An encounter with Dalai Lama

Free Thinker *

Dalai Lama in october 10 2012 :: Pix Coutresy :: Wikipedia / Redacteur Tibet / christopher

From somewhere we suddenly received an invitation to meet His Holiness Dalai Lama. I was not very enthusiastic about seeing the holy man because I have pre-conceived notions of Gurus or Babas or Holy-man. But my wife took interest and took me to see Dalai Lama.

We were among the few hundreds who could listen to his deliberation on peace, truth, happiness, compassion etc. It turned out to be a wonderful experience to have such an encounter with such a great spiritual personality because he was quite candid and frank. Let me share my experience with you.

What is truth? His Holiness made it very simple by saying, "whenever you speak honestly, that is truth'. Otherwise it is a very complicated subject; for the last 3000 years we have been trying to know the truth of 'truth'; many thinkers, philosophers, religious gurus and spiritual leaders did talk many things about truth and 'ultimate truth'. To me ultimate truth is nothing, it is void". We all know the meaning of void, so it means there is no truth at the highest level.

On happiness, he made a simple point that is, "the joys which are sensorial (sensory) are short-lived, like eating good food or watching beautiful things or having sex, whereas the joy inside or the joy of the mind is long lasting. I have billionaire friends in America. I interacted with one of them in an intense manner, and then I came to know that the gentleman is not happy even though he has billions of dollars. Then I met a Spanish Christian monk who had spent 5 years in a mountain living only on tea and bread; I saw the sparkling happiness in the eyes of that monk. You see I am almost 81 now, just look at me," and he smiled. Of course his face looks 60 but his arms look as old as his actual age.

Chella of Indian School of Thought

Dalai Lama rightly pointed out that India has a rich tradition of thoughts and philosophies. He compared India with a garden having many varied beautiful flowers, small and big, tall and short.

He was indeed talking about the ancient philosophies and schools of thoughts. 'Indian ancient knowledge of human mind, behavior and psychology is par excellence', he maintained. He said, "the modern knowledge on human mind and psychology is nothing in front of the ancient Indian knowledge on the subject. Modern psychology is just like a kindergarten as compared to ancient Indian expertise". Seriously he said that, "I am a chella of Indian thoughts and philosophies".

Dalai Lama on democracy

His holiness praised democracy. He maintained that till now democracy is the best form of government. In Indian democracy even the smallest Parsi community like can survive and even do well. The Parsi community in India is very small; only a few thousands are left.

But some of them are doing so well . He took the name of Manickshaw and Tata. Dalai Lama was indeed proving a point by deliberately quoting the Parsi community. Perhaps he wanted to say that even a microscopic minority like the Parsi can live happily in India (a democracy) unlike in other totalitarian system.

Strong opinion on caste system

His holiness so openly condemned the Indian Caste system. He said, "it is the worst thing this country has. The caste system must be done away with at the earliest. This system must be dealt with very effectively by the younger generation. This is a blot to your greatness and great tradition. One should have humane compassion. One must know the worries of others and respond accordingly".

His holiness on world peace

"If you are at peace inside, you will be peaceful outside, if you are at peace, your family is peaceful, if your family is at peace the neighbors are also peaceful, then the locality is in peace then the society is peaceful, then the nation is in peace. If all nations are peaceful we will have world peace. So your peace of mind will lead to world peace." Sir, it is too simplistic and sounds utopian.

One billion people

"You are a 1 billion people. In a billion people you will certainly find some miscreants; that is quite obvious. You will have trouble here and there. One very disturbing thing about India is that corruption is on the rise. Indians are very religious but how come they become corrupt?" In response I may add that those who are stunningly corrupt they offer humongous donations to Gods and Goddesses; so corruption and religiousness can coexist.

Dalai Lama on meditation

"We come across many forms of meditations. Some will close their eyes and try to concentrate on a single point. I met a Buddhist monk saying that his intelligence has declined because of his single pointed meditation. My form of meditation is to have an analytical mind, thinking of various complex things and finding solutions. Meditation must involve critical pondering and propagation of ideas." I really love to have such kind of meditation; in my terminology I call it day-dreaming.

Finally I was floored by him

Frankly His Holiness expressed his desire to live longer as we all do. Lastly I was fully convinced that His Holiness is truly human like me, when he openly disclosed his love for sleep; he said, "you can call me a sleep monk, I am fond of sleeping". My wife instantly commented, "this is the only similarity you have with Dalai Lama".