It’s a Wednesday afternoon, early February, when I get the rare opportunity to speak in depth with Ani Choying Drolma—a Nepalese Buddhist nun of Tibetan heritage who is a singer, an activist for girls’ education, and an ambassador with the World Wide Fund for Nature. Through the Zoom window, behind her, I can see her thangka painting with Tibetan spiritual master Milarepa in the centre.
“The primary reason I chose to become a nun was to avoid getting married. There was a fear growing in my heart that my father would make me marry a man of his choice. That sounded dreadful because the whole idea of marriage—at least in my mind—was about getting beaten by a man and suffering quietly. That’s what I had seen at home. I wanted to escape that fate,” she says.
Ani La (ani is the word used for nuns in Tibetan, and la is an honorific, the equivalent of ji in Hindi) was born in 1972. She took formal refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha at 10, and formally joined the Nagi Gompa Nunnery when she was 13. “Back then it was a struggle to pacify my anger and disappointment, but I felt safe in the new environment. I was glad that I could be a child, slightly naughty at times, without fear of being punished. I didn’t have to do any household work. I didn’t have to carry my brothers on my back, and I didn’t even have to take care of my hair because my head was shaved. It was only when I grew older that I began to think of how I could help others and be of service.”
A few days ago, she was in Mumbai, where she performed at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival as part of an ensemble called Songs of Himalayas with musician-composer Shantanu Moitra, singer Kaushiki Chakraborty and violinist Ambi Subramaniam. During her stay in there, she met filmmaker and theatre impresario Feroz Abbas Khan—the man behind the musical ‘The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation’ that will inaugurate the 2,000-seater Grand Theatre at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre on March 31. Ani La will join a team of more than 350 performers in executing Khan’s effort to present a dramatic showcase of the spirit of India. “Being approached for this musical is a big honour, especially because I will be singing to present the era of Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha. Feroz Abbas Khan sahab has asked me to sing ‘Namo Ratna Trayaya’, which is known as the Great Compassion Mantra associated with Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. He showed me the venue. It is so beautiful,” she says.
I have been listening to Ani La’s rendition of this mantra for several years, thanks to YouTube, so I ask if singing is her way of fulfilling the Bodhisattva Vow—which Mahayana Buddhist practitioners take because the main goal of their spiritual practice is to attain full awakening and liberate all sentient beings from their suffering. “Earlier, I didn’t realise this but now I do because of the feedback I get from people who listen to the music either in a recorded format or when I am touring different countries to give concerts,” says Ani La, who has been recording and performing since 1997 when American guitarist-composer Steve Tibbetts helped record and distribute the music beginning with albums, Cho and Selwa. She has also collaborated with singer Farah Siraj and composer AR Rahman for Coke Studio’s ‘Zariya’.

“Through music, I’m able to give people calm and peaceful experiences in times of grief and agony. Knowing this gives me joy. I feel my existence is meaningful. Before I start singing, I prepare my mind with this motivation: May everyone who gets to hear this benefit from it. May they all be happy. May they be free from suffering. May these words and sounds invoke the spiritual spark in them. This is what my guruji—Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche—taught me,” she tells me, adding that she is excited to present the Great Compassion Mantra to newer audiences every time because she believes that it resonates with people regardless of their background. Once, a woman from Bangladesh who was going through a bad divorce found solace in it, so she shared the recording with other women in similar situations and they too found it helpful. “I had no idea that it would become a divorce healing mantra. But I am delighted that it helped.”

On another occasion, when Ani La was in China, she met a woman who told her that the mantra recording came into her life when she was trying to deliver her first child at home. “She was so excited. Since she could not speak English, she got someone to translate it for me. She did not want to deliver the child in a hospital but she could not bear the pain either, so the midwife, who came home, played the mantra on her phone. 50 per cent of the pain disappeared. The divorce healing mantra became a baby delivery mantra!”

The proceeds from record sales and concerts support the Arya Tara School established in Nepal in 2000. It is a flagship project of the Nuns’ Welfare Foundation of Nepal started by Ani La in 1998. Providing secular education to girls who become nuns is a lifetime commitment, particularly because she did not have a chance to pursue studies after the fifth grade. “Traditionally, nuns have been given only religious training in rituals and ceremonies. They have not been encouraged to pursue academic learning. The situation has been totally different in the case of monks. They have multiple opportunities to study,” she adds.

Having encountered discrimination and injustice as a girl within her own family, she wants to give other girls a better life. Ani La tells me that supporting school education is not enough; those who wish to get college degrees and get a university education need to be encouraged to fulfil their dreams. “I send many of them to Varanasi after the 12th grade. Even if they do not have to pay any tuition fees, there are costs associated with their stay, transport from Nepal to India and back, laptops, and their nutrition to maintain good health while studying,” she says. 

I am utterly moved by this conversation, so I thank her for giving me her precious time and request her to bless me so that I, too, can walk the Bodhisattva path and do something meaningful with my life. She smiles at me, joins her hands, and says, “I deeply rejoice in your motivation towards that. Really! May your wish be fulfilled in a very short time.” 

Ani Choying Drolma performs on March 31 and April 2, 2023, as part of Feroz Abbas Khan’s ‘The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation’ at The Grand Theatre, Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, in Mumbai.