On November 4, Ven. Pannasila held the Kathina Ceremony at his Monastery in Satnur to celebrate the completion of the Rains Retreat. More than three hundred people from the nearby village attended. The 24-hour event included Paritta chanting, sermons on the Dhamma, religious movies, and Buddhist songs. The songs were performed by the youth of Satnur.
On November 5, the novices began pindapata in the villages of Satnur and Pusli.
Throughout the Rains Retreat the novices received training in Pali, Dhamma, Vinaya, chanting, and meditation. Much of the Vinaya training was conducted by Ven. Pannananda (Prajnananda), who has been a novice for three years and is very knowledgeable in the Vinaya. Ven. Pannasila is planning to arrange for his Upasampada (full ordination as a bhikkhu), within the next year.
There are four young novices:
Ven. .Dhammananda, 12 years old, from Gwalior, Madya Pradesh
Ven. Nagaratana, 14, from Surat, Gujerat
Ven. Sila ratana, 12, from Pandhurna, Madya Pradesh
Ven. Mahindaktti, 12, from Gaya, Bihar
All four novices have been studying very hard. Ven. Pannananda very capably took care of them and conducted the training whenever Ven. Pannasila was called away from Satnur on Sangha business.
Several of the young boys suffered from illness, but there was nothing serious, and they have recovered.
Unfortunately, getting their passports has proved much more difficult than any of them expected. In one case, they had to abandon filing the application because of violence against Dalits in the provincial capital. At this time, only Ven. Dhammananda has completed the application. Ven. Pannasila hopes that he will soon be able to bring the young novice to study in Sri Lanka, but he cannot give a firm date at the moment.
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