Touchstones: Glimpse of a divine world

How noisy and senseless the world is becoming! Armed with the Internet, AI, Instagram and Meta, everyone is now free to bombard the world with facts, information, hate, bigotry and ugly noise. Then there are those who feel that unless they document every bit of trivia from their daily lives (clothes, their latest nail polish, new hairstyle, food or views from their windows), the world will be poorer. No wonder so many have serious issues with anxiety, low self-worth and suffer from a fear of being left out (FOMO).

Nothing about what I’ve written so far is any great discovery but, to me, the greatest casualty in this race to remain ever-present is that we have forgotten the simple joys of solitude and silence, the beauty of the natural world, the wonder of watching a bird build a nest or closing one’s eyes to hear uplifting music that soothes the soul.

I know my readers will say, ‘Here she goes on an auntyji trip again!’, and go back to Alexa, but pause for a moment to pay homage to a living seer who has just turned 90. Who stays quietly in his mountain retreat and hardly ever travels now, yet remains connected to the world and his devotees by an unseen magic that draws them to him. I am talking of the Dalai Lama, who seldom appears on our screens but whose every gesture is laden with wisdom and joy.

Many years ago, when I was editing a journal, I decided to dedicate it to all those great teachers who live/lived among us. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and Aung San Suu Kyi are some names I recall and I was fortunate to get a range of brilliant writers who wrote on each one of these great personages. Prof UR Ananthamurthy sent me a short, evocative piece on the Dalai Lama which I included happily.

He described how while giving a public lecture, the Dalai Lama paused suddenly until that pause became an embarrassing gap. The audience started shifting uneasily but the Dalai Lama seemed intently involved with something on his podium. Finally, he flashed his million-watt smile, walked over and gently placed the ant he carried on his finger on a chair. There was not a single person that day who did not get the message he so effortlessly conveyed: that each life is precious and that non-violence is the only way to live in harmony.

That same year marked 50 years of his exile from Tibet and he wanted to hold an event called ‘Thank you India!’ for giving his entourage shelter after he fled Lhasa. The Indian government, after some complex calculations regarding the political fallout and the diplomatic crisis that may result, politely declined the offer. However, the trustees of the India International Centre came forward and Kapila Vatsyayan fought bravely to offer the Tibetans the space they needed to display their treasures. The Dalai Lama would come to inaugurate the exhibition of priceless tankhas and stay on for a public lecture later that evening. The event, as all IIC cultural events are, was open to the public.

We watched as the lamas set up the multiple exhibits and lit juniper leaves to welcome their leader. As members of the staff, we were allowed to stand at the door of the exhibition room. I decided to take a copy of the journal with the Ananthamurthy article and was advised by a gentle lama from the Dalai Lama’s personal staff to just offer it to one of his attendants to give to him.

The Dalai Lama came slowly up the stairs and was briefly introduced to each one of us and something about an aura that emanates from him, struck us all dumb. I held the journal in both my hands and bowed as I said, ‘Your Holiness, I would like to offer you a book that has a beautiful piece on you by Prof Ananthamurthy. I would like you to hold it and bless it.’

I could see frowns from some of our senior trustees at this breach of protocol. To my immense joy, he took it and flashed a smile that I swear blinded me. He then, as his wont, touched his forehead to mine in a blessing, and went inside. I do not know how I managed to go down the stairs but I know that tears were flowing down my cheeks and I felt as if I had been given a glimpse of a divine world that I carry inside myself to this day.

I realised then how inspired ardent devotees left everything to follow their leader. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela are worshipped till today by those who came under their spell. One doesn’t need to wage wars, slay enemies and abuse those you hate to win the battle. Our leaders would be well-advised to remember that hate only begets hate; an eye for an eye, as Gandhiji reminded us, only ends up making everyone blind.

An encounter with a person who has shown you the joys of simplicity and the power of love is all it takes to win over people. Are our Trumps and others like him even worth respecting?

See a movie called ‘Seven Years in Tibet’, starring Brad Pitt (swoon-worthy as a young actor). You’ll understand what I’m talking about.

— The writer is a social commentator