{"id":1821,"date":"2026-05-29T12:50:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/?p=1821"},"modified":"2026-05-30T04:49:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T03:49:26","slug":"nepal-bhutan-may-2026-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/nepal-bhutan-may-2026-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal-Bhutan May 2026 #2"},"content":{"rendered":"

28\/5\/26<\/strong><\/span>
\nThis was a huge day. \u00a0Conference done – my paper on the Buddhist concept of anatman presented on Tuesday – I awoke this morning excited to begin a true holiday. \u00a0I didn’t count on it being such a deeply moving day.<\/p>\n

Collected by Jaya, my guide, and my driver, Ram, in our little Hyundai (they let me sit in front, thankfully, to stretch my long legs) I discover they are friendly and knowledgeable, and clearly pleased to have a tourist who seems not just genuinely interested in their religion and culture but both vaguely knowledgeable about it and keen to learn more.<\/p>\n

\"Shiva\"<\/a>
Shiva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our first visit was to the largest Shiva statue in the world. \u00a0Very impressive. 144feet tall, with Parvati, Ganesh and Skanda on a little plinth at his feet, Mahadev is here in his purple splendour with trident and cobra.<\/p>\n

\"Ganesh,<\/a>
Ganesh, Parvati and Skanda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the little shrine at his feet, the priest put a tika on my forehead, blessed me with the rudraksha beads, gave me a few little yellow flower petals from the flowers draped across the shivalingam in the shrine, which I placed upon the crown of my head, and handed me a few of the sugared sweetcorn, which I duly ate. \u00a0It was very special to embrace and engage with the ritual of this Shiva puja. \u00a0My guide taught me how to sing the mantra, “Om namaha shiva—-ya”<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/signal-2026-05-28-11-49-12-354.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Shrine<\/a>
Shrine at the feet of Shiva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But this was just the introduction. Because we then drove to Pashupatinath. \u00a0This huge complex of over 500 shrines to Shiva in his ‘Lord of the Animals’ guise was simply breathtaking, and we began it by going straight to the cave-like shrine of an Aghori Baba Sadhu. \u00a0These black-linen clothed holy men follow a very special path, different to the better known white-linen clad ascetic sadhus, and their specialisation is conquering fear. \u00a0This is why the aghori sadhu (who has been practicing for 32 years, I am told) has his shrine in the wall overlooking where the bodies of Kathmandu people are prepared for, and then cremated, at the shore of the sacred Bagmati river that runs through this city – Nepal’s Ganges. \u00a0I am led into the shrine, and greeted by the sadhu, invited to take off my shoes, and sit facing the seated statue of the Guru Dresh. \u00a0A small woman with a friendly smile shows me how and where to sit, with my fingers in the proper rudra (thumb and first finger touching, the other fingers outstretched, both hands resting palm upwards on my knees, and invited to meditate for 15 minutes. \u00a0My guide goes to sit at the other end of the shrine, and he and the two women and the sadhu chat quietly. \u00a0 Occasionally a phone makes a sound. \u00a0There is chatter just outside the shrine too. \u00a0But somehow none of this matters. \u00a0I am soon lost to the world, deep in meditation in this sacred space. \u00a0But my back is really not up to sitting in this position for very long, and I begin to shift and feel uncomfortable. Opening my eyes, I turn to look across and my guide calls over saying just to be comfortable and take it easy. \u00a0So I lie down, with my knees up, and my elbows on the ground but hands in the air, fingers in the rudra. \u00a0This is much better. \u00a0But inside, now, it is the mantra om namaha shivaaaaya that runs over and over in my mind. \u00a0This is somehow easier than silent meditation. \u00a0It is simple. \u00a0I lie in this position, with the mantra in my mind, hoping to last for 15 minutes. \u00a0At last, feeling a little numb in my elbows, and then realising my hands are tingling with pins and needles, I shift again, and begin to sit up. \u00a0I am done. \u00a0Looking at the clock on the wall, I realise I have been meditating for 25 minutes. \u00a0It is quite something. The sadhu is smiling at me. \u00a0He seems quite young to me, perhaps in his late 40s. \u00a0His dreadlocks hanging down his back are the same colour as the black cloth draped around him. \u00a0His welcoming smile is reassuring. \u00a0I am invited to stand so my guide can take pictures, with my phone, of me standing with the sadhu, in particular with the statue of Guru Dresh in the background.<\/p>\n

\"Aghori<\/a>
Aghori Sadhu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then, suddenly, I am invited to look into the holy of holies – the sacred place at the back of the shrine I did not expect to see. \u00a0My guide tells me there is a skull there. \u00a0Would I like to see? \u00a0I nod, and follow the sadhu into the inner sanctum. \u00a0There, on a small desk, deep red all over with glistening Chandan, is a human skull. \u00a0I believe it may be the head of the Guru Dresh, who taught the sadhu. \u00a0I am deeply moved, my hands together in prayer of thanks, my head bowing, my lips muttering Namaste, and Thankyou. \u00a0The sadhu smiles. \u00a0Stepping back out into the main shrine, the sadhu puts his thumb on my third eye, presses for a while, and mutters a prayer, and I am blessed. \u00a0He does the same for my guide. \u00a0We both turn and place NPR500 notes in the little offering dish, and step back out into the sun. \u00a0I am completely blown away. \u00a0My guide tells me this was a rare experience. \u00a0Usually tourists come in for 2 minutes and are gone. \u00a0Being invited in to see the skull is almost unheard of – even for locals. \u00a0The sadhu, apparently, told him that I had a deep connection with Shiva (for a tourist!), and he was pleased and glad to help me to honour it. \u00a0It has been a deeply moving experience.<\/p>\n

\"Funeral<\/a>
Funeral pyre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Out in the sun, we walk across a little footbridge, over the Bagmati River, and stand to watch as families tend to their dead. (The other four of Kathmandu\u2019s rivers flow into the Bagmati, which itself later joins the Ganges.) There are four dead bodies on the paving on the other side of the river, and their families are purifying them with milk, honey, water, and tears, dressing them ready to be carried to the pyre where they are covered with straw, and set alight, in the typical open-air cremation that all the people of Kathmandu may enjoy. It is free – one only pays for milk, honey, incense, etc – and the favoured manner of seeing off the dead. \u00a0It takes about 3-4 hours to burn each body, I am told.<\/p>\n

After my experience with the sadhu, somehow all this just seems quite natural, and I am not phased. \u00a0It is a serious business, but not I am not discomforted. \u00a0We move back across the footbridge, and round to the side of the main Pashupatinath Shrine. \u00a0Only genetic Hindus are allowed within the main temple. \u00a0Only five sadhus from the south of India, who have been chosen and come to Kathmandu for the last 1400 years, are allowed to touch the self-existing ShivaLingam in the centre of the main shrine. \u00a0All I am allowed is a glimpse of the great Bull – shiva’s ‘ride’ – outside the main temple, where people gather on their way in and out of the shrine.<\/p>\n

\"Shiva's<\/a>
Shiva’s Bull Ride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It has been an incredible morning, and I am glad of the rest and opportunity to have some lunch, before the visit to Boudhanath – the Buddhist Stupa some five minutes away from Pashupatinath.<\/p>\n

After lunch, we strolled around the enormous Boudhanath Stupa. \u00a0Built in the 7th century CE, by a woman who made bricks with dew water she collected each morning, it is sometimes known as the Dew Stupa. Jaya tells me the prayer flags represent the five elements: Yellow earth; White wind; Green water; Red fire; Blue sky. The Enormous Eyes represent compassion and wisdom to the four directions, and the Third Eye is the eye without illusion.<\/p>\n

The stupa is surrounded by shops, making a huge circle of friendly but vibrant capitalism around the solid representation of liberation from all that stuff…. \u00a0I am – like most – enraptured with all the things, nonetheless – the Buddhist Tat, as one might call it (as opposed to Hindu Tat, Christian Tat, etc) and fork out on a magnificent \u00a0Thangka painting of the Kalashakra – the wheel of time mandala – representing the four truths and the journey towards enlightenment: an ‘asset’ for one who meditates.<\/p>\n

Finally, then, we arrive at my hotel, and western comforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28\/5\/26 This was a huge day. \u00a0Conference done – my paper on the Buddhist concept of anatman presented on Tuesday – I awoke this morning excited to begin a true holiday. \u00a0I didn’t count on it being such a deeply moving day. Collected by Jaya, my guide, and my driver, Ram, in our little Hyundai … Continue reading “Nepal-Bhutan May 2026 #2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nepalbhutan2026","category-journeyman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1821"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1837,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821\/revisions\/1837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}