Manisha Adhikari

Interviewer: Ever wondered what other people of faith believe, what their faith means to them, how they live it? That’s what this audio podcast is about. It’s called “All Faith Counts,” because well, all faith does count. The more each of us knows about other people’s faith, the more we understand, accept, and respect them for their belief. Hopefully, this is a reminder of all the good faith brings to our world. Today, we’ll hear from a Hindu, Manisha Adhikari. In our conversation, she shares some of the basic practices of her faith, and how it influences her life.

Manisha: My name is Manisha Adhikari. I’m 25 years old. I was born Hindu, in my country, Nepal. Nepal is a secular—right now it’s a secular country, but before it was a Hindu country. So more than 80 percent of the people in Nepal, they are Hindu. You were born Hindu, you die a Hindu, you’re born Hindu, you know? I came to the United States in 2014 with my families. Right now, I’m studying. My major is nursing. I chose this major because I like to help people. I like to read books. I like to write poems, but in my own language. I write poems if I’m in a really, good mood. And normally, I go to work, stay with family, I go out with friends. You know, it’s pretty simple for me.

Interviewer: Moving from a country where once faith is the majority, to one where it is a minority, could bring a feeling of isolation. We asked Manisha about her move.

Manisha: It was a little bit of a culture shock, but just we also believe in love, families, unity, all those things, so it was not that much difference for me.

Interviewer: Those of the Hindu faith live their beliefs each day. Like many faiths, an important part of their daily worship is prayer.

Manisha: We pray during the morning. And then at night we do aarthi. Aarthi is at night; we light candles, we light lights for God. And then, in the morning, we pray—we do pujas for God. And then before eating, we always separate a little bit of food for our ancestors. So, it’s also part of the daily routine that we do.

Interviewer: Having a daily remembrance of ancestors is an important part of the Hindu faith. In fact, it’s not the birthdays of the deceased that is celebrated, it’s the date of their death they are remembered. Manisha explains:

Manisha: When people die, we believe that our spirits are around us. Our ancestors, they’re always helping us. Every year, during the date of the death, on that day, we will do some rituals. We’ll give them certain food. We feel like they’re around us, so they will take it. So, in their remembrance, we do that. It’s always very important to make our ancestors happy. Even though they are dead, we believe that we need to take care of them.

Interviewer: Hindus worship in temples. A Hindu temple is a sacred place to Manisha.

Manisha: We have our temples. So, on the temple, we have statues of God. We have a lot of gods. So, we believe that there is one god, Brahma, and then there is three deities: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. They are the creator, destroyer and then one who takes care of things. We believe that everything was created by God, so we see God in everything. Like even a tree, we believe that it’s the work of God. Everything that’s around us, even human beings, everything is because of God. So, we have a lot of deities. So, we go to the temple and there’s a lot of statues. And then people do pujas. Pujas is like they do some rituals in remembrance of a certain god that they believe on. So, we go to temple. It is a very sacred place.

Interviewer: Hindus are also known for the festivals they celebrate. They are times of gathering, and times of blessing.

Manisha: We have lots of festivals. Even if you’re not from Hindu community, you’re always welcome to come and enjoy. During the festival, we go to my mom’s side, my dad’s side, my grandparents’ side, his brother, my mom’s sister, my uncle, aunt. And if somebody’s older, they give us blessings like for good things will happen with you. The blessings are normally like you do well with studies, you don’t get diseases, make good future families. Those are the blessings that they give us.

Interviewer: Blessings from her elders gives Manisha a feeling of peace and confidence. She’s received these blessings for a long time.

Manisha: I have been hearing this since I was a baby, so I feel like yeah, like it’s really important for me, those blessings. I feel like since it’s from older people, they bless you from heart, and what you receive from heart, I feel like even God will listen. So, it’s really a big part of my life.

Interviewer: One word that is part of the Hindu belief is used throughout the world to describe how one, quote, “reaps what they sow.” The word is important in the Hindu faith. The word is: Karma.

Manisha: In Hinduism we believe in karma. You have heard some slogans about karma. Karma is like when you do things, you get results. Families work. We have to work to keep our families happy. That is part of the things that we are taught. Families are where you learn to love, families are where you’re happy, you know? Where there’s no love, there is no happiness.

Interviewer: Living in a country where your faith is not well‑known will oftentimes bring misperceptions. We asked Manisha if she has experienced a misunderstanding of her belief.

Manisha: I would say yes, because people have seen me pray to statues, and for a lot of people it’s like, “There is no god in statues.” But in that statue, you make a statue of certain god. From your heart you’re believing that God is there. It’s hard to explain it to people sometimes because they only see from surface, and it’s hard to explain.

Interviewer: Her Hindu beliefs give Manisha a strong compass on how to look at others and how to treat them.

Manisha: I was always taught to respect people, no matter their religion, no matter their age, no matter their background. We believe that you’re born. When you’re born, you’re born similar, same. When you die, similar. You don’t take anything with you, when you come you’re not bringing anything. In our religion also, you are not supposed to talk bad about people. You’re not supposed to do any harm to people like stealing. Because this life is God’s gift, and we are here for a reason. So, what I was taught is you always treat people the same way. No matter their background, no matter how they are, you treat them in a good way and the people will treat you same way that you treat them.

Interviewer: Manisha feels strongly about the purpose of all religions of the world. She sees the good in every one of them.

Manisha: All religion teaches good, to do good, just be a good person. To think another religion is wrong is wrong in itself, because all, they’re religions for a reason. If it was me, there is a reason. Some people believe in Christ, some believe in Allah, some believe in other kinds of gods like we believe in Shiva. But I feel like all of them are the same god. Everybody, when they die, they go to the same place. My god created me for other people like Christ created them, you know, for others—Allah created them. But the truth is, there is only one god. Because we are human beings, we look similar, we actually look the same. So, there should be one god. And to think another person’s religion is wrong, is wrong.

Interviewer: In closing, Manisha shares some thoughts about her personal faith, how it motivates her, how it helps her look forward, and how it gives her purpose.

Manisha: Faith is important because it gives me a reason to not be a bad person, to be a good human being. It gives me a reason to believe in families. It tells us how important it is for me to have my future family. Even in my religion, they teach us about duties: duty as a daughter, duty as a mom, duty as a sister, duty as a human being, duty as a person of the community. We have all the responsibilities. And faith teaches us to fulfill the responsibilities that we have.

Interviewer: Thank you, Manisha, for sharing the beliefs of your Hindu faith, and how it counts in your life. And thanks to you, our audience, for listening. We invite you to visit faithcounts.com to learn and be inspired by different faiths, because our world is a better place when all faith counts.