Category Archives: Religion

by Deepak Shimkhada, Ph.D.

The recent incident reported in e-Kantipur about the arrest of Sangita Thapa, owner of Siddhartha Art Gallery, and Manish Harijan, the artist who exhibited his works at the gallery that offended a certain segment of Nepali society is quite disturbing to say the least. The incident that resulted in the arrest of two individuals is sketchy at best. While I await more details to come out about the incident, I take the liberty to comment about it. First, I condemn such arrests and death threats to the artist categorically. This should not have happened in a civil and democratic society. There should be freedom of expression. The civil struggle that resulted in de-throneing the monarchy not long ago has little meaning if the current government applies strict censorship to enforce moral standards on the works of artists and writers. Continue reading →

“हामीले प्रेम गर्न सिकौं । पे्रम भनेको निर्मल, निश्चल र स्वार्थ रहित हुन्छ । तर मायाँमा छलकपट र स्वार्थ लुकेको हुन्छ । हामीले आमा, बाबु वा आमा बाबुले छोरा छोरी प्रति गरिने माँया हो । यद्यपी आमा बाबुले छोरा छोरीबाट भबिश्यमा ठूलो आशा गरिएको हुदैन । तथापी सदैभरी उनिहरुको रक्षा, हित र राम्रोको कामना गरिरहेका हुन्छौं त्यो सायद हामीले प्रेमको संज्ञा दिंउला तर आमा बाबुले छोरा छोरीलाइ दिइने माँयामा कुनै स्वार्थ नलुकेको भए पनि त्यो आफ्नो आँखाले देखिइ सकेको अवस्थाबाट सुरु भएकोले माँया भन्नु पर्ने हुन्छ । किन भने माँया भन्ने कुरा आफ्ना आँखाले देखेपछि वा कसैका बारेमा सुनेपछि मात्र लाग्ने हुन्छ । यदि हामीले आफ्ना छोरा छोरी वा पति वा पत्नीलाइ नदेखेको भए वा नसुनेको भए माँया लाग्थेन । त्यसैले देखे वा सुने पछि गरिने अनुभूतिलाइ माँया भन्नु पर्दछ । प्रेम त त्यो हो जो अदृश्य बस्तु प्रतिको बिश्वास । हामीले भगवानसंग प्रेम गर्छौ र अझ पनि प्रेम गर्न सिकौं जो निश्चल, निस्वार्थ र छलकपट बिहिन छ । ” Continue reading →

-By Surya Upadhaya

Radha and I with some friends from Aldershot undertook a pilgrimage to Wales, deep in the heart of the United Kingdom. We took the M4 motorway from Reading driving through the lush countryside of Wales. Although it rained during the middle part of our journey, when we reached Wales – by the grace of God – the weather was fine. We were on our way to the Skanda Vale temple, one of the many Hindu temples dotted in the United Kingdom. Continue reading →