19 June 2011 (Photographs courtesy of Rusty Stewart/DLIAL)

His Holiness left Australia early this morning, leaving all of us on the tour teary and wondering when we would see him back again.

His Holiness was in Perth for the last two days. It was lovely to see our parliamentary friends Senator Scott Ludlam and MP Melissa Parke welcoming him on their home turf, giving him a Freemantle welcome as they called it. They gave him an early birthday gift too, a basket of chocolates from the local factory. His Holiness turns 76 next month. As I followed him meeting different people in different places as part of a day’s work, I am left wondering where he gets all his energy from. It’s phenomenal!

Yesterday morning, a beautiful rainbow lit the Perth sky as 14,500 people flocked to the Burswood Dome to hear the Dalai Lama speak on “Spirituality in the Modern World”. To me, spirituality has been one of those words which sound really good, but whose exact meaning has evaded me. In his simple, yet compelling manner, His Holiness defined it as essentially being inner values. All of us have the ability to show our inner values, such as compassion, through our common experience of the love we receive from our mother. It is then by use of our human intelligence that we further develop these qualities.

I went to the public events in Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and finally in Perth. And each time, the crowd grew bigger and bigger. The barista at the cafe outside the concert hall shook his head in disbelief and said,”Even Rihanna could not pull in a crowd of this size on her last tour.”

The day ended with the “Songs for the Dalai Lama” concert. I couldn’t have imagined it any other way. Tim Rogers, Tex Perkins, Baby Animals, Katie Noonan’s Elixir Trio, Lior with String Quartet, Adalita, Old Man River, Luka Bloom, Lyrics Born, The Nobel Funk Off, Tenzin Choegyal and The Gyuto Monks of Tibet had flown all the way to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s journey.

I think it’s only when we return home that we will begin to understand the shift in our lives as a result of spending the last 11 days with the Dalai Lama! For now, I need a good, long sleep.

In the meantime check out the Nobel Funk Off featuring “The Dalai Lama” on YouTube.