I visited Nepal last year after 10 years. I met "Sane". He looked different. I could not help myself
but to stretch my hand to him, and in return he kindly shook my hand. I don't remember if I had shaken hand with him before. I am just amazed by his personality. I stared at him for sometime. For some reason I am just mesmerized by him. He is clean, courteous and confident. He was not like that when I lived in Nepal. He was messy. He usually wore dirty clothes and carried mucus in his nostrils. He was "damai" by cast and occupation. I am "bahun" by cast. I am just staring at him, and trying to figure out why am I happy to see him. He was not my close friend. My eyes surveyed him to find a cross around his neck. I smiled and I said to myself that he is only "damai" by occupation now. I knew that the religion Christianity alone did not transform him. He was changed by the knowledge. I don't know his source of knowledge. It could be a church, self study or someone else. At that time I realized one thing if the knowledge has so much power, then why don't we teach them at our temples. Why don't we have Gita study session? The Bhagvad Gita is a source of knowledge if we dare to open it in our life time. The religion is not only about doing puja at the temples. The religion is supposed to teach you to lead a meaningful/happy life. Specifically, the hindu religion is the "sanatan dharma" - the way of life. I think that we need to discuss openly about our religion and understand its teachings rather than just following our parents in doing puja. We need to ask questions and be informative. For instance, does anyone know why we HAVE to HAVE certain "hard to find" things for puja? for example gahhut. How is cow piss good for you? Has there been enough research done in the subject matter? It is time to do research and embrace the beneficial things from the culture. Then only we shall have satisfaction .