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The Dalai Lama exchanges a word with APJ Abdul Kalam at the seminar organised by the Ramakrishna Mission in New Delhi on Tuesday. Picture by Prem Singh
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New Delhi, Sept. 11: The Dalai Lama today said it was sad there is corruption in a country of such “religious-minded” people as India, which is a “living example” of how followers of all the world’s faiths can live together.
In Delhi to commemorate the 119th year of Swami Vivekananda’s address at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where he had introduced Hinduism as a faith that taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance, the Tibetan spiritual leader said it was a contradiction that Indians were indulging in “unethical” practices.
“I recently went to Ladakh and someone told me, for example, if the government gives them Rs 100, only Rs 20 reaches them. Rest 80 per cent disappears. This is very sad. Indians are religious-minded people and they fear God,” he said, speaking at the Ramakrishna Mission.
“It is a big contradiction. On the one hand they pray in the morning and through the day they do corruption. This is not done. When you deny God and deny spirituality then at least one can understand.”
With poverty being a major issue, corruption is not acceptable and everyone should think on this count, he said.
The Dalai Lama and former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam also spoke of Vivekananda’s “positive spirit”. Vivekananda, Kalam stressed, had denounced hatred among communities and sectarianism. World leaders needed to emulate his positive approach, he said.
Kalam and the Dalai Lama both stressed on the importance of education in solving global problems and creating awareness among people on all issues.
The Dalai Lama, who asked religious leaders to have “far-sighted vision” and pitched for modern education to be “realistic”, said although there are some exceptions when “minor scuffles” happen between members of two communities, India has shown the way on how many religions can co-exist.
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