GANGTOK, FEBRUARY 28: Urgyen Thinley Dorjee, the reincarnated 17th Karmapa recognised by Dalai Lama, has expressed his willingness to come to Sikkim but is unsure of the timing."I've to come to Sikkim. But do not know when," the reincarnate Karmapa, who fled from Tibet and now stationed at Dharamshala, was quoted by President of a Joint Action Committee (JAC) of All Sikkim Buddhist Organisation, Kunzang Sherab, as saying.Sherab, who led a delegation from Sikkim to Dharamshala to request the religious leader, stated here on Monday, "We are hopeful and we are sure of his arrival to Rumtek. Only thing is that it will take time.''A former bureaucrat in the Sikkim government, Sherab said although they could not be given an audience with the Prime Minister in Delhi recently, they submitted a memorandum to the PM requesting him an early decision on the arrival of the Karmapa to Sikkim. The copies of memorandum were also submitted to the Union home, defence, foreign and law ministers and the secretaries of the department concerned, he said. The JAC, an umbrella organisation of 38 associations, was formed in 1992 with an objective to bring the "genuine" Karmapa to Sikkim and install him at Rumtek, he said.Meanwhile, a special puja for the early arrival of the 17th Karmapa was organised on Sunday last in West Sikkim's Norbugang.The puja, performed in praise of Sikkim's guardian deity Mount Khanchendzonga, was presided over by Gyaltsab Rimpoche, one of the three regents of the Rumtek monastery. Sherab was also present on the occasion.Authorities of the Rumtek monastery attached significance to this puja which, many believed, were performed "in preparation of the return" of the Karmapa. The site was also sacred as the First King (Chogyal) was consecrated there by the three patron monks of Sikkim in 1642.The previous Karmapa, who had also sought refuge in the former kingdom of Sikkim after his escape from Tibet in 1959, was believed to have composed a special text for performing the puja for the guardian deities of the State.According to monastery sources, the 17th Karmapa also composed a special text in praise of the holy places of Sikkim and its protecting deities.
