Indian Pandits in the Land of Snow

STUDENT’S LIFE IN TIBET.

In our own language, the word student, as you all know, signifies a vidydrthi, from Vidyd and arthin, a seeker of Knowledge. The word vidydrthi, therefore, signifies one whose ideal is Knowledge. It, therefore, conveys a very comprehensive meaning, a wider signification, I believe, than what is meant by the word student. It is my fervent hope that most of you who constitute this Association would be vidydrthi in the strict sense of the term, and that you would make vidyd. Knowledge, a justification of your blessed existence as man in his civilized condition. You do not require me to say that Knowledge is merely intended for the acquisition of wealth. There should be no cessation in the search for Knowledge after the attainment of this one object — wealth. I cannot but lay stress upon this important point that without an ideal before us, no literary progress is possible, and I am sure you will excuse me if I remind you of the deplorable fact that most of our students, after gaining high University distinctions, make no further effort to soar higher into the regions of thought. Let it not bo assumed that the grand consummation is reached when a student gains reputation as a successful graduate in the University. That is only a passport for the entry into the arena of intellectual display. The realm of the intellect being boundless, there should be no pause, for that means a suspended animation thereof, and as a natural consequence, the intellect gets atrophied, and obscured. Look around, and what do you see but the melancholy spectacle of a body of graduates with no stamina in them, no assertion of individualism, which makes individuals and nations great, without which no real development is possible. I therefore, exhort my young friends of this Association to continue their studies after the completion of their University career. In doing this, they would lose nothing but gain ultimately, in that they would find themselves happier and wiser indeed.