In the early 1960′s, after he had found extra-ordinary happiness and inner peace through meditation, he decided this knowledge would be wasted if he did not share it with others. In 1963, he left his woodland retreat and made a long and arduous journey to Bangkok. Here he took up residence on a swampy piece of land. His only neighbors-snakes. It was also here that he initiated the construction of his temple, Wat Dhammamongkol.