"Your main duty is to guard and preserve Tibetan culture and religion," the Karmapa said while addressing over 8,000 Tibetans, who are in this Buddhist holy site, about 110 km from Patna, to participate in the Kalachakra initiation for world peace.

"It's also the duty of us Tibetans in India and other free countries to let the world know what is going on within Tibet," the Karmapa added.

Recounting the relationship that Tibet shared with India, the 26-year-old Buddhist monk said: "We received the Buddha 'dharma' directly from India. Now, many of us have settled here in exile. Therefore, I do not need to tell you how close and profound this relationship between Tibet and India is."

"The hardships you were willing to undertake to come here to this holy place shows very clearly the deep sense of devotion and affection that we Tibetans feel for India," said the Karmapa, who usually resides in a monastery near Dharamsala town in Himachal Pradesh.

The Karmapa, who fled Tibet and sought refuge in India in January 2000, is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism. He is considered the third most important Tibetan religious head after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.

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