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As you all know, our respected Kyabje Kunga Rinpoche received on my behalf the Bharat Jyoti Award or the Glory of India Award yesterday in Delhi. Today he handed the award to me. I was very surprised when I was told about being a recipient of this award, as there are many great beings who are more deserving to receive this honour than myself. Unfortunately, my busy schedule did not allow me to go and receive the award in person, and I was really happy that our Kyabje Kunga Rinpoche was willing to do this on my behalf.
It is an encouragement for me and I think that this award is not just being conferred upon myself, but also on all my colleagues who have been working for many lifetimes to help all the beings, and all of my friends and students, who irregardless of how difficult their own situations are, they are one-pointedly supporting my activities and fulfilling my wishes all the time.
I am with great sense of happiness and respect towards our nation for being given this opportunity to receive the award from Indian International Friendship Society. At the same time, I am thanking everyone on behalf of my own people and the Drukpa Lineage. India is a country where our Lord Buddha got enlightened and started his non-violent peaceful holy teachings, therefore we Buddhist practitioners regard India as a very holy land. For me personally, to receive this award in the holy month of Saga Dawa is definitely very auspicious.
India is not only the holy place where Buddhism had its beginning, many spiritual traditions and ancient civilizations were established in India. India has "given birth" to many holy saints from different spiritual beliefs. In the history of Buddhism, besides Lord Buddha and all the enlightened Arhats and Arhatis (the female Arhats), great masters such as Guru Padmasambhava, Nagarjuna, Shantideva, Chandrakirti, Vimalamitra, Tilopa and Naropa were all born in India. Their teachings have benefited so many countless beings until today. Therefore, I really feel that this year is the important year for us to celebrate the millennial anniversary countdown of Naropa's birth anniversary, whom I am supposed to know and understand very well. And since we are going to celebrate the grand enthronement of our holy Kyabgon Drukpa Yongdzin Rinpoche in Ladakh on the actual day of Hemis Tsechu, this should also be the grand millennial countdown celebration of Naropa's anniversary. Why not? We should be encouraging ourselves through celebrating positive anniversaries and events, so that our USB pen drive will always be filled with positive memories and not nonsense things that upset us all the time.
India is truly a very special place where spiritual activities can really blossom and benefit lots of beings. Up until today, those great spiritual beings who came from outside of India and now live in India such as my beloved guru His Holiness the Dalai Lama and many others who were born in this great country, such as the great saint Mahatma Gandhi and etc, have all been developing their own activities, by being genuinely great examples for the rest of the world. Therefore, because of all the great beings, India has always been a great example, not only for spiritual activities, but also for cultural and social activities.
Today, India is respected as one of the major economies of the world and its government's support for humanitarian work is also very well-known. For example, when we were doing our Pad Yatra in the past 3 times, the government gave us tremendous support and protection, which in turn gave us the confidence to complete these activities for the sake of the country, the people and all the beings. When we were involved in tree planting in such a difficult place like Ladakh, the government offered us free land along the Indus River. In this case, I would say that India is developing successfully in an accelerated pace in the spiritual and material aspects. For people like us, India is our pride and glory. Through India, I can see a great hope for the rest of the world.
Being born in this country, I myself and all my followers, friends and students in the Himalayas as well as all parts of India, will try our best to practise whatever that is necessary to benefit this beloved country and its people, so that we will collectively be good example for the rest of the world. This is my heartfelt prayer. Lastly, I want to thank everyone of you from the depth of my heart, for supporting and encouraging me all the way.
