Thirteen years ago, when I first came to Kathmandu, I never thought that one day I would be writing and manifesting the importance of Lord Pashupatinath. I consider this as one of the biggest achievements of my cosmopolitan stay, thanks to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) for this responsibility.
This is an anecdote or can also be a memoir of this milestone, making Pashupatinath’s first English brochure and its global distribution.
Never thought before that one day I will be collaborating with the team members who initiated the “Sandhya Aarati” and its video documentation, who made the mobile application of Pashupatinath and navigated the Pashupatinath’s orthodox promotional intervention into digital collateral oriented one.
There was a call from Ashish Prasai stating that PADT was trying to do something and my participation could be meaningful. Delighted, we fixed a time to meet. To be very honest, I am not a religious person but again working with PADT was something I was excited about.
My late grandmother would call me and ask if I went or not to visit Pashupatinath? After coming to Kathmandu, Pashupatinath darshan was the third most recommended thing to me. Coming from a village that is 364.4 km from Kathmandu but having listened to the significance of the Pashupatinath temple from childhood, Pashupatinath is my philosophical fantasy.
The creative director of PADT, Aashish Prasai and we met at my friend’s office in Bagbazar. He narrated to me the entire concept, importance, and integrals of Pashupatinath’s first English brochure. Also provided me with the Nepali one, now it was a challenge to contextualize and bring up the meaning of existing Sanskrit texts and create relevance to an international audience.
As a writer, I have been writing for “Hamro Patro” Nepal’s most downloaded mobile application through its cultural column, I have been redefining Nepali events and festivals so this brochure was presupposed to be a regular job for me.
The next phase is to translate and print the ancient Shiva Purana in English, this will take months but it must be done. I so much appreciate the PADT and the initiation of its creative team for the efforts they are undertaking in digitalizing and simplifying the holy Pashupat area.
But when I started, things were completely different, I felt so responsible to write every sentence as I was describing the epitome of the faith for every Hindu across the globe.
My vocabulary gave up, my comprehensions proved to be lame, Pashupatinath was beyond any word, and every word and its meaning seem to be insufficient.
I came across the meaning of Shiva (life) and Shava (lifeless) and how the lifeless manifestation of god, Pashupatinath safeguards the entire biological ecosystem of the globe.
I don’t know how god exists but I am sure if it does then god sustains every one of us. This sounds philosophic but trust me, this particular work gave me a philosophic glimpse of our existence.
One evening, Aashish Prasai and I were in a tea talk, this went so long that it was stretched till dinner time, we planned some goodies for Pashupatinath’s digital placement and simplification of pilgrims and spiritual pursuit through digital interventions.
Aashish Prasai is now in the United States for the organization of Miss Nepal North America, once he arrives back, we shall again kick off with our plans for Pashupatinath.
The next phase is to translate and print the ancient Shiva Purana in English, this will take months but it must be done. I so much appreciate the PADT and the initiation of its creative team for the efforts they are undertaking in digitalizing and simplifying the holy Pashupat area.
I am not just glad but proud to be a part of that. I wish my grandmother was here to see the brochure, I could have at least told her. This Dashain, I am taking some copies to my village, as a gift, nothing resembles the feeling you know?
This prehistoric temple has always withstood sustaining the supreme form of spirituality and power, a proximal look of yourself and existence can be realized from here.
Every Shava becomes Shiva at Pashupati and every Shiva is a potential Shava in this creation. We all die, we do, one day is marked for all of us, Pashupati acknowledges creation, assembles destruction, and advocates recreation.
If there is any God, it must be one and Pashupatinath can narrate the whereabouts. I remember once I was watching Benedict Cumberbatch’s “Doctor Strange” at a movie theatre in Bangkok, upon every scene of Pashupatinath, I would either shout or cry.
Throughout the movie, I bit all my nail tops and my nails were bleeding, that day I realized how intense and strong is the national feeling, scenes of Pashupatinath provoked my patriotism and made me forget my name or ethnicity, what my memory sustained was I was just a Nepali.
I can go very long when talking about nation, culture, and spirituality, today, I stop my pen here. I’ve been to churches, mosques, temples, and even in the crowds of atheists- in my teen, I have had prolonged debates on the existence of God.
Now, maybe I am tired of this silence metamorphism is called maturity, but now no debates can sustain my ideas within. Every man is a distinct idea of living and to understand everything you must accept nothing- Pashupatinath is everything that is within a magnificent nothing.
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