Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

26 May 2021

 

VESAK & VAIKASI VISAKAM

 

The moon was full and I thought it must be Vesak today. I had knowledge that it was Vesak season but did not know the exact date. I guess I did not need to know the exact date. Taking the sight of full- moon as indicator -  I touched the feet of Buddha and said ‘Happy Vesak’ to myself. This meant that I was mind merging with all Buddhists who believe that Vesak is a day to be celebrated. As per my knowledge it is the anniversary of  the day Lord Buddha was born and also attained Samaathi/Liberation.

 

Yesterday Hindus celebrated ‘Vaikasi Visakam’ – including at Kannaki Amman temple in the area where the 2009 battle at the centre of war-crimes allegations against the Sri Lankan government, happened. It was this Kannaki I was referring to in my yesterday’s article:

 

[The dress code of a culture is a private matter for them unless it interferes with common values. Not only Muslims but many Hindu women are also are often   subjected to such restrictions to accommodate male dominance.  The Hindu marriage ceremony includes a ritual in which the foot of the bride is placed by the bridegroom, on the grinding stone. This is to promote chastity so that the character of the mother is strengthened by enjoying less physical and immediate pleasures than her husband followed by their children. Such a mother elevates the culture of the whole family and makes it sovereign and therefore self-governing. In turn the wife/mother becomes the highest power who is to be respected. Such a wife/mother has the ability to invoke the Universal Energy. Mother Kannaki’s legend confirms this. That is how pleasure is elevated to Energy by  wife/mother. Likewise, minorities who enjoy less than majority at primary level.

 

If minorities burn the whole due to such power – the curse does not continue. If they burn out of revenge – the curse would come with the punisher. ]

 

Part of the problem that the LTTE highlighted in 1983, was rape by Sinhalese soldiers in Northern Sri Lanka. This was confirmed to be true by the soldier-informants at the battlefield who were against rape. They were true soldiers who did not take more than their official dues in a free environment. The current ‘big-issue’ here in Australia is rape – triggered by the complaint of rape within Parliament House. The alleged victim is Ms Brittany Higgins. As I watch the royal treatment to Brittany, my mind goes to the way I was treated for complaining against workplace harassment which I felt was due to my race. To me when someone’s true contribution is rubbished that is also rape. Rights are developed through unpaid work within the institutional boundaries. ‘Consent’ was discussed in the above issue. But there was little said about institutional values. Rape in parliament needs to be taken as happening due to weak institutional structures.

 

My main realization this Vesak morning was that when we bring a good leader into our mind – we do not need to ask expressly. Until then we have to ask and it is the duty of the senior to ‘give’ within the institutional boundaries. Sexual pleasures within marriage are within institutional boundaries and they also require the junior to ‘ask’ and the ‘senior’ to provide – until the two minds become one. Australia, is largely a Christian nation and yet I had the above realisation on Vesak day.  Those who follow marriage laws become ‘one’ and enjoy happiness due to that oneness. Respect for Laws  of the institution, automatically leads to respect for the fellow members of that institution and v.v. That respect is the protecting armour of every minority power.

 

Where institutional powers are weak minorities form their own protection – as LTTE did as well as Muslims do. This acts as natural repellent of such rapes by outsiders in a relatively ‘freer ’ society/community. It is therefore wrong of governments elected by such communities to decide on the dress code of women. If implemented, men in that community would gradually cease to protect their women including through their own chastity. I realised this when a Muslim contractor said to me he would not shake hands with me because of his religious belief. That was new to me even though I have worked in Muslim institution in Sri Lanka. But I was impressed that this guy practiced that rule even when he was not being supervised.

 

When there are such natural preventive measures – those from less regulated communities who consider such persons as their seniors – would also not need specific laws to micromanage relationships.