His Eminence Drukpa Thuksey Rinpoche, co-founder of the Naropa Fellowship, gave an inspirational welcome address to the fellows of the inaugural class. The vision for the Naropa Fellowship is to go beyond academia, and His Eminence encouraged fellows to become well-rounded, good and happy human beings that can take care of both themselves and others.
His Eminence shared that many from the Himalayas and remote regions of India have become refugees of higher education. He is really happy to be working together with Dr. Pramath Sinha to realise the vision of His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, by offering the Naropa Fellowship to deserving individuals who aspire to make positive changes in their communities. One day in the near future, the Naropa Fellowship can be transformed into a recognised university so as to bring more people to the region for further studies, deepening the global discourse of the Indian and greater Himalayan landscape.
To those ends, His Eminence kicked off the programme with a playful challenge. In light of our ubiquitous, present day attachment to electronics, the site at Hemis has been temporarily taken off the grid for one month, teaching adaptability, encouraging physical communication between fellows, and also to practise for unexpected situations. His Eminence said, “We humans these days are so dependent on Google Map that we can’t go home without it. A stray dog is better than us. He can go out in the day and return home without depending on any Apps.”
His Eminence assured the fellows that he will be a support and resource during the course of the program. The fellows had a wonderful and active interaction session with His Eminence before proceeding to participate in the “Ice Breaking” games.
