27 April 2023

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

 

BUDDHISM FOREMOST OR NIRVANA?

 

True sadhana (spiritual exercise) is the eradication of all evil in a man. Study of sacred texts, meditation and penance do not constitute the whole of sadhana. To remove all the impurities in the mind is real sadhana. After this comes what Buddha called Samyak-Samadhi or Nirvana (Realization or Liberation). What is meant by Samadhi? It means treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss alike. Sama-dhi (equal mindedness) is “Samadhi.” To look upon light and darkness, pleasure and pain, profit and loss, fame and censure with an equal mind is Samadhi. Buddha termed this equal mindedness as Nirvana. Sri Sathya Sai Baba May 15, 1997

 

This year Vesak falls on 05 May. Celebrating Buddhism is also celebrating Vesak.

 

In Sri Lanka each day the constitution is activated, it is Vesak, due to Article 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution which  states:

 

‘9. The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).

 

The above Buddha Purnima speech was in  sent to me by my cousin Ravi  who is Common Sri Lankan.

 

The Magazine ‘Sathya Sai Eternal Companion’ states:

 

‘Copyright © 2023 Sri Sathya Sai World Foundation Arcadia, California, USA The views and opinions expressed in the articles in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not reflect or imply in any manner expressed, construed, or otherwise the opinions of the editor or publisher.’

Do I have to obtain prior permission to print something I believe in?  I asked Swami in my heart. Swami smiled. That meant ‘You know what to do’. If I had thought I had to get approval, Swami would have frowned. That is my  ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ test of Belief.

 

This helps work out my mind structure / constituition.

 

I read  the Hindu article by  the article ‘Tamils flag escalating attacks on temples in northern Sri Lanka’ by Ms Meera Srinivasan  at  https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/tamils-flag-escalating-attacks-on-temples-in-northern-sri-lanka/article66769957.ece

What does my belief say in this regard? To be intellectually balanced, Hindus must oppose Buddhists on the basis of article 9. Then the powers of Democracy and therefore Equal status of Opposition  would be invoked.  

 

On 22 April  I wrote the position number in the 1978 Constitution -‘This made Buddhism a heritage with karmic values. Like 9 it confirmed the end of a cycle. Anyone who respects Buddhism is blessed with positive Energy and anyone who profited from it was cursed.’

 

I was a beneficiary of the 1978 Constitution which was more global than the 1972 constitution. By acknowledging this as reality, I became a shareholder of the 1978 constitution as it was.  I saw it as a necessity to ‘not disturb’ that heritage that reduced violence in Sri Lanka.

 

Included in my email  list was Ms Meera Srinivasan. Ms Srinivasan may or may not have read my article. But my belief in the issue has the power to merge with Hindu belief in  Ms Meera Srinivasan’s position in the Hindu’ . That is how the system of belief works a whole structure made up of positions that are reservoirs of particular minds  and their cognitive Energies. In a heritage, the structure is worked through  the absolute power of belief. Those driven by relative power of money and status, cannot access the heritage.

 

Heritage power can be invoked by a true opposition. That was how Tamils under the leadership of politicians who gave form to the Vaddukoddai Resolution 1976, became Equal Opposition in National Parliament.

 

As per the Hindu article:

 

‘Jaffna legislator and Tamil National People’s Front Leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam sees the incidents as part of a larger, persistent assault on Tamils’ rights, including to worship.

Ever since the end of the war, consecutive governments have “accelerated the Sinhalization” of the north and east, he said, “as if to catch up with the gap of the 30 years during the war that they missed out on.”

The 13^th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution effectively diffused ‘Sinhalization’.  But instead of thanking the Indian government for acting as our Elder, we joined forces Tamils ended up killing the elder. Elders are human heritages. Wikipedia presents Gandhi’s involvement as follows:

‘Gandhi signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in July 1987. The accord "envisaged a devolution of power to the Tamil-majority areas", dissolved the LTTE, and designated Tamil as an official language of Sri Lanka. Gandhi said:

The Government of India believe that, despite some problems and delays, many of which were foreseen but unavoidable in the resolution of an issue of this magnitude and complexity, this Agreement represents the only way of safeguarding legitimate Tamil interests and ensuring a durable peace in Sri Lanka. Some have chosen to criticise the Agreement. None has shown a better way of meeting the legitimate aspirations of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, restoring peace in that country and of meeting our own security concern in the region. We have accepted a role which is difficult, but which is in our national interests to discharge. We shall not shrink our obligations and commitments. This is a national endeavour.’

 

As a country, India is outside Sri Lanka’s sovereign borders. India does not have the authority to be a senior. Hence what is India’s position vis-à-vis  Sri Lanka? It is that of an Elder. I realised this when I was repeatedly hurt by my husband’s family, after I treated them as my own.  I was seated at the Bali Memorial today, wondering where I had gone wrong? Then my Truth said ‘You are not a senior; You are an Elder. Elders are always right.’

 

The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed by the Prime Minister of India.  That position,  like that of mine in relation to my husband’s family is outside relativity. But by feeling as if they were my family, I became an Elder. An elder, like a heritage, is ‘absolutely  right’.

 

Due to article 9, we non-Buddhists have become ‘Citizens-in-law to Buddhists in Sri Lanka. If we therefore act to include Buddhists, we become their Elders. Then we are ‘free’ of the prison of relativity. That is Nirvana the Eternal Kingdom.