(TibetanReview.net, Mar21, 2017) – Tibet’s exile spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama,, on Mar 19 addressed ministers, lawmakers, and bureaucrats of the Indians state of Madhya Pradesh on the Art of Happiness in the state legislature (Vidhan Sabha) building in capital Bhopal. Vidhan Sabha speaker Sitasharan Sharma, Finance minister Jayant Malaiya and Cooperative minister Vishwas Sarang shared stage with the Dalai Lama.
He advised the state government run by the BJP to introduce universal values and ethics in education in the kindergartens, schools, colleges and institutes that groom future leaders.
He criticised the caste system in India as a social evil and said all religions preach love and compassion.
The Dalai Lama praised the state government’s Happiness department and lauded its Chief Minister Shviraj Singh Chouhan for conceiving the idea. The state is the first in India to set up a Happiness Department designed to ensure happiness in the lives of the common people.
Manoj Shrivastava, principal secretary of culture department and core organiser of the event, praised the Dalai Lama for his contribution towards ensuring a happy life in a kinder society. He said, “We have been following Buddhist philosophy for living a peaceful and happier life and His Holiness the Dalai Lama is one of the promoters of peace, despite having so many ups and downs in life and struggling silently for the peaceful Tibetan society. His initiatives to live happily in a kinder society are inspiring to a great extent.”
Before the Vidhan Sabha event, the Dalai Lama attended the state’s ambitious Narmada Seva Yatra, an environmental initiative with focus on the Narmada River led by the Chief Minister who himself was also present.
The Chief Minister, in his address, offered his respect and admiration for the Tibetan leader and said that the Dalai Lama’s touch had generated spiritual peace and fresh energy in him.