Nehru and Buddhism
"Just one month before his death I was privileged to meet him. I found him in a very pensive mood soon after a 'stroke'. I posed to him a question -Are you a Buddhist?" He smiled at me and in a tone of great calm told me that in his 'autobiography' as well as in the "Discovery of India" he has made references to Buddha. He told me that as an Indian he respected two historical personalities and used them for ' his own guidance.' They were Buddha and Emperor Ashoka. He said, " in the world these two great figures dwarfed many other leaders in the international scene. Then he revived my own memory to bear witness to his choice in commending the 'Dharmachakra' to replace the spinning wheel in the Republic of India's flag. He remarked that he chose the 'Sarnath lions' as the official emblem of the Republic of India. With deep reverence and fervour, he told me that he left no stone unturned to make the 2500th Buddha Jayanti celebrations a great success. He took the initiative to make it possible for the Buddhist pilgrims to visit the Holy places connected with the legend of the Buddha. Then he suddenly turned towards me with a smile and posed a question. "Well, what do you think I am? Have I the right to say that I am a Buddhist?" This last meeting ended up with a promise by him that he would instruct the Museum at Sarnath to make the two exact replica of the Sarnath Buddha image and send them as gifts from him to Sri Lankar'rnaya in Singapore and also to Brickfields Temple in Kaula Lumpur. These gifts did arrive after he had died." Extracted from the 'Random Thoughts and Reminiscences' of Venerable Ananda Mangala Thera of Singapore.
Courtesy-'The Young Buddhist Singapore
(Samta Sainik Sandesh- September, 1984 by Bhagwan Das)
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