JOR KA JHATKA DHEERE SE ...
>> Mahatma Gandhi wanted to give the prime ministership to (Mohammad Ali) Jinnah
|>> But Nehru refused. He was self-centred. He said, 'I wanted to be Prime Minister'
>> India and Pakistan would have been united (had Jinnah been made PM at the time)
>> Pandit Nehru was very experienced. But mistakes do happen
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THAT DREADED NIGHT
>> The feeling whether I will see tomorrow or not topped my mind, the Dalai Lama said of the night of March 17, 1959, when he decided he had to escape from Tibet
>> We were quiet. But we could not control the noise of horses' feet. We really felt scared
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PANAJI: Jawaharlal Nehru bashing, a narrative actively and deliberately propagated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ideologues from the Bharatiya Janata Party got fuel from an unlikely quarter and in Goa on Wednesday -- Tibetan Spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
At an event held at Goa's reputed B-School, the Goa Institute of Management in Sanquelim, the Dalai Lama said, had Nehru not been self-centred, India and Pakistan would have been a unified country.
While Nehru was gifted with experience, mistakes do occur, the Dalai Lama further added in response to a question from a student.
"Mahatma Gandhi wanted to give the prime ministership to (Mohammad Ali) Jinnah. But Nehru refused. He was self-centred. He said, 'I wanted to be Prime Minister'. India and Pakistan would have been united (had Jinnah been made Prime Minister at the time). Pandit Nehru was very experienced. But mistakes do happen," the Dalai Lama said in response to a student who wanted to know from the revered Tibetan leader how to be sure about one's decisions and how to avoid mistakes in life.
The event was part of GIM's 25-years celebration and the Dalai Lama was the key-note speaker on the "Today's Relevance of India's Ancient Knowledge" subject. Acknowledging India's culture rooted in tradition and knowledge, the Dalai Lama spoke extensively on the synthesis of rich traditional knowledge with modern education.
The land of ahimsa is a cauldron of traditional knowledge includes the art of meditation, compassion, secularism and more, the Dalai Lama said in his address preceding the interaction with the students. The Dalai Lama also narrated a memory from his escape from China to India in yet another response to a student's query wanting to know what was the biggest fear he encountered in his life."The feeling whether I will see tomorrow or not topped my mind," the Dalai Lama said of the night of March 17, 1959, when he decided he had to escape (from Tibet). "We were quiet. But we could not control the noise of horses' feet. We really felt scared," he said. The Dalai Lama said military force is China's power but truth was "our strength".
He acknowledged that it was the British who sowed the seeds of modern style of education and remarked that India is probably the only country which can find the right balance between its traditional knowledge and modern education.
Underscoring the need for dialogue and debate to aid aspiring B-school students to learn, analyse and gain new perspectives, the 80-year-old monk advocated more talk and debate on ahimsa and compassion.
"We need to find ways to reduce conflict amongst ourselves," he added.
The route they took to escape was quite near to the Chinese military base and along a river military men could be seen, he said.
Again the next day around dawn while passing through a mountain there was the possibility of soldiers coming to stop them from two different directions.
"That was a fearful journey."
Power, he said, is more decisive temporarily but eventually the 'power of truth' is stronger, he said, adding that Tibetans never consider the people of China as enemy.
