The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a special interview by NDTV said that spiritually India is their home and democratic country. While speaking on the national television, he appreciated the freedom he enjoys in India and highlighted his persistent responsibility towards the people of Tibet.
In the special conversation with NDTV’s Prannoy Roy, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that he is proud that both mentally and physically, he is the son of India. He further explained that spiritually India is their home and democratic country. He told that despite losing his country in 1959 to China, arriving to exile in India provided him with other opportunities too.
“My brain and every part of my brain is filled by Indian thought. Buddhist thought, that is Indian, Indian tradition. Then this physical survived, I think over more than 50 years, this body survived with India’s daal and India’s rice. So, therefore, mentally, physically, from both view point, I am a son of India. I really feel proud.” His Holiness explained on the special conversation.
According to excerpt of the conversation on NDTV, His Holiness has shared his four life long commitments. “I have four commitments. Number 1 commitment, I’m human being. I’m one of the seven billion human being. So basic human nature is, because I am a social animal, compassion. Compassionate. So I’m trying to share (with) others as much as possible. Our basic nature is more compassionate and compassion is ultimate source of happiness, inner peace. So, irrespective whether believer or non-believer, we are social animal so we must pay more attention about karuna or compassion. I’m one of the seven billion human being. I’m trying to promote human compassion . This is number one commitment.”
“Number two commitment, religious harmony. After seeing India I have full confidence religious harmony is possible. And India- all major religious traditions exist here. At intellectual level, or some argument and discussion. Basically mutual respect, mutual learning. All major world’s religion exist in this country. I never heard like shia and sunni complain. In other country, (they are) killing (each other)- shia and sunni. Same follower, follower of same teacher Mohammed. This country, all different religious traditions live together. So religious harmony is possible.” His Holiness has added.
“So my main concern is now ecology, Tibetan ecology. People mentioned or expressed that Tibet is roof of the world. We can see all major rivers, Sind in Pakistan. Then major river- Ganga or the Brahmaputra, major Indian river come from Tibet. Then the Mekong river of Vietnam area, then Yellow river in China. So all major rivers come from Tibet. So Tibetan ecology is very important. Within my own lifetime, when I was young, some mountain around Lhasa, during winter time, got more snow. Then during my lifetime gradually less and less. Now Dharamshala itself, in 1960, I came here. That winter, there was a lot of snow. We use to play (with) snowballs and shooting snowball like that. We actually experienced, we witnessed global warming.”.
His Holiness also told that his fourth commitment is reviving awareness of the value of ancient Indian knowledge among young Indians today. His Holiness is convinced that the rich ancient Indian understanding of the workings of the mind and emotions, as well as the techniques of mental training, such as meditation, developed by Indian traditions, are of great relevance today.