Bal Krishna Parajuli

Nepal

'Bahá'u'lláh has asked us to investigate the truth, not follow it blindly.'

I became a Bahá'í in 1991. Before I became a Bahá'í I was quite active in the Hindu religion. In Hindu society there are castes, and I come from the high caste, the priestly caste. My father was the priest of our village.

There are fifteen in my family, and all of them are Hindu except one brother. He was the one who first told me about the Bahá'í Faith. When I became a Bahá'í and went home to talk to my parents about it, I didn't know what my father would tell me. When he gave me a positive answer I was very happy. They said, "If it is good for you, it is okay."

I think because I was born in a religious family, it was easy for me to understand who Bahá'u'lláh was. When I heard about Progressive Revelation -- that the Prophets of God like Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Mohammad, the Báb , and Bahá'u'lláh come for every age -- it was really interesting to me, that religion is not absolute but relative. The spiritual teachings are eternal, but the social teachings have to be changed from time to time. I believed in it. In the Bhagavad Gita, the Holy Book of the Hindus, Krishna said, "Whenever there is a decline in righteousness, O Bharat, and the rise of religion, it is then that I send forth My spirit. For the salvation of the good, the destruction of the evil-doers, and for firmly establishing righteousness, I manifest Myself from age to age." Coming from Hindu background, I believe that Bahá'u'lláh is the tenth incarnation of the prophet Krishna.

In Hindu, and I think in every past religion, if a child is born in a Hindu family he will be Hindu. He doesn't investigate anything else. By tradition and by culture he is a Hindu, and he doesn't know what it is. Bahá'u'lláh has asked us to investigate the truth , not to follow it blindly. And this is, I feel, a vast difference between the Hindu religion and the Bahá'í Faith.

When I was a Hindu, I used to think that only the Hindu religion is true -- that all other religions are false. When I became a Bahá'í I recognized all past religions and also the station of Bahá'u'lláh. The past Manifestations were not able to unite mankind, but Bahá'u'lláh has given us a way to unite mankind and bring it into one shadow.

In Nepal there are many religious people -- Hindus, Buddhists (Buddha was born in Nepal), Moslems, Christians, and so many other ethnic groups. I think that the Bahá'í Faith will be the means to unite these people under one shadow.

Personally, I believe that Bahá'u'lláh is the Divine Physician and He has brought the healing medicine particularly for this age.