His holiness the Dalai Lama started his year of 2015 with a three-day tour in the state of Gujarat. He addressed more than 4,000 people, mostly young people, at Veer Narmad South Gujurat University, speaking about making a happier and more peaceful future world by living each day in a more meaningful way. His Holiness visited the business centres in Surat in Gujurat, where he met Shree Ramkrishna Export Chairman Govind Dholkia. Again with the theme of making a happy and peaceful future world, in his speech there he spoke of the importance of developing a wider perspective and more holistic view by sharpening the human intelligence through simultaenously studying and developing a warm heart.
His Holiness is presented with the Santokbaa Award in Surat on January 2
Photo: Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
While in Gujurat, His Holiness met over 700 Tibetan people who are there for the winter business season in Surat. He was presented with the Santikbaa Award and in his Award speech he spoke about inter-religious harmony and the promotion of human values.
He then travelled to Nasik, Maharashtra where he gave a talk to a crowd of 4,500 people, both Tibetan and Indians, on “Secular Ethics”. He spoke about reducing negative actions and increasing positive actions in our daily life to enable us to live happily: “When we are children we don’t care very much about differences of faith, family or nationality, we just play together. But as we grow up we…learn to pay more attention to secondary differences like faith, race, social background and level of education. By seeing each other in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’, we lay the ground for conflict. We seek ways for ‘us’ to win and ‘them’ to lose. This is the basis for the bullying, cheating and exploitation that gives rise to violence, corruption and the gap between rich and poor. It is a result of thinking only of you, with no regard for others. The time has come to promote the oneness of humanity instead”, said His Holiness.
His Holiness visits Mother Teresa’s House in Kolkata on January 12
Photo:Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
Later in the month, on January 13, he visited the Indian city of Kolkata, where he met Tibetan business people and the Missionaries of Charity at Mother House. He also paid tribute to the tomb of Mother Teresa where he was welcomed by the Archbishop of Kolkata. He praised the Sisters for the way they serve humanity and urged them to keep on with their work, which aims to make this twenty-first century an era of peace.
His Holiness spoke at the Presidency University on the following day, giving a talk entitled “Human approach to the world Peace”, saying “sustaining your hope is crucial to keeping yourselves going and fulfilling the goal of your education” to the gathering of students and faculty members of the university.
A few days later, His Holiness was in New Delhi to give a public talk “Peace and Compassion” at the Baha’i Lotus Temple. He spoke to the young school children present in the audience, saying “You are very important to humanity’s future. You are the generation of the twenty-first century. In you lies the hope of creating a better future for the world. It will fall to you to solve the problems created by my generation in the twentieth century.”
His Holiness arriving at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India on January 20.
Photo: Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
On January 20 the Dalai Lama met the medical staff at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi. Speaking to an audience of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, he said “Cultivating a good heart and a positive motivation are very important. We have a Tibetan saying that this doctor is learned but his medicine is not very effective, whereas that doctor, while not very learned, makes more effective medicine because he is warmer-hearted. If you have a genuine sense of concern for others, your treatment will be more successful….the doctor who smiles understands the importance of putting the patient at ease. Doctors and nurses are truly admirable in their efforts to help others. I readily speak about compassion, but you people put it into effect. Wonderful”
On January 31, His Holiness is in Sankisa in Uttar Pradesh to give a public talk organised by Youth Buddhist Society of India.
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