Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

08 January  2020

THE COMMON CONTRIBUTOR

An Engineer friend of ours  Santhiragasan, engaged with me in relation to my yesterday’s article in which I have included my belief of karma. The discussion  was more to value my work rather than the science of karma. Later Deva Rodrigo alerted me to a typo as follows:

[Dear Gajalakshmi

I read your commentaries with interest except when I am far too occupied with the mundane stuff of life. 

Reading today’s article I noticed a typo. Einstein’s equation should be E=MC squared.]

             [ Thank you Deva. Yes, just noticed the typo. Shall correct it in the main area. Thank you so very much for reading my work. It’s remarkable that you picked up something that our Engineering group including my husband did not. One of them rang me to have a debate on ‘karma’ – as per my today’s article. But they missed this one. It’s an honor that you with your genuineness read my articles.]

Later, Mevan Pieris wrote a valuable response about his feelings on the National Anthem. To me all of these are Soul connections. The Commonness is  the C  in Einstein’s Equation.

In 1998, I had experience of this connection with another Engineer Sunthu who left his mortal coil yesterday. Sunthu was/is  a Yoga Swami believer – but rarely demonstrated it. But in 1998, when I was in strong pain due to my experiences at the University of NSW I received my first email from Sunthu who set up our email account many years prior to that. I was about to write to Jeff – to advise him not to leave – when I received the email from Sunthu with the picture of Yoga Swami and Swami’s message ‘Summa Iru’ / Be Still. Due to my belief in Swami I did not write as I had intended to. Later I realised that the structure of the Medical Faculty of the University of NSW had to make way for the manifestation of its own truth on which new structure had to be developed. Jeff would have been unhappy  through the process but I could not ‘see’ it then. Hence the message to be still.

Literal translation of Karma is action. The tertiary  interpretation is that it is the net value of the Energy of our actions, that  travels with us. We could net it off with the opposite but not destroy it. Hence it is good to complete our experiences when they are strongest in positive Energy. Completion means no pain or gain. Hence ‘Summa Iru’ / Be Still. From then on whatever happens is natural and we become observers. Politics is at primary level where one’s work is rendered biggest form and Governance is at Tertiary level and is least visible but has strongest Positive Energy.

In the consciousness of Sri Lanka’s globalization, an Australian-Sri Lankan Engineer Mr Janaka Seneviratne’s article ‘Reformatting Government operating system’ published by the Daily FT came to my attention. :

[This writer has previously commented on the best practice processes and procedures for such high level appointments. A few more articles appeared in Daily FT on the same subject, after my article was published and in general, my opinions were reinforced with further practical actions proposed by those writers. I agree with the majority of their ideas. 

However, a recent such article proposed that the appointees to high positions in State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) must be ready to serve without monetary rewards. This suggestion was based on the premise that potential appointees should already be financially comfortable as high performers. 

In principle, this writer does not agree with such an approach and presumptions. All high performers are not necessarily rich people due to various personal commitments and social reasons. A handful performing in the private sector could fall into the ‘rich’ bracket. There could be an unemployed or an under-employed person who has excellent capabilities and waiting for an opportunity and recognition. Hence, it is unreasonable to challenge a person to serve without pay to display his or her model citizen character ]

This is a challenge when organisations are moving more towards Bottom up Projects from Top Down Programs. Public Sector Financial Management in Australia started moving towards this in early 90’s. The challenge was to merge the two at Policy level. If Policy is taken as the Soul – the human body becomes the parallel of Project. The environment in which the project begins and ends is the parallel of Program.

In terms of Human Resources – those who work for money – are projects. Those who work as per their positions are the programs and those who work  beyond these two but through them – are the Soul Power.

The investment we made in Public Service, including as customers, needs to be escalated to the highest level before  there is a restructure. Those who work off the outcomes produced through old structures – are confirming strong attachment to the past. This was a risk with Jeff, mentioned above. There were thousands more like him within the University system. There are hundreds of thousands within the Sri Lankan Public Service who are attached to the past – including those who ‘blame’ previous governments and politicians as a priority.  Likewise, militants who have not invested through the system they are opposing.

Mr Seneviratne states:

[A handful performing in the private sector could fall into the ‘rich’ bracket. There could be an unemployed or an under-employed person who has excellent capabilities and waiting for an opportunity and recognition. Hence, it is unreasonable to challenge a person to serve without pay to display his or her model citizen character]

Given that Mr Seneviratne’s articles on Resource Management get published regularly by mainstream Sri Lankan media and the Institutions of Engineers one is entitled to conclude that he is NOT in waiting. I was not so recognized but I continued to have the motivation to write. When I get recognized ‘privately’ from time to time I take it as a bonus. But I do not depend on it. This helped me work out later that my work had rich Soul-Value which either becomes source of knowledge in the case of those seeking knowledge and/or more importantly went to the ‘common system’ from where the seekers in need found my work.

On that basis, I conclude that there ought to be no skilled person who is unemployed or under-employed in Public Service. That to me is the essence of ‘Ape Aanduwa’ / Our Government.

Identical twins have different characters. Likewise – even when we use the same structure the outcomes are likely to be different in value due to changes in those who work the system. Like Climate Change, some are natural and others are due to conscious intervention.

Mr Seneviratne states also:

[There was a Gazette Notification 1A – G 31476 — 417 (12/2019) outlining the allocation of Ministries, Departments, Statutory Boards, Institutions and Government Corporations for each Minister. It also had references to respective Statutory Instruments for the operation of legal entities under each Ministry. Hence, the Minister is supposed to abide by the relevant legislation, when fulfilling the duties.

When studying the gazette notification, this writer was alarmed by the sheer number of organisations allocated to each Ministry. It seems that successive governments have formed these organisations without reviewing the role of existing. Some were politically flagged organisations. 

It was also noted that these organisations are scattered across Ministries, defying any scientific logic in allocation. The National Building Research Organisation was listed under the Defence Ministry. There were numerous research organisations listed under different Ministries. ]

The Source is in the President  who is ‘waiting’ for two thirds majority to repeal the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution. Those who are strongly subjective  would tend to mentally go back to the structure during which Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa delivered the most attractive  outcomes. He was then Defence Secretary and hence the power connection through Defence.

The party that is now in government was in Opposition when the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution was passed. Unless they then Opposed the provisions in the 19^th Amendment they would be  making a mockery of their own work. The only one who opposed was Former Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara of the Sri Lankan Navy. As per Wikipedia:

[ He was the only parliamentarian who opposed to the National Anthem being sung in Tamil in parliament proving that it’s a violation of the constitution.]

But those who passed their  work through the 19^th Amendment structures – would mind-merge with Democratic structures within more democratic parts of Public Service, in Sri Lankan Private Sector and beyond. The higher and more independent their contributions of their own past the more confortable they would be in democratic structures. The connection to Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the strong attachment to the past is revealed by Wikipedia as follows:

[From 2017 he consistently attended all UNHRC sessions in Geneva and challenged the false allegations of the pro LTTE NGOs. In March 2019 at UNHRC, when the UK alleged violations of HR in Sri Lanka, Admiral Weerasekera , in his speech said, that before the UK try to teach Sri Lankans about HR, they should tender a public apology to Sri Lankans for the atrocities they committed in 1818 and return all the Ola leaf books looted from Sri Lanka. He harnessed all the Nationalistic organizations in the country as the convener against the government’s activities detrimental to the nation. He is the convener of the National War Heroes Front. He is a pioneer member of Viyathmaga and Eliya organisations inaugurated by Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksha.]

We cannot directly make changes to the above type of thought-structures.  But to the extent we made true contributions to democracy, we would be supported in the appropriate form at the time of our real need.