By Jeremy Clift

DHARAMSALA, India, July 2 (Reuter) - When the Dalai Lama fled across the Himalayas into exile in the face of advancing Chinese troops in 1959, little did the youthful spiritual leader know he might never see his Tibetan homeland again.

Now turning 60 this week, Tibet's exiled god-king is torn between the satisfaction of having encouraged the spread of worldwide interest in Buddhism and the pain of realising that he may be the last Dalai Lama to rule in the Tibetan capital's towering Potala Palace where he was brought up.

"While I was leaving Lhasa to the border, then at that time many of us made a calculation that things would be solved within a short period," he told Reuters in an interview at his exile headquarters at Dharamsala in the foothills of the Himalayas. "But after reaching India, then we began to realise that it may take a few decades," added the Dalai Lama with a sad smile.

The 60th birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama will be marked by three days of celebrations in New Delhi this week, culminating in the actual birthday on July 6. Scientists, philosophers and human-rights activists will gather for a series of symposia on world issues, underlining the fact that although the Nobel Laureate has lost a kingdom, he now has the world as his stage.

The plumpish, softspoken Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, presides over Tibetan Buddhism at a time when the religion is attracting growing converts in the West, including Hollywood actors Richard Gere and Harrison Ford, Italian soccer star Roberto Baggio and rock singer Tina Turner.

Dressed in his traditional maroon and saffron robes, the Dalai Lama argues that with five billion people in the world, one religion cannot satisfy everyone, and there is a need for a variety of religions.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet disguised as a soldier, but is a fervent believer in non-violence, which he says is the only way to recover Tibet in the face of the vastly stronger Chinese.While maintaining the struggle to free Tibet from Communist Chinese rule, he has also carried Buddhism's message of non-violence across the world.

"When we talk of religion, it has no national boundary," said the Dalai Lama in the interview, to be broadcast on Britain's Sky TV. Wrenched from the isolated, mediaeval world of Tibet, he has travelled from Washington to Tokyo to garner international support for his cause, although his government in exile remains unrecognised by any other government and Beijing remains adamant that Tibet is an integral part of China.

The religious leader, who was enthroned at the age of four, recalls with fondness his life as a young boy in his Norbulingka summer palace where he would shoot at his toys with an air rifle for target practice, and indulge his fascination for repairing machinery.

He has spent his life in exile trying to keep the Tibetan culture and religion alive, particularly during the period of the Cultural Revolution in China when monasteries across Tibet were destroyed and thousands of monks locked up or killed. Now, although the Chinese have restored some of the monasteries, he says they are often more like museums for tourists than genuine places of worship.

Believed by his followers to be the reincarnation of a long line of Tibetan god-kings, he says time is running out for Tibetan culture as the generations pass and the Chinese population and influence in Tibet becomes stronger. "Then you see one ancient nation with its unique cultural heritage may disappear," he argues. Tibetans are already second-class citizens in their own country, he says, and they are being edged out of jobs by Chinese migrants. Tibet is still rocked by periodic anti-Chinese unrest.

While he freely admits he has failed to reach any negotiated settlement with Beijing, the Dalai Lama still hopes to return to his home on the "Roof of the World" one day, possibly after political liberalisation in China. "I feel that in a few years time I think the situation will change. So I am hopeful," he says.