Being secular state doesn't mean that we can not talk about the religions or gods anymore. Buddha was born in hindu state, and hindu family, but he discarded it as for him, it was not possible to gain buddhahood or enlightenment through then methods of hinduism. His father, Suddodan used to do yagya and all kinds of stuffs. But Buddha left all these to find his own way. On the core, all the religions can have the same meaning, but we can't call these are the branches or the same religion. Likewise, buddhism can have similarity with the hinduism. But it is not the branch of hindu religion. For those of use calling it uses same logic, if you read comparative religion, you'll come to know about it. There's a Nepali monk in Thailand, serving as the chief secretary to the Raj guru, the chief monk in Thailand, who has written a whole book about it stating that buddhism is not a branch of hindu religion. I read it couple of years ago. Jesus was also born in a jewish family, but it doesn't make him jew. I agree with those, who said buddhism might be different than what buddha taught. Buddhism has gone way off than what buddha has taught. Afterall, buddhist teachings were documented only after 500 years of his death. So, it's obvious that there might have been the deviation. That is why, very few or none has enlightened since then. But during his time, and even after few years of his death, many ordinary human beings got enlightened. Buddha has taught about Sangha; some might argue it is a religion. But it is not. Afterall, the enlightenment is not possible through any organised religion. Hindu people like to claim buddhism is a branch of hinduism, and buddha is a Vishnu's avatar. But many hindus are afraid to even touch buddhist texts, and would like to discard it. They raise concerns and would sometimes are afraid that buddhism would come to limelight. I've come to know that people in buddhist organisations requested the gov. to make some coins with buddhist images; but then government never implemented it. These coins can be spread all over the world, and can spread the message. But then government was very reluctant, and unfortunately, we've yet to have buddhist image in any nepali coins. Buddhist images in stamps might also have been printed very recently, if it's ever printed. The government doesn't hesitate to print the mother or father of corrupted Lok man singh karki's image or other businessman, but for buddhist image, A BIG NO. Likewise the royals or even prime ministers sometimes were always reluctant to participate in buddhist programs. There was an international buddhist conference in kathmandu few years ago. Then Crown Prince Dipendra was invited, but he just sent a message, and didn't attend it. If it was any yagya, the whole family would have shown their presence. Buddhist people have always been living in harmony with other religions, and have been celebrating hindu festivals, and going to hindu temples. But there're different theories regarding the history of it. Recently, buddhist people have come to feel uncomfortable and some people have already starting to leave celebrating hindu festivals like Dashain. This might have also do with the hindu's claim to bring buddishm into it's umbrella. I am not against hinduism or any sort of things. I respect all hindu gods; I worship them; I go to hindu temples, and I celebrate all hindu festivals. I've read both hindu and buddhist texts; they do have similarities. But these similarities don't make Buddha as a Vishnu's avatar or make buddhism a branch of hinduism.