My Vision for Nepal | Make Nepalis realize the ancient wisdom in their midst

Make Nepalis realize the ancient wisdom in their midst

Three ways to realize the vision: 

1) Motivate youths to explore our ancient wisdom.
2) Make them practice the explored wisdom so that they realize its importance.
3) Encourage them to share their new knowledge with others.

Nepal has gifted to the world the very basis of existence. The philosophies, religions, scriptures, rites, languages, cultures, yoga, music, medicines, and science that originated here have greatly enriched humanity. Despite having such a treasure trove of ancient wisdom, the world knows us as a poor country. Forget the world, are we aware of our potential? No, because we don’t care. Even though I have no formal education, top universities across the globe invite me and many other ordinary Nepalis to visit their places and speak just because we in Nepal have the things they don’t have. Let’s realize this.

But most of us don’t know or care about our history and as a result, other countries appropriate our belongings. The world validates our things only after international companies recognize them. For example, we have long known the value of yarsagumba that is found in the upper Himalayas of Nepal, but the world recognized it as a medicinal herb only after the Chinese started buying and validating it. Presently, Gautam Buddha and Sagarmatha are the only two things with which we identify ourselves abroad. But neither do we follow Buddhist philosophy nor have we kept Sagarmatha clean.

In fact, Sagarmatha is a live example of how we are on the verge of losing the stuff of our collective pride. The government should not allow too many expeditions there. Here I am reminded of an old story where a greedy woman kills her hen that laid golden eggs. Our authorities are so greedy that they are allowing Sagarmatha to lose its sanctity, acting just like the woman in the story. We are commercializing everything we have, and this belies our values. 

If each Nepali could contemplate our ancient wisdom, we would make a name for ourselves in the world and no foreign validation will be needed. There is a simple formula for this: explore, practice, and promote. It is younger generations who should mainly apply the formula as they are the ones who will pass this learning to the upcoming generations. If our youths closely observe our ancient wisdom, they will understand its value.

Explore

If you explore “pearls of ancient wisdom”, you will connect with them, which will ultimately motivate you to research them more. Exploration always produces knowledge—teaching us the value of the things we are digging up. This also helps you imagine how they could help you and the rest of humankind. 

Also read: Min Bahadur Bham: Take Nepali cinema to the global stage within two decade

Practice

Practice makes your exploration perfect as it gives you experience and real-life knowledge. The practice of ancient wisdom is the utilization of innate powers as our ancient resources are deeply connected to nature. Through this practice, you could even realize your own mistakes, develop your own perceptions and start a new way of life. 

Promote

The wise man who has explored and practiced the ancient wisdom will promote it so that everyone can benefit from it and live peaceful and joyous lives. Promoting it will preserve and pass our roots and identity to the newer generations. If we don’t value what we have, again, we will turn to foreigners for validation of things which have been an integral part of our heritage.

Nepal is a land of holy sites and the birthplace of many gods. History is replete with examples of sages arriving here for meditation and spiritual practices. Our country is a source of spiritual energy and the origin of spiritual knowledge. I have seen many successful and highly educated foreigners come and visit my Guru in search of such spiritual knowledge.

But Nepali people are adopting western materialistic lifestyles. It may sound a bit harsh but for me a person without spiritual knowledge doesn’t even qualify as a complete person. Not that I am against modern inventions and technologies. They in fact make it easier to spread and promote our wisdom and knowledge. 

Without truly understanding the logic behind our wisdom, people often brush it aside as superstition. We will never progress if we deny our identity and roots. It is not necessary to tag this universal and timeless wisdom to any religion as knowledge is like sunlight. It does not discriminate against anyone; it rather lights up everyone’s path.

These days, a country’s health is mostly evaluated in terms of GDP, which is sad. Let’s learn from our neighbor Bhutan which talks about Gross National Happiness (a part of ancient wisdom). The parameter to measure success should be happiness: unless you are happy, you can’t progress—be it as individuals or nations. This is why the government here should have policies to explore, practice, and promote the ancient wisdom of Nepal.

Quick Questions:

1. What is spirituality for you, in a sentence?

It is a process of broadening your horizon of consciousness.

2. Which person inspires you the most and why?

Lord Buddha and my Gurus, as they have shown me the right path in life. 

3. A quote you live by.

“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”