venerable that within next 2 years, there should be atleast 25 centres for Sunday School of Buddhism. 

This Sunday dhamma school of Buddhism are really getting popular because it has become a part of Lokuttara Mahavihar activity under the guidance of Ven. Bodhipalo Mahathero and he has also trained some junior monks, his disciples to undertake this activities. The parents also have started sending their kids to these dhamma school sessions. This is one of the major initiative of Lokuttara mahvihara as this activity was not there at all in the whole of Aurangabad city.

Shramner/Shramneri Camps

Under the guidance and leadership of Venerable, many shramner camps are being organised in the Lokuttara Mahavihara. People from Aurangabad participate quite enthusiastically in these activities because of the Most Venerables way of teaching the Dhamma. These residential camps are organised for 2weeks to 4weeks. Most importantly, Ven. Bodhipalo Mahathero also organises Shramneri camps for the ladies only. These are exclusive camps of two weeks to 4 weeks only for the ladies. And the response for this is also very good. This shows that the popularity of Lokuttara Mahavihara and also thr respect for the Veenerable. The shramner camps are also organised for the small children as well. During this period, the Shramners are taught the basics of Buddhism and how to practice it in day to day life. Some of the laypersons have turned to monkhood after listening to the discourses of the most Venerable. Since the seats are limited for these activites, there is lot of backlog. So now most Venerable has decided to increase the residential capacity of the Lokuttara Mahavijara so as to accommodate more number of persons for such type of camps.

Vippassana Meditation Camps:

Venerable Bodhipalo Mahathero, has learned vippassan as well as other forms of meditation and is master of that. He teaches these meditation courses regularly at Lokuttara Mahavihara. Many persons around this area has taken benefits of these courses. He also goes for teaching meditation and mindfulness even in the Universities. And is very famous for this. He has also travelled to many places in India to teach and take courses in meditation.

Special Programmes / Discourses on Every Full Moon Day

On every full moon day, there is special programme and discourse by the Venerable at lokuttara Mahavihara. People from many areas they come for this special programme. On this day, Most Venerable teaches mindfulness and special discourses on various current topics. He also answers any type of questions by the Upasakas/lay persons on this occasion. Also special programmes are organised on 14thApril, which is the birth anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the great person, father of the Indian Constitution, whois mainly responsible for the revival of Buddhism in India. A very special programmes are also organised on Magh Pornima and Vesak pornima, where procession throught city is taken under the leadership of most venerable Bodhipalo Mahathero.

Organization of Various Dhamma Programmes in Maharashtra

Apart from Aurangabad city and various activities in Lokuttara Mahavihara, Venerable Bodhipalo Mahathero also orgnises many dhamma related programmes in various cities of maharashtra including Mumbai. In 2016, under Venerables guidancce, very big Dhamma conference and public programme was organised by NationBuilder Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Vichar Mahotsava Samiti near Kalyan, Mumbai on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Dhammadiksha day, i.e. the day of great conversion by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, in 1956. It was attended by around 200 monks from different countries and 30,000 persons from Mumbai. In 2017, similar very big programmes were arranged under his guidance in new Mumbai area which was also very well attended.

Residential Monks Training Centre-Future Plans for The Expansion

Most Venerable Bodhipalo Mahathero plans to build a Residential Monks Training centre for Indian monks in Lokuttara Mahavihar campus, through the donations of upaskas. Major donor are Dr. Harshadeep Kamble, a very senior bureaucrat from Mumbai and his wife, Mrs. Rojana Vanich, who is incidentally from Thailand. She has also been helping the coordination among the senior Monks from foreign countries. This area would be approx. 25000 sq feet. The construction work has already started. This centre will have residential facility for atleast 80-100 monks , with library facility and conference and class rooms.

This is going to be a first Centre of its kind in India and has already received support and blessings from many senior Venerable Monks from India and from Outside india. The syllabus is also going to be designed soon and Most Venerable plans to start the training programmes for the junior monks from this vassavasa itself. Pooja ceremony was performed on this site on 4th march 2018, by the most venerable Bhikkhu Sangha from different countries, present for this historical occassion.

Vision of Most Venerable Bodhipalo Mahathero

Most Venerable feels that in this modern world, peoples minds are more unstable as the stress of life has increased. This can be alleviated only by Buddhas teachings and practice. therefore it is very necessary to propagate Buddhas thoughts to the world so as to help the Humankind. With lot of compassion in his heart, Most Venerable will be starting this Training centre so as to train more and more monks, who would spread the Buddhist philosophy to the maximum people. He also feels that all the Buddhist from different countries now should come together and work with a common goal. For this he plans to build another Stupa which would have in it the culture of other Buddhist countries around India, so as to familiarise with each other, and to showcase best Buddhist practices going on in the world. 

Most Venerable feels that after good training here, then the monks can go to different areas and teach Dhamma way of life. Some of the monks will also be sent to different countries to gain more knowledge and then come back to serve Indians like did. 
We pray for the long life of Most Respected Bodhipalo Mahathero.