While we are having a heated discussion about the religion in Nepal’s new constitution, lets look the Hinduism, Nepal’s religious Identity and Nepali peoples conscientiousness.
Hinduism
Hinduism is not a single religion. Or it’s not like Islam, Christianity or other religion which has some specific text books and specific God/gods. It’s more like a group of religions and beliefs and practices. Although the four Vedas are widely considered as a main Texts of the ‘Hindu’ religion, there is possibility that you don’t agree in the Vedas, have never read/heard/seen it and you are still a Hindu. There are said to have 33 million gods in Hinduism while Bhrama, Vishnu and Shiva are considered as the major three gods. Now, in Hinduism, you have a choice to follow a particular god only, follow the three major, follow some few more or follow non of the Gods and believe in the Gurus and you can still be a Hindu. So Hinduism is more a way of life, culture, cult and practise where many beliefs and many ideas can adjust. And just like all other religion this religion has some good and some bad practices. Some peaceful and some violent history. And although it is really hard to sum up Hinduism, it can be said to be based on;
1. Karma ( the belief that your action has consequences in your this life and in next life)
2. Rebirth ( the idea that human reborn again in good family/fortune or bad family or even as animal/insect according to the deed you do in your life)
3. Soul ( the spirit that never dies and is a part of Bhrama/the cosmos and we can go back to be Brhama if we worship gods)
4. Maya (the concept referring to the illusion where human soul believes that the earth and earthly matters are reality and forgets the gods and gets entrapped in cycle of rebirth)
5. gods ( the supreme being who are higher than humans and have power to free us from the Maya ( also called Sansara)
6. Gurus ( its more of a practice than belief that most of the Hindus have one/or more Gurus (example, Sai Baba), they are another human but believed to have the supreme power or having reached the position they can guide people to Mokshya (way to be free from the Maya)).
Being one of the oldest religion, it has developed to too many forms and shapes. Hinduism has gifted modern world with some nice gifts like Yoga, mediation and literatures like Mahabharata. It has also darker side. Most Hindus believe in caste system and some social groups are called untouchables and were prohibited from education, land ownership and freedom since hundreds of years. Some parts of India, especially North India, the dark cult of human sacrifice is still prevalent which can tracked back long as one of the Hindu Goddess is seen wearing human skull as ornament. In india, Hindu extremists have also been involved in atrocities against Muslims, Christians and Dalits.
Nepal’s Religious Identity
Nepal is never widely known as a Hindu country around the world. Most of the westerners consider us as a Buddhist nation. The 80%, 85% Hindu statistics is twisted. Unreal. Fake.
I live in the UK and my landlord is a Muslim. Some times ago he had asked me what religion I follow, I said “..well I don’t really believe in God but as a family, we are Hindu.” A few days later he happened to come over to our flat to fix broken shower, he noticed the picture of the Buddha hanging on wall and was surprised, he asked me why was there Buddha’s picture on the wall of a ‘Hindu’ family’s flat ? I said ” well we are Hindu and Buddhist”. He didn’t understand a thing, like you can’t be a Christian and Muslim at the same time, or a Jew and Christian or even a Protestant and Catholic.
The answer is probably Nepal’s religious Identity. It is hard for someone from outside of Nepal to understand this phenomenon. We, Nepalese as a nation has adopted this uniqueness that we have been worshipping Buddha and Shiva since hundreds of years. It’s not Hinduism and Buddhism but also all the religious minorities, the nature worshippers like Kirat and Baram and many other religions have been blended and have been celebrating each other’s festivals since hundreds of years. Now, it’s on our hand whether to keep this phenomenal harmonious identity of our beautiful country or destroy it by separating ourselves as Hindu, Buddhist, Kirat, Muslim because a convicted corrupt and foreign extremists tell you to do so?
war or peace ?
Buddhist or Hindu or Kirat eh ?
Probably our ancestors who fled religious tensions in India hundreds of years ago learnt from the experiences to live in harmony and adapted the blended uniqueness, now it’s on us to destroy it or live in peace.
Nepali Conscience
The Greek worship many gods just like we Nepalese do. They have two interesting gods, Apollo and Dionysus, they are blood brothers. Apollo is god of reason and rational while Dionysus is god of mob and irrational. This is the moment, we the Nepali to choose between the god of reason or the god of chaos.
There is one and only reason that some people are demanding the Hindu nation – “THE CHRISTIANS ARE COMING. They are growing overnight and destroying our identity”
Oh, Really ? – “Yes”
Who told you ? – ” Kamal Thapa, Khum Bahadur Khadka, Kamalnayanacharya, India’s Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh, India’s BJP leaders” and also ” we have seen the churches grow in neighbourhood and people are manipulated by money and promises”
Now lets have a look at the people who are telling us that Nepal should be constitutionally Hindu nation otherwise our identity is gone:
1. Khum Bahadur Khadka is a convicted criminal, just out of jail, trying to be back in politics via the “hindu” slogan.
2. Kamal Thapa is also a criminal, a few years ago if you remember, we the Nepali were demanding him hanged because he killed so many of us.
3. Kamalnayanacharya – How many of us know what he exactly does and who he is ?
4. The RSS and BJP – RSS is literally a terrorist organization, banned many many times in India itself due to it’s involvement in atrocities, killing of Muslims, Christians and Dalits and Mahatma Gandhi himself was killed by the RSS member Nathuram Gothse. BJP is a right wing Hindu extremist party and RSS’s parent organization, politically tough on Nepal and a bully of South Asia.
Now, are we seriously doing what a convicted criminal, a murderer, a suspicious Mr. nobody and a terrorist organization saying ? Have we lost our mind ? Can we no more think ?
Are we acting on our own will to protect our identity or just simply reacting because the criminal, murderer and terrorists told us to do so ?
What about the Christians ? They are eating us up ..
Let me tell you something, the Christians were here long ago Khum Bahadur, Kamal Thapa and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh told us. They were thriving, the churches were booming and the missionaries were preaching in your neighbourhood while Nepal was a Hindu kingdom constitutionally; there was King and Kamal Thapa was minister of home affairs. So why did Mr Thapa close his eyes while Christian Missionaries were preaching in front of Narayanhiti Durbar ? My friend, we should understand that, at that time he was in power, he didn’t need you, he didn’t need Hinduism, but now he desperately needs you to go out on street ans shout louder, burn tire and kill Christians, Muslims and Buddhists so that he vcan go into the power.
Lets come back to Christians and you. YOU – what were you doing while the Christians were bribing money, offering job and converting your neighbour to Christian. There is something called the law in Nepal. And the law says it’s illegal to convert someone to other religion by manipulating or by force. YOU – my friend, what were you doing while the Christians were collecting the children and keeping them in illegal foster home and teaching them Bible in Sunday school ? well, that time Khum Bahadur Khadka was in Jail, Kamal Thapa didn’t tell you and the RSS and BJP were too busy in India to come come back to power again. So you didn’t know about Christians until they told you.
The Fact
The Christians will never stop preaching and sending missionaries because that is their religion, that is what Jesus told them to do. They often go to North Korea and Iran to preach. The money, the job and all sorts of things Christians offer, there is law to stop it. Go tell the police about the illegal foster home, illegal conversions ask your neighbour pastor about his business. AND more importantly the Nepali society should IMMEDIATELY stop being racist and haters. The caste systems, the so called untouchables (Dalits), the poor, the women all should be respected so that they will not look for the alternative religion. Nobody wants to stay Hindu and be tortured and being hated like animals, should we not stop this so that our Dalit, Tamang community do not convert to Christianity ?
If Nepal goes back and becomes a Hindu nation again, there is risk that our beautifully blended uniqueness will die. The Buddhists, the Kirats, the Muslims of our country will be excluded. Today, the Buddhists, Kirats, Muslims of Nepal are more and more conscious politically and about their culture and religion. If anyone wants to underestimate this, to suppress them like the Shah Kings did they won’t be quiet like in the past. So hurting their sentiment will bring division. And the problem could be worse. The corrupt, the criminal, the terrorists, the Mr nobody, will come back and rule us. It’s not about Christians, it’s about respecting our Nepalese brothers and sisters. Hindu nation was secretly inserted into constitution of Nepal just 55 years ago, before that Nepal wan’t a Hindu nation. Now, unlike 55 years ago our Buddhist and Kirat and Tamang brothers and sisters know what’s going on. Our political consciousness has arisen. The religious minorities won’t stay silent, there may be division. While we are chasing “foreign religion” , are we not inviting Indians Hindu extremists ?
I believe that we will act on our free will. We will act with our conscience and compassion and let Nepal remain a country of all of us.
Peace.
from Himalayas to Highlands 