While speaking at the civic reception hosted by the Assam government to felicitate his visit to Assam on the occasion of Namami Brahmaputra festival at ITA Machkhowa in Guwahati, the Dalai Lama said that Indian thoughts are very helpful to understand reality.
The Tibetan spiritual leader also advised the gathering to put reasons over faith while embracing religion.
The Dalai Lama further stressed on secular and ethical education as the key to development and human peace.
“Religion is entirely an individual choice. Change of religion sometimes creates more confusion. Therefore it is always better keep original faith and try to understand about the value of religious teachings for peace and happiness. It is always better to carry out closer conduct and understand the teachings of other religions before changing one’s own religion,” the Dalai Lama said.
“While I was in Tibet, I thought Buddhism as the best religion. But after coming to India and interacting with people belonging to different faiths, I realized that all religions are good as all of them have emphasised on human love and compassion,” the Dalai Lama commented while speaking on inter-religious faith.
“Change is always in the mind of the people as most of the problems are created by them. Main issue before humanity today is to bring peace and happiness in the world. Human intelligence shouldn’t be controlled by negativity but by compassion and love”, the Nobel Laureate for Peace stated.
The Dalai Lama who also interacted with the people and gave reply to their queries spoke volumes about Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal as a practical, determined and active leader and expressed confidence that under his leadership the state would make giant strides.
Earlier, the Dalai Lama also visited the festival venue at Kachomari Ghat and offered his obeisance to the Brahmaputra.
Assam governor Banwarilal Purohit who also graced the programme expressed the hope that with the blessings of the Dalai Lama the Chief Minister would be able to perform more resolutely to bring about a significant development to the state and soon Assam would be one of the top ranked states of the country.
Lauding the initiative taken by Government of Assam to glorify the Brahmaputra and thereby to promote culture, civilization, rich potential and resources of the state, the Assam governor hoped that the festival would take the people closer to the Brahmaputra.
Purohit also advised the state government to call all the senior officials from the districts to the venue of Namami Brahmaputra festival and administer them the oath of total transparency in administration.
Purohit alongwith other dignitaries released the brochure of “Festival of Faith”, which the Assam government in joint association with India Foundation proposes to hold in the month of May, 2017.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal while speaking on the occasion lamented the fact that inspite of enormous contribution and presence, Brahmaputra is most often negatively projected in the country as the river that causes flood and erosion.
“This is a gross injustice to the Brahmaputra,” Sonowal said.
Stating that the Brahmaputra’s contributions to the state’s life and economy is immeasurable, Sonowal said that state Government is organizing Namami Brahmaputra to showcase the rich potential and possibility of this river to augment Assam’s tourism, culture and economy.
Underlining the importance of more and more research on Brahmaputra by the new generation to promote the river in the world arena, the Assam CM said that the people of Assam owe a lot to the Brahmaputra for fertility of its soil and rich civilization.
Further saying that the government would promote economy without affecting bio-diversity and ecology, Sonowal vowed to make Assam as an organic hub of the country.
He also urged the people to takes steps for glorifying the Brahmaputra and letting people know about its contribution to Assam in a more vigorous way.
Assam Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma delivered the welcome speech, the vote of thanks was delivered by state Industry and Transport minister Chandra Mohan Patowary.
Chief Secretary of the Assam government VK Pipersenia, DGP Mukesh Sahay and Director General, Assam Rifles Lt. Gen. Shokin Chauhan were also present in the programme.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
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