Shri Pashupatinath Mandir-God and Death at the same place

Country: Nepal

City: Kathmandu

Crew: Anna,Maag, Kuntal and Pahadi

Entrance of Pashupatinath Temple

Our last day in Nepal was planned to roam around in Kathmandu, but first things first was to visit Pasupatinath Mandir. Once you enter the temple, you will get caught in its vortex, it is totally a different world inside it. Here the Shivling is panchmukhi meaning 5 faces of God in the same structure, but we could see only 4 gates to enter and worship, so we asked the security person standing at the gate about the catch of last one. He said “it’s present at the top but invisible”. Pashupati actually means “The Lord of all pashus which are living as well as non living beings”.

Baba in Pose

As we moved further maag went into dhyan (she meditated for some time) and rest of us were roaming around here and there. I saw a person giving tilak-chandan in a leaf, so me and anna also took it and applied on our forehead, this was the first time I have seen tilak being given in a leaf.  Some people were chanting bhajans in a corner and obviously Pahadi was attracted to her passion-music. Sound of bhajan was mixed with the environment in such a way that its part of whole shanti (peace) prevailing in the temple. When I looked at the backside of temple, there was a river (Bagmati) passing, in addition to that I can see that it was a cremation place with few bodies in process. Also there was a person with oxygen pump in a corner, he was there as if it was confirmed that he is not gonna make it and has to be here. It’s the only temple where I witnessed Gods image at one end and death at the other.   

Inside the Temple

I was frightened by the look of that place so I told my crew members that we should move out now, but I was not the only explorer out there, Maag wanted to see what’s there at the backside, so we all moved there and rest of my crew members saw what I was afraid of. It was the first time Pahadi had seen a dead body and she was always afraid of the thought of looking at a body. So for her it was a nightmare come true and photographer Maag wanted to take pics here also and she was standing right beside a body, I tried not to take body in the picture. 

Bagmati River: Backside of Temple

It is said that there is aura present around everything / person, and if our aura conflicts with others, it signals that we should move out of the place as soon as possible. It was happening same for me, I was feeling to move out of that environment as if there was something which was telling to move out from there.