Tibetan religious leader in-exile “Karmapa” Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who is likely to replace the Dalai Lama as the world symbol of Tibetan Buddhism and icon of Tibetan aspirations, is now surrounded with a serious controversy. Police in India have raided his monastery near Dharamsala, and allegedly recovered foreign and Indian currency worth nearly Rs 70 million.
Dorje, now 25, is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism and has been in Dharamsala since his headline-making escape to India in January 2000, when he was only 14.
The Karmapa’s office, in a statement said, they were “complying fully with the investigation”, reports The Hindustan Times. ” ‘Our lineage and His Holiness the Karmapa enjoy the love, trust and faith of millions across the world. We have a rich history of public service made possible through financial dealings that are entirely transparent,’ the Karmapa Office of Administration said in the statement. (See here…)
Dorje has been under the Indian security agencies’ scanner since his arrival in India. He lives in Sidhbari, 10 km from the Dalai Lama’s residence. The Indian government has confined the Karmapa’s movements within 15 km of his home for sometime, and does not allow him to visit the Dalai Lama too frequently, reports The Telegraph.
” ‘On July 25, 2009, the Karmapa was given only 30 minutes to meet the Dalai Lama. Earlier, three consecutive requests from him to see the spiritual leader were turned down,’ a source close to the Dalai Lama said.
“Since July 2008, the Indian government has refused to let the Karmapa visit other monasteries in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir that are located close to the India-China border.
“Dorje has also been banned from travelling abroad. He had toured the US in 2008, when he visited New York and San Francisco in an attempt to raise his international profile. He is keen to visit America again but the government has not budged. (See here…)
“The Karmapa’s Z-plus security cover was withdrawn a couple of months ago; so he is now guarded by a single police constable instead of 24 security personnel. Till 2006, he was always escorted by a group of four aides but that was stopped after the security agencies objected.” More here…
Lot of speculation has begun as to the motive and timing of raiding the Karmapa’s monastery at Sidhbari. All religious orders in India receive huge donations. No one has heard so far about any other religious group being targeted. Taking action against such groups is considered a highly sensitive issue. So why the Karmapa’s monastery?
This development should please the Chinese government no end. Chinese are keen that there is no symbolic head of the Tibetan movement in exile once Dalai Lama is no more. The Indian government also knows this. Now the question is whether the Indian government has taken this drastic step in consultation with the Dalai Lama or merely on the basis of its old suspicion that the young Karmapa is a Chinese spy?
Black money is a common currency in India. The BBC reports: “A recent conservative estimate by the US-based group Global Financial Integrity Index pegs illicit capital flows between 1948, a year after Independence, and 2008, at $462bn – an amount that is twice India’s external debt. India’s underground economy today is estimated to account for half of the country’s GDP.
“Thanks to opposition and public ire over a series of corruption scandals, ‘black money’ is back in the spotlight. The Supreme Court has been chiding the beleaguered government for not doing enough to unearth illicit money. ‘Is there no basis to figure out black money?’ the court wondered on Thursday. ‘What is the source of black money, which has been stashed away in foreign banks? Is it from arms dealing, drug peddling or smuggling?’ ”
Indian politicians and power elite stand tainted in the eyes of the public with the government dilly-dallying on the issue of releasing the names of those whose ill-gotten wealth is stashed away in Swiss and other foreign banks.
One hopes that the Indian government has enough proof to hold the Karmapa guilty. Otherwise the great reputation of India, built by leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, as a sanctuary for persecuted people would be reduced to dirt.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.