Transforming beggers

I come from a very religious family, but I hated it when I had to go to the temples with my parents. It’s not that I am a secular, but I loathed the protocols of worshipping. I preferred going to the temples by myself. When I am feeling down or agitated I used to go to the temples. I normally didn’t go inside the temples but I used to love the serenity of the area. The bells ringing, the birds chirping, the hustles of the devotees, and of course the monkeys. My favorite temple was ‘Karya Binayak’ at ‘Bungmati’. I used to get heaps of happiness by just being there. The only thing that saddened me was the presence of ‘beggars’.

I am a firm believer of “you can teach a man how to fish but you cannot feed them”. I normally don’t give them any money but sometimes I can’t stop myself. There is no way one person can help them all. The line of beggars in every steps of “Dakshinkali Temple” during Dashain festival used to make me sick. I wish I could help them all, but I guess even Bill Gates can’t help them as long as they are just content on begging.

I think the temple’s trust must employ them in someway, e.g. for cleaning, errands etc. There should be a strict law and equally strong enforcement against begging. Most of the beggars are seen around the prominent temples, and I believe the temple has more than enough fund to employ them and explore areas where they can be used.

There has always been a conflict regarding the assets and earnings of temples. For example temple like ‘Pashupatinath’ has huge income source, but it is said that the earning has never been transparent and majority of them are gulped by the ‘Pujari’s’. There had been debates regarding employing Nepalese instead of Indians as ‘Pujari’ of ‘Pashupatinath’, but that concern was attenuated due to the influence of “Higher Power’s”. Now that new constitution has been promulgated, the influence of “Higher Power’s” is significantly diminished. I request the government to advance major steps in making the earning of temples more transparent. If ‘Sai Baba’ affiliated hospitals can do kidney transplants in IRS 25.00, Nepalese temples can most certainly take care of the beggars, and keep the site clean and efficient.