This is a question more for the youngsters really. After some observation I have come to note that the newer Nepali generation is not very religious. But then again, I was born and raised in the capital city and my observation does not extend beyond the hills of the valley.

<b>So yuva-yuvati haru, how religious are you?</b>

By the way, I am differentiating between culture and religion for this particular discussion. Celebrating festivals like Dashain, Tihar and what not, weighs in on the cultural side.

Religious for this discussion entails believing firmly in a god, praying and/or visiting temples on a regular basis and so on.

<i>Simply believing in God, but never thinking about God does not really count!</i>

Ok, own up!!

Me... I am not exactly religious. :/

In my opinion, believing in OneSelf is more important than believing in God

While my views might represent the absolute minority, I believe that the more I learnt about our 'religion' the more I abhorred it (Hinduism). I hated the pretentious ceremonies, illogical superstitions, rigid caste system, greedy pujaris, claims of 'deumas', orthodoxy of the system itself.

That being said, I realize now, that its NOT about god, but about oneself, like MuiChuFung put it. Its a system in which, if you believe in, will reap psychological benefits from the stem of confidence that you inherit by its acceptance. I believe in a collective consciousness that holds everything in this universe together, and a slight change in that web, will have its effects rippled throughout everything that exists.

God? nah. for me he's the santa claus of religion. Thats what makes it exciting to believe in.

Peace. No offense.

i agree, dekchidriver..that's exactly what i feel..i wasnt able to put these thoughts in words..you did it for me..thanx!!

Much obliged.

...in moments of grief and sorrow..i call out gods name.. in a hope he/she would rescue.. which i know is  just a feeling many of us have.... we use the term god casually so many times in our daily conversation..have u ever noticed that???..especially when u are alone and talkin to yourself.. and we also tend to blame god for our failures.... i m not a strong believer of god..however, i cant deny the fact that i tend to believe in god unconsciously or subconsciously(by using the name god frequently in my conversation)....it could be that, this very subconscious part of us is the god..one day i was sitting alone in my room and thinking about how perfect our world is....looking at the greater picture..lets question how perfect is the universe???... everything is in a system...a system balanced and run by different kind energies.. maybe those energies are gods.. or lets take it this way....our universe is  a part of a greater system..just like an organ in a living creature's body..and the body is god..(thass somewhat similar to what gita says)..... im just letting my mind play a bit here.. but seriously.. think bout it.. god is everything..but not one  single entity.. that is what our religion says..thats why we have this notion of 33 billion or million( im not sure) gods..i am simply trying to say that everything operating in this system is god. these thoughts  occured to me just now.. i have never ever thought this way.. maybe this is god...god is omni present.. that is what i had studied in grade 2 in moral science class.. now i can relate to it....
im not a believer in god in a way many people are.. like they worship.. ram, krishna shiva,jesus, mohammad blah blah..my perception of god is that , it is system of energies present everywhere that runs this whole world in broader sense, the whole universe.

Catch me: great thoughts. So god is actually a manifestation of every thing in this universe. wow. not really one figurative head, but just the different forces.

Religion initially gave me the idea of some guy up above watching over us. I dont believe that, but your explanation seems more plausible. God is not a person, he/she/it is rather (in more physical terms) anything with mass/matter.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

exactly dekchi....how bout summarizing it this way....physics is god..!!!!

Your thoughts are exactly as I think. Catch_me, dekchidriver, you people are absolutely right.

However, in addition to that, I also believe is God who comes to rescue you when you ask for his help. For some reason, he always helps me when I seek his help. I cannot explain why, but it is my personal experience in life.

I think there is God is every of us. God is that soul which has all the knowledge of this universe. Inside me, there is God, may be he has not manifested his entire form in me, just his small percentage (because I have so much ignorance). Gods manifests more on persons who have more knowledge. And when he manifests almost in totality like he did in Sree Ram, Sree Krishna, Jesus, Buddha or in my present Guru, that person is called God. It is because that person has almost all the knowledge that is beyond time, teritory or religion. It is because that person can give and share his knowledge and experience with others so that people's life can benefit from it and they can achieve happiness in their day-today life.

This is my personal thinking, which can even change with time...as our perspective always changes when we come in contact with pleasing and convincing ideas...

Prayers, hmm: consider this. If we were to assume the universe if ONE BIG computer, which quantum physics claim it is so, then our minds are like wireless devices. So when we are praying , these wireless routers are hard at work relaying information to where ever god's email address is.

But somhow he never seems to reply! or at times I get his/her/its vacation autoresponder! If only he used Skype.

dekchidriver :). Nice analogy!!! Just my thought:- may be the internet connectin is the slow one, or it fails from time to time. If we could connect properly to his email address, then perhaps we could get the reply. But I like the way you think...good thoughts.

Hello everyone, although i dont have much comments on anything, for some reason i feel obliged to write on this thread. Personally, I would consider myself very non religious (from throwing my janai to eating beef, i guess i am not even qualified as a hindu anymore); and there were times i abhorred hinduism more than any other religion. However, as times have changed I have no grudges against any religion although I belong to none of them. Having said that, I guess there is something spiritual about every human beings (or any living being for that matter), and even the earliest forms of religions (or semi-religions) like shamanism, animism, etc kind of address it. What do you guys think about that?

sadbhav: LMAO! Slow connection. Never thought of that! dang! I hope he's not on dialup man. haha.

temujin: Yes I do agree with you there. Religion is something that if you believe too deeply in, you get blind to the outside world. I guess thats true if you believe too deeply in anything! I mean, no offense, but sai baba! Please tell me the secret of how he can sway so many people. Is it spiritual? Religious? I cannot understand the man, and am very much a skeptic when it comes to believing what he says/does. Esp the 'stories' about writings miraculously being etched on bananas and curd. Anyways, I have heard lewd stories about that man floating about, dont know how true it is.

dekchidriver: haha, i completely agree with you on the sai baba remarks!