MELBOURNE, 8 October 2022: The Melbourne Buddhist Centre, Brunswick was abuzz with talk about an important person from India visiting the centre after the day’s morning meditation. The doors flung open and I with a few others entered the Center, for the first time, amid a mystical ambiance. Buddha paintings, green plants, books, and welcoming followers set the stage for the day’s start, as the anticipated guest, Rajratna Ambedkar, great-grandson of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, and President of the Buddhist Society of India entered in a monk’s dress, his second visit to Australia.
His visit here, during the 66th Dhammachakra Pravartan Day – an annual celebration of the mass conversion to Buddhism of Dr. Ambedkar and around 600,000 of his followers in Nagpur, India on October 14, 1956, stirred Dr. Ambedkar’s followers for a recommitment to their way of thinking.
Rajratna Ambedkar mixed freely with Sangha members and then shifted upstairs to the shrine for a discourse on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s 22 points to be followed as a Buddhist and the fundaments of Buddhism.
There were many who once again took the vow with Rajratna Ambedkar to follow the knowledge and teachings of Buddha. The guest was presented with books and he presented a photograph of Dr. Ambedkar to the Centre. Earlier, Rajratna Ambedkar was warmly welcomed by those running the Melbourne Buddhist Centre. Mr. Rajratna will meet important people in Melbourne and visit the Victoria Parliament. Later he will visit Sydney.
