An AFP file picture of the Dalai Lama giving a lecture at Delhi University on August 10

Gangtok, Sept. 6: The Dalai Lama has accepted an invitation from the Sikkim government to inaugurate a four-day conference on science and spiritualism here in December.

The Tibetan spiritual leader had last visited Sikkim in 2004 and had toured the state for a week, conducting prayer meetings.

The conference on Brain and Mind, Our Potential for Change: Modern Cognitive Sciences and Eastern Contemplative Traditions will be hosted by the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT) from December 20 to 23.

The conference is expected to lay the foundations of Sikkim’s efforts to formally introduce moral and ethical subjects in the school curriculum, said a media release by Pema Wangchuk Dorjee, the NIT’s media consultant for the seminar.

“The inauguration of the conference by His Holiness is apt because he has always evinced a keen interest in science, and drawing from his advanced understanding of theosophical matters, often commented that science and spiritualism are not contradictory to each other and could in fact collaborate to explain things more completely. He is a leading proponent of Mind and Life Sciences and has consistently reiterated that complete education requires a sound rooting of students in spiritualism and the concepts of morality and ethics,” the release said.

Chief minister Pawan Chamling has thanked the Dalai Lama for accepting the government’s invitation to visit Sikkim. In his letter, Chamling has conveyed that the government intends to follow up the conference proceedings by introducing moral ethics as a subject in Sikkim’s schools and colleges.