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Smith's timely blessing on final Test eve

His Holiness passed on some wisdom to the Australia skipper ahead of the crucial fourth Test in Dharamsala

If ever there was a Test series that could benefit from the central tenets of the Tibetan Buddhist faith - compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline – it’s this fractious campaign that’s pitted India against Australia.

So it was as timely as it was opportune that a majority of Steve Smith’s Australia touring party, who are currently based at Dharamsala, made the 6km road trip up the Dhauladhar range to McLeod Ganj this morning.

To visit the trekking and tourist centre’s most celebrated resident, the 14th Dalai Lama who is also the Patron Saint of Tibet and spiritual head of the Tibetan Government that’s been exiled in India since 1960.

The visitors who were granted an audience with His Holiness sought not answers on how to chart a path through the verbal volleys, the scurrilous allegations, the palpable animosity and the hugely combative cricket that has characterised this series to date.

Rather, the Australia captain had a far more pragmatic concern that he wanted to raise with the man who is believed by the global followers of Tibetan Buddhism to be a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig - the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

Image Id: CC3187BA5AEA4700B3450A648FCD5A96 Image Caption: His Holiness had the players in stitches // cricket.com.au

According to Tibetan Buddhism, Bodhisattvas are believed to be enlightened beings who have delayed their own nirvana and chosen instead to be reborn to serve humankind on earth.

Smith has long been plagued by bouts of insomnia and during this six-week campaign thus far has struggled to string together more than four hours of skittish sleep every evening.

With the general irritability and shortness of fuse on show throughout the three Tests thus far suggesting that the Australia skipper might not be the only central player in this series to be suffering some serious sleep deprivation.

So the 27-year-old, who coincidentally holds a financial stake in a firm that produces mattresses and other related sleep collateral back in Australia, used his personal audience with the renowned spiritual leader and globally recognised face of compassion and harmony to seek an answer.

"It was great," Smith said today after the team’s hour-long meeting with His Holiness who hugged and conferred a personal blessing on Australia’s most famous contemporary cricketer.

"I asked him a question about sleep and how he could help me, and he gave me his blessings.

"We rubbed our noses together and he gave me some blessings, so hopefully it will help me with my sleep over the next five days."

Image Id: 7B325461E716494A91300FA9ED7A595F Image Caption: Up close and personal // cricket.com.au

The 81-year-old Dalai Lama, a darling of the worldwide television chat show circuit for his self-effacing humour and who prefers to describe himself as a ‘simple Buddhist monk’, does not profess any deep wisdom on cricket.

Consequently, he did not offer Smith, his vice-captain David Warner or any of the playing group and support staff at today’s audience inner guidance on when best to employ a sweep shot, or how to divine the hidden character of the mysteries that are Indian cricket pitches.

But Tenzin Gyatso, who was granted exile in India in 1959 and relocated from the hill station of Mussoorie to McLeod Ganj the following year where the Central Tibetan Administration was established, did dispense some broader counsel.

Image Id: D4659B7A48BA46518B608EA8A1D91BFB Image Caption: A signed short for His Holiness // cricket.com.au

And Smith indicated that the guidance so many souls seek when they make their pilgrimage to upper Dharamsala, to immerse themselves in His Holiness’s aura more often than attend personal audiences, will resonate through the final Test against India that will begin at Dharamsala’s HPCA Stadium tomorrow.

And further into their respective cricket journeys.

"Probably just relax us a little bit," he said when quizzed on the essence of what their meeting might yield henceforth.

"He's all about compassion and oneness for each and every human being, and it was great to hear something like that from someone as prestigious as the Dalai Lama.

"It was a great experience for all of us.

"If we can learn anything from it, it is that perhaps sometimes we get a bit over the top when we are out there playing cricket.

"It's a tough game, but at the end of the day it's just a game and you need to realise that at times.

"And that’s something that perhaps this team can take from meeting with the Dalai Lama."

A mantra that might well be adopted by both camps heading into the volatile series finale to play out in the tranquil hill setting of Himachal Pradesh.

Image Id: 7EAFE0D00A1A46D78A91A2DB6094610A Image Caption: The Dalai Lama spoke for an hour to the Australians // cricket.com.au