India must change, give up lazy attitude: Dalai Lama

MUMBAI - India needs to buck up, the “lazy attitude is holding it back”, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Friday addressing students of Mumbai University here.

“Dowry, gender discrimination would be the ancient traditional practices here but India needs to understand now that all of it is outdated. India must change,” he said.

“The lazy attitude is holding it (India) back,” the Dalai Lama said in his address to around 500 students of the university.

He insisted that it is important to club the ancient India culture with the new conception and views. “The realistic approach will help here,” he said.

“This reality check will give you an ability to look at a problem with an objective and non-biased mindset, only then the problem will be solved,” he added.

Earlier, he termed himself a student of ancient Indian teachers.

“I am a ‘chela’ (student) of the ancient Indian ‘gurus’ (religious teachers),” he said in his opening speech on ‘Ancient Wisdom, Modern Thoughts’.

The Dalai Lama appreciated the communal harmony of India, saying that it is the biggest democratic and secular country.

“The constitution of this country holds the sacred word of secularism which asks for respecting all the communities and religions,” said the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Appreciating Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology of non-violence, the Dalai Lama said it has been appreciated and accepted all over the world by leaders like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

“India needs to spread such sacred ideologies to the entire world for good. And universities are the places where this spreading of thoughts can be started. Educationists should take a lead while involving students with these thoughtful ideologies of the ancient India leaders,” he said.

Pointing out the responsibility of a varsity, Dalai Lama said it is the responsibility of teachers to put right values in the minds of today’s youth.

Earlier Friday, Dalai Lama inaugurated a three-day convention of Academia Eurasiana Neurochirurgica on ‘A holistic approach to the realm of Neurosurgery’ where he mentioned that the 21st century will be a century of dialogues to bring in world peace.

The Dalai Lama will Saturday felicitate Super 30 founder Anand Kumar, whose pioneering initiative has helped many students from the underprivileged sections of society crack the IIT-JEE at a programme organised by the Bihar Foundation, Mumbai chapter.

The Dalai Lama has lived in India since 1959 when he fled Tibet after a failed anti-Communist uprising. His government-in-exile, not recognised by any country, is based in Dharamsala, in Himachal Pradesh.