John 1:24-27

(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

They, ‘If you are not a lama, why are you baptizing?’

John, ‘Yes; I do perform baptism. But He, the Coming One, is so great, that I am not worthy even to be His slave.’

It was the next day that Yeshu came.

John 1:28

These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

It all happened in a deep valley where there was water.  It was a location with

“The mountain rock behind,

the mountain lake in front”

Here John lived as a hermit, but he could not live in seclusion (ri-khrod), because great crowds of people assembled having walked for several days. Earlier John had been preaching, ‘Repent of your sins’, and they came to be washed with the water of baptism – embezzlers, evil tax officials, shamelessly-stealing soldiers, all who were convicted of their sin; and a few lharampas and priests too, but they came insincerely; it was only to look.