From November 19th to the 24th, 2009 Palden Dorje a.k.a. Ram Bahadur Bomjan will be giving blessings in Ghadi Mai. He plans this appearance in order to protest the sacrificing of tens of thousands of animals before they take place on the 25th at the Ghadi Mai Festival near Nijgad in Bara District. This Ancient Nepali Festival has taken place once every five years over several millennia.

I completely support him on this one.

More about Gadimai

A Hong Kong police constable shot dead an unarmed homeless Nepali man.

A life was lost unnecessarily.

Why?

Because a policeman couldn’t subdue a single suspect with pepper spray and baton, then gave him warning in Cantonese (possibly the suspect didn’t understand) and decided to shoot him twice (one in the head) from a very close range.

Investigation is underway, but looking at the mobile phone video footage, shooting was absolutely unnecessary. If the officer was so unfit to subdue a single suspect he should have left him alone and waited for a backup support instead of shooting in the head, after-all he wasn’t a fugitive or a terrorist.

Shame on you Hong Kong Police!

Update: Latest News about the incident from HKNepal.com

Ram Bahadur Bomjan has started his public appearance from November 10 to November 18 2008. He’s given a 45 minutes long speech and is planning to talk to his devotees for few hours everyday for a week before returning to his meditation. According to LTJ, who’s been there: “his speech was about 10 minutes long. He repeated it with great self control 3 times over ad verbatim in the same voice because people were missing it”

Here’s what we know about what he said so far from different sources.

Nepal Samacharpatra writes:

Bomjan says that the level of violence and death has increased in the country because society has failed to follow the religious path. And that’s the reason for human suffering. Bomjan also claimed that he’ll bring peace to the society through his meditation.

Ram Bahadur Bomjan speaking to his followers in Hallori Jungle (photo credit: Nepal Samacharpatra)

According to a Nepali blog mero sansar (There’s a short video too):

He tried to link his life story with lord buddha’s by saying that he’s started looking for peace after witnessing a cremation of a dead body at the age of six. During his 45 minutes long talk he got stuck several times and had to whisper with his helper lama to complete the speech, which gives an impression that he’s still not ready to preach independently.

BBC is also writing about his reappearance.

Officials say that hundreds of devotees, including many from neighbouring India, trekked to see him on Tuesday.

A message from Palden Dorje (google groups, you have to be a member to view the group’s content)

Palden Dorje wants to help bring peace to the world. We have to do karma, learn to love each other, and trust in God. We have to make peace amongst each other and realize we are one. God is one all over the world.

The official site of Ram Bahadur Bomjan has his biography for quite some time with some very interesting photos, including his underground meditation pit.

Lively and very special group of people discuss about Ram, his meditation, life and spirituality on Ram Bomjon – Palden Dorje, Google Groups, you should become a member to have a first-hand news about Buddha Boy. Recently there’s been a news that Ram has changed his robe to white and is giving a public audience in two months. This might mean he has come to realize the ultimate truth (Emptiness) and maybe is ready to teach…?

Here’re excerpts from the discovery channel documentary:

48 hours of continuous observation and Ram isn’t moving

Buddha Boy Secret techniques

His first message was for peace to the world.

Murder, violence, greed, anger and temptation has made the human world a desperate place. A terrible storm has descended upon the human world, and this is carrying the world towards destruction. There is only one way to save the world and that is through ‘dharma” (religious practice.) When one doesn’t walk the righteous path of religious practice, this desperate world will surely be destroyed. Therefore, follow the path of religion and spread this message to your fellows.

when you read the translation of his message it is very powerful, but listening to his speech in Nepali was not that great. To me it sounded like a teenager trying to deliver a memorized speech. The second video was another attempt…, It was clear that either he was reading the speech or was another memorized one.

Having that said, I still think he’s very special and is up to something but the whole spectacle that organizers are trying to create around him and make him a great guru before he becomes one is just wrong and sad.

Let me know what you think!

Relay Station 2, Khopra with Antennas Pointing to Different Villages Elevation 3,600m (~12,000 ft)
More Photos

Here’s Mr Pun’s story in his own words.

He grew up grazing cattle in the mountains and had no idea about high schools. But he had a visionary father who migrated to a town called Chitwan to make sure Mahabir went to school. This is what Mr. Pun has to say about his father: “He suffered himself and made the family suffer so much for sending me to school in the years that followed.”

After completing his high school Mr. Pun became a teacher, and taught for 12 years. He then got a chance to study at University of Nebraska at Kearney, U.S.A, where he completed his Master’s Degree in education and came back to his ancestral village to fulfill his dream to provide educational opportunities for the rural children so that they should not have to go through all the pain and struggle he went through. He says, “I have a first hand experience of how much it hurts to go through that kind of pain.”

Mr. Pun returned to his village after 24 years and joined the Nangi’s leaders who were establishing a village high school. He started teaching computer classes at the school when four used computers were donated from Australia. Standalone computers were ok, but connecting to the internet seemed impossible without a telephone line. After trying many options, Mr. Pun sent an email to BBC in 2001, asking for ideas. BBC then interviewed him and published the story Village in the clouds embraces computers and Praise for Inspirational Web Pioneer. That was the turning point. Shortly, volunteers from US and Europe helped him with the wireless connection. They used TV dish antennas mounted in trees to establish wifi connection with neighboring villages. In 2003 the village of Nangi went online.

Here’re some news articles about the Nepal Wireless project.

The Satellite photo of the networked villages and stations

The board of trustee of Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation has elected Mahabir Pun for the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership for his innovative application of wireless computer technology in Nepal, connecting remote villages. I would like to congratulate Mr. Pun for his well deserved award and recognition. Hats off to Mr. Pun!

His mission is ongoing and you too can contribute to his Himanchal Education Foundation in many ways. Your small donation can make a big difference. You can also contribute to his Nepal Wireless project and help the himalayan village connect to the global village.

The report seems conflicting — first it says that Khatri was taken into control for three hours before being attacked in presence of committee members, and later quotes a committee member Yekananda Kunwar, who says: “Khatri was attacked because he tried to enter the meditation premises with a Khurpa (Nepali knife) when no one was around”.

To me, all this sounds a bit strange — a person meditating for peace resorting to violence, but again the facts are not clear yet! hopefully more details will emerge soon.

[Thanks for the link, Bharat.]

Recently I haven’t been able to commit as much time as I would have wanted to on this blog. Currently I’m very busy with other projects and hopefully I’ll be free soon to start regular posting here.