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BIRTH OF A NOBLE NATION
Kalam: I went to the Maha Bodhi temple where Lord Buddha got enlightenment. I visited Takht Shri Harmandir Sahib in Patna, which is the birthplace of Shri Guru Gobind Singh. In all these places, I found that great souls had propagated the philosophy of good life, and above all, these centres provided a harmonious multi-religious environment for the people to live in peace and happiness. When I visited all these places of importance, I felt that Bihar is the right place to start Unity of Minds.
Acharya: Kalam, you indeed had a pilgrimage. I heard in your lectures about your Tawang experience. Let us discuss that.
Kalam: Indeed I had two great experiences. During the year 2003, I visited a Buddhist monastry at Tawang in Arunanchal Pradesh. I was asking myself what is the unique feature of Tawang and the surrounding villages that makes the people and monks so much at peace with themselves. When the time came, I asked the chief monk the reason behind the peace and happiness radiated by everyone. He said, 'In the present world, we have a problem of distrust and unhappiness transforming into violence.'
Acharya: The reverend monk was right in telling you this. When you remove 'I' and 'Me' from your mind, you will eliminate ego; if you get rid of ego, hatred towards fellow human beings vanishes; if the hatred goes out of our mind, violence in thinking and action disappears; if violence is taken away, peace springs in human minds. Then peace and only peace blossoms in the society.
Kalam: I realized the meaning of the beautiful equation for peaceful life. But it is a difficult mission for the individual to remove the ethos of 'I' and 'Me'.
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