Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama graced the concluding function of the platinum jubilee celebration of English newspaper The Assam Tribune at the Pragjyoti ITA Centre for Performing Arts auditorium at Machkhowa, Guwahati on Saturday.
The spiritual guru, on a 12-day visit to the Northeast, reached Guwahati on Saturday and attended the Assam Tribune Group’s function as his first event in the city.
Delivering his talk, the spiritual guru said that the major chunks of human problems are self-created as he advocated for inculcating and nurturing human compassion to reduce human sufferings and give global peace a chance.
“Basic human nature is compassion and not anger and by rekindling human compassion one can restore individual happiness which can lead to family happiness and ultimately to world happiness,” the spiritual guru said.
The Dalai Lama said that existing system of education in India promotes materialism which is an anti-thesis to universal and collective peace, as he advocated for replicating the secular concept of education right from kinder-garten to the post graduate level to reawaken the inner peace of an individual for universal peace. He hailed Indian ethos and values which promote compassion or ‘karuna’. He also professed that the Indian system which upholds compassion can contribute compassion and peace to the seven billion people of the world.
The Dalai Lama said that the last century was a century of violence where more than 200 million people were killed. However, giving a ray of hope, he said that in the 21st century the youths are more compassionate. He advocated for strong spirit of dialogue to nail down disagreement and added that if there is any issue of disenchantment one should sit down to talk and hammer out the differences.
Recounting his past experiences when he escaped Tibet and came to India in 1959 as refugee, the spiritual guru said that his coming to India heralded a new life.
Assam governor Banwarilal Purohit, while speaking on the occasion, congratulated the entire team of the Assam Tribune and Dainik Asom as they relentlessly serve the society with information and education.
Speaking on the occasion, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, while welcoming His Holiness the Dalai Lama, said that the presence of the spiritual guru has lent a divine touch to the ambience as he sought his blessings on behalf of the people of Assam. Sonowal also said that to make the society a better place of living, values like honesty, transparency etc should be developed and the presence of His Holiness would help us nurture these values for a better society.
