Precious moments with the Dalai Lama

Last week, while reading The Times of India newspaper, we saw that the Dalai Lama was going to be a speaker at the D. D. Kosambi Festival of Ideas Lectures in Panaji on February 9th. We didn’t know if we could get in without tickets, or where the lecture hall was located in Panaji, but decided to do a day trip to Panaji just in case we could see the Dalai Lama. We would be forever annoyed with ourselves if we had been this close and didn’t try. There are other attractions to see in Panaji if we couldn’t get into the lecture hall, so off we went.


We took a 1-1/2 hour ride on a Goan State bus to Panaji, and then a rickshaw driver deposited us at the front entrance of the Kala Academy about 10:30 AM where the lecture would be taking place at 2:30 PM. A security guard at the kiosk told us tickets were not needed: the lecture was on a first come basis open to the public. GREAT!!! He said a line would be forming about 1:30 or 2 for the afternoon lecture.

Kala Academy grounds



Auditorium enterance



The Kala Academy is located in a nice garden/wooded area along the river so we decided to first walk around the grounds before we set off to find other things to do until 1:30. On our grounds walk we met several women sitting at the auditorium entrance and after talking with them learned that the day before, many people were turned away from a similar lecture by another speaker because so many people had come, and they expected it would be a lot worse today. They laughed when we told them the guard said come at 1:30 or 2. That would be much to late from their experience. After finishing our grounds walk, we changed our plans and joined the 10 or so people sitting in the general area of the auditorium

2011 Festival of Ideas Lecturers

and decided to be safe rather than sorry. We were in the shade, there was a breeze, restrooms were available, and a small canteen was nearby with drinks and samosas available. We decided just to wait.



A ‘formal’ line started forming about 11:30 and we were in the first 10 or so at the front. YEA!!! Because of our position in the line, we were cautiously hopeful that we would get in. The rumor was that we would be allowed to enter the auditorium about 1:30. Actually the security was setup and we started filing through the metal detector and having our bags searched about 12:30.

We got seats right behind the blocked off VVIP section in the center. (about row 10 or so) Another YEA!!! The remaining wait until 2:30 was a lot nicer in these air conditioned seats than it would have been standing in line.

Since it was still about 1.5 hours to the start of the lecture, some people in our general area would leave to go to the restrooms that were outside the auditorium.  We received updates from them when they returned regarding the outside line waiting to get in.  By about 1:30 the report was DO NOT GO OUTSIDE.  Evidently there were many people and too few security guards and students were trying to force their way into the auditorium.  From inside none of this was apparent.  By the time the lecture started there were people standing along the sides and back of the auditorium and sitting in most of the aisles.

At 2:30 the curtains opened and His Holiness, the 14^th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, the head of state and spiritual leader of Tibet, was greeted with a standing ovation by the crowd.  He emerged, like a rock star, smiling and with arms raised above his head, but soon put then into the Namaste greeting and bowed to the crowd. The chief secretary of the lecture series introduced the Dalai Lama and presented him with a bouquet and turned to leave the stage.  Immediately the Dalai Lama commanded, “No, no, you come back here!” and the chief secretary received a white prayer scarf from ‘a simple Buddhist monk’ as the Dalai Lama refers to himself.

For the next hour the Dalai Lama talked about “Ethics for the new Millennium”.  His talk was a mix of history, his experiencies, his understandings/insights, and humor.  His style is very engaging with body, arm, hand justures, and facial expressions.  Sometimes he is the sturn teacher, sometimes an interactive conversationalist, sometimes a broad smiling humorist with a twinkle in his eye.  He often is gently swaying from side to side as he speaks. He was clad in traditional monk’s garb, colored maroon and marigold.

What is important? Inner peace, or happiness. What should we do? Help others.

Values/ethics do not need to be based on religious teachings. Inner peace is achievable by anyone whether he is religious or not, or whatever religion he practices. The DL described various religions as different paths to inner happiness, and said that a lot of people practiced religious ceremonies and traditions and thought themsleves pious, but in truth they had not studied, learned, or understood the dogma behind the rituals. He admonished people to never give up studying and searching for meaning. He reminded us that sensual happiness, such as enjoying a beautiful scene, or piece of music, was not the same as inner happiness. He warned against the reverence of money, saying that it was necessary to have money to supply the basic needs of life, but he giggled and said, “If you have a beautiful diamond ring, can you imagine kissing it and loving it and hoping for it to love you back?”. Inner peace comes from relating to, helping, others.

The last century was the Century of War. Let this century be the Century of Dialogue.

All these points were made in the Dalai Lama’s hour long talk. The 2nd hour he fielded questions from the audience with the following rule: “Any question is allowed, but if it is trivial, I can choose not to answer it” (This was said with a large smile and eye twinkle.)

None of the questions asked was silly. Political, religious, and personal questions were all addressed with historical framework information, personal experiences, and/or personal insights. The Dalai Lama is a strong believer in the power of the human brain: use it to learn, observe, achieve inner peace. His answers were thoughtful and wise, and they were lapped up by the audience. After more

than an hour of Q&A, the moderator struggled to interrupt and eventually stopped the deluge of queries.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

As we exited through a side door we realized that this would be the door the DL would soon exit. Sure enough, several minutes later people started exiting the building through that exit and then the Dalai Lama came out. He waved and did several two hands together blessings for all of us cheering him off. He entered the car and the long entourage drove off down the street.

As we left the Academy grounds we noticed there were many more police and security fences than when we had arrived 6 hours ago. We felt very lucky to have seen and heard the Dalai Lama.