Kashi

Not long into the death doula training and I'm finding fascinating conversations emerge with unlikely folk. A recent meeting brought the topic of the sacred city of Varanasi/ Kashi / Benares, located in India, by the banks of the holy river Ganga. Having lived three years of my life in India I have yet to visit Kashi, having heard much about this ancient city it remains a place that allures me from a distance. Pilgrims gather to bathe and offer their prayer or cremate the dead on the Ghats and dying in this holy city is considered by many Hindus to end the karmic cycle of life and death. Over thousands of years people have traveled here in preparation for their passage into the afterlife. I was fascinated to discover that death hotels and lodges that house the elderly and sick are a common feature of Kashi. People wait patiently for their final hour, some settling in lodging for as long as decades before death's door opens to welcome them!

I forever welcome stories about Varanasi for any who have traveled there and experienced this ancient city still pulsing with life and celebrating death as revered gateway please share !