By RAJIV VORA

If the Tibetan freedom struggle becomes a powerful symbol for the spiritual freedom of mankind -- ie. liberation which is deliverance or swaraj its spin-offs would be unimaginable. Political freedom for Tibetans will be one of them. Presently this is only a possibility. But possibility can turn into actuality if people all over the world realise the epochal import of the meaning of the Tibetan movement for its freedom in terms of swaraj: deliverance from all types and forms of violence through nurturing of the attributes of non-violence, the innate goodness of man. That in turn leads to self-rule or swaraj. It is a spiritualised state. This can happen if a lot of flirtation with spirituality of which we see so much -- particularly in the West and its prototypes around us in India -- transforms into a true appreciation of the comprehensive meaning of that freedom, swaraj.

A power superior to the power of political means is where Tibet's hope lies, and for all the oppressed of the world. Where do the Tibetans stand today with regard to this? Where do Tibetans stand with regard to the force more powerful than material force which is the only god of all political processes?

What we have in terms of inner force or strength, the first and final strength, is the very truthfullness of the Tibetan cause. Truth is on the Tibetans' side. If the adage satyamev jayate (truth only wins) is true, victory must belong to them. When? Only when action and sacrifices are undertaken that are commensurate with the strength of the adversary and the worthiness of the cause.

The second factor in favour of Tibetans is their steadfast adherence to non-violence. The third, which adds tremendously to the second - ie. steadfast adherence to non-violence - is their deep-rootedness in the culture of non-violence. That is the culture of swaraj, rang-wang. (I do not know how many nations and cultures have an equivalent term defining their destiny as swaraj ). The fourth, which protects the second and the third - ie. steadfast adherence to non-violence and a culture of non-violence - is the one-ness of the temporal and the spiritual authority and power, and its unquestionable sway over all Tibetans, including those who once took up arms.

The fifth, which is the cause of the fourth and therefore the cause of all the foregoing, is the absence of duality in Buddhism between reason and faith and its leadership? This results in an ability to maintain high standards, and also the standards of its religious-spiritual order, even in an adverse climate and situation. These are the objective factors giving strength to the Tibetan cause. If all this is true and not my or anyone's imagination, then it is obvious that it must reflect in the practice of the cardinal law of non-violent resolution. And that is: non-violence must equal, or if it can, supercede, the inner strength of violence. If Chinese rule is robot-like and senseless in its ruthless violence, non-violence must be so pure and absolute that the violence must fail to influence compassion towards the perpetrator. This is the standard of non-violent Tibetan leadership which HH the Dalai Lama has brought to their struggle. Compassion comes when fear is conquered and a state of fearlessness is attained. The state of fearlessness is the foundation of swaraj . Tibetans can win violence with an equal show of non-violence. And, the Chinese are humans, not robots programmed for violence. (I may add here that I have found it very thought-provoking that in some films, like Terminator II, at the end even the Terminator robot is shown to be shedding a tear -- without consciousness and influenced by a child? Love. There is a profound message here).

This particular aspect, in which all the above factors must merge in a truly non-violent struggle, becomes, both the strength and at the same time the weakness of Tibetans. It is strength in absolute terms. Some monks in Chinese captivity have exemplified this under the severest torture. But an average young Tibetan argues that how can he be so compassionate. He is not an attained lama, much less the Dalai Lama. Absolute compassion has often been accused, and thus Buddhism has been accused, of being a call to inaction. Young Tibetans do not go that far, for they witness their order in action. But then demand for absolute non-violence in terms of absolute compassion perplexes them. It also therefore dampens their political activism because they believe in the worth of non-violence -- and even more in the leadership and the authority of HH the Dalai Lama with his moral, spiritual and temporal authority -- there is a bond. And this can be cemented into building up a non-violent force if their perplexed state of mind is addressed.

When there is no visible political activity, and ongoing programme of action, it is difficult to keep the fire burning. Thus we see a lot of Tibetans living a cosy, easy life and the young looking to the West and America for sponsorship. At any given moment much Tibetan activity is concerned with mundane pursuits and private goals. Most of the time their Parliament and exile government are therefore bogged down with daily matters. Ever since Prof Samdhong Rinpoche has taken over the reins of government his main concern has been to transform the scene. The main task of the elected members of the Assembly should be to provide leadership for the freedom struggle. It is a severe problem to engage them so that their collective activity is directed towards the goal of freedom, rather than sliding back into the comforts of life. The attraction to America is no small matter. It is causing a degeneration of the freedom spirit. As a sovereign culture Tibetans, and only Tibetans, today symbolise such a state which stands for the actualisation of non-violence in all the spheres of life -- political, economic, cultural or intellectual, moral and spiritual. Tibetans as individuals, stateless and homeless, are torn between their collective goal which is swaraj and the personal need for material security. Therefore there is an attraction to the West. The anti- swaraj "civilisation".

Having said this, it is also a fact that the older generation and many among the younger generation suffer the silent, unsettling pain of loss of freedom. At times I am compelled to think that what looks like a cosy and comfortable life is only a silver cage and every Tibetan soul knows it is a cage, it is a slumbering government -- and they do not want it. I have found Tibetan youngsters far brighter than their Indian counterparts of the same age. Why? Beneath the exterior of the so-called easy life, there is great hardship and suffering. All this can build into tapas or a sadhana for freedom if there is a spearhead movement, a struggle, a programme.

Prof Samdhong Rinpoche is at this crossroads - offering the teachings of Hind Swaraj as a powerful resource for empowering the politically-perplexed spiritual nation and spiritually-perplexed political generation of young Tibetans. He once said he will launch satyagraha when "you give me at least twenty five well-equipped satyagrahis." The older generation still harbour the image of their motherland; they harbour the most cherished dream of going back. For the younger generation who were born in India, or elsewhere, though it is their land of birth it is not their motherland. They know this. So the reality and the gut-feelings are of course different between the two generations. And yet the force has to come from them, the younger exile-born Tibetans. The age-old fight between materialism and divine consciousness is, in today's world, symbolised by the Tibetan struggle for freedom. It is the global trustee of the highest human seeking. For this seeking to survive Tibet must achieve sovereignty once more.

Tibet is a nation which engaged itself for thousand of years in the innermost journey of man. Such a nation has been savagely trampled upon. The loss of essential freedom, political freedom, and the occupation of the Tibetan Plateau by Chinese settlers, Chinese guns and Communist thought, has endangered a nation which once made its dharma the ultimate human quest -- common to all civilisations, philosophies, religions and ideologies -- the maximisation of non-violence in all aspects of daily life. Tibet was a civilisation of peace and non-violence because the best of its national energy, intellect and spirit was employed for generations in conquering the negativities in dharma countered character traits which carry, and then consolidate, desire into hedonistic materialism, and then materialism into violence, exploitation, imperialism and wars.

Tibet was once a nation, a civilisation, entirely engaged in the search for Truth. It was a nation which channelled its genius entirely into the search for man's inner peace. As a nation it preserved the universal in humanity for -- whether white, brown or black, Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist -- the quest for compassion and selfless love is universal. Some have been so advanced that they have realised that truth and evolved entire civilisations on that foundation of a culture of non-violence. Others are at various stages in the process of evolution of their private and national self. Even within the modern West, where desire and indulgence of the flesh has captured souls, there are forces seeking the soul's freedom from the bondage of the flesh. Communist regimes therefore have a short life. For a state built in denial of the inner goodness of man cannot survive for as long as the force of the perennial in man.

Tibet must be preserved as a trustee of the best in humanity's quest, and as a pure guide to human progress.

(Published in Design and People, 2003)