The 76-year-old ex-president was at his inimitable best; not as a missile man, but in his now-familiar role of a teacher advising fresh graduates of the CIHTS how to apply knowledge for the peace and prosperity of the nation.

“Shed “I” and “me”, if you dream of peace and prosperity of the nation,” was the fervent call of Dr Kalam, who began his convocation address in Hindi, but later switched to English.

Recounting a short discourse by Chief Monk of the Buddhist Monastery in Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh) in 2003, the former President said “The chief monk said remove the “I” and “me” to eliminate ego. If you get rid of ego, hatred towards fellow human beings will vanish.”

“If hatred goes out of our mind, violence in thinking and action will also disappear. If the violence is taken away, peace establishes itself. Only then will peace blossom in the society,” said a philosophical Kalam.

Delivering the convocation address after being conferred ‘Vakpati’ - degree of Honaris Causa - Dr Kalam also recounted his miraculous escape in a helicopter crash moments before landing in Ranchi on September 30, 2001, back when he was the Principal Scientific Advisor.

“I had a disturbed sleep that night which turned into a dream later. Five great men, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Emperor Ashoka, Caliph Omar and Abraham Lincoln stood in a circle,” he added.

Drawing home various ingredients for an austere life, Dr Kalam said the conclusion from the dream featuring the five legends was: “Let the business of life be peace and prosperity and not exploitation and conflict. Giving always provides you the highest order of happiness. This is our message to the planet. Everything that we do, any doctrine that we espouse should be for the good of humankind.”

And finally, Dr Kalam was at his unrivaled best as a teacher, imparting the three components of knowledge - creativity, righteousness and courage - to the CIHTS students who passed the Acharya, Chikitsavidya, Shastri and Jyotish Acharya examinations in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively.

Dr Kalam, who has administered the oath of office and secrecy to two Prime Ministers, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh during his presidency, capped the address at the Tibetan Institute by administering the oath to students on how to successfully imbibe true knowledge.

Earlier, the honarary degree ‘Vagpati’ was conferred upon Thai scholar Sulak Sivaraksa at the convocation, which was presided by institute chairman and secretary of Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs Abhijit Sengupta. Director of CIHTS Geshe Ngawang Samten was also present on the dais.