Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 27 February  2015

Completed ​ or Finished

I rang Susil Wanigaratne who was hospitalized in Colombo about a week ago. Susil was admitted to hospital because he was feeling weak and was running a temperature. I heard about it  yesterday and I rang him immediately from Sydney. Susil said he was feeling lifeless and complained that the temperature was not going down. I chatted to him for a while and advised him a little. Susil is a Sinhala Nationalist because that is the only pathway known to him. But Susil is very accepting of Sri Lankans of Tamil origin and more importantly Tamil Nationalists. He is in fact part of the community in Wellawatte – a predominantly Tamil area in Colombo. I rang again today to check on his progress and was delighted to hear that he has been discharged and was ready to go home!  Susil said that after he spoke to me he regained his confidence – and now even the temperature was gone! That made me happy. I thanked the Lord again for answering my prayers. The best thing I could do for Susil was to pray as if he were a part of me  - the same way I was praying for the Bali 9 leaders. Each time something positive  happens – without any direct intervention on my part – I know clearly that the progress was due to that Higher Power which blesses One mindedness.

Susil is our auto-rickshaw man in Colombo. To be able to receive the Lord’s blessings through our prayers – Susil also had to be open minded – and his mind needed to be clear of any bias. There are Tamil minds that are less open than Susil’s to becoming one-minded with me. Likewise, in terms of  Myuran Sukumaran’s family – they are not my relatives but their family is more or less the only family we had as new migrants in Australia. Hence the natural mind connection during time of deep need. In both instances – our strength of mind works them to help themselves. That has a chain effect. Even if Myuran’s body is no longer with us – his mind will be.

The mind of Sukumaran 10 years ago was without the depth of belonging to a common society. Hence it did not think twice about damaging another society either.  But we have come a long way since then. Sukumaran’s mind is now worth preserving and inheriting. His body will be gone but he will continue to live with us. That is the way with heritage. One who fails to give recognition to this – be it an individual or a legal system – is driven by the physical.

I am referring not only to Indonesians here. I am referring to Sri Lankans also. The mind of Sri Lankans on both sides of the Ethnic bridge needs to become stronger through the Truth discovered about each other. If we keep referring to what happened in the past all the time – then it means we are operating at the emotional level. The mind of the Governments on both sides is not the same as it was 30 years ago or even in 2009 when innocent civilians suffered. We need to render such suffering dignity – by valuing why those deaths happened.  When we so value – those who died live with us forever. This is the reason why we have memorials in many cultures. If the mind is also lost when the body dies  - we would not rise above funerals. These thoughts have been strongly influenced by the poor conduct of some family members from Vaddukoddai who are using the name of Thesawalamai to ‘get’ ‘money only’ from a relative who died. There is no demonstration of respect for the mind that gave us Thesawalamai. Their ‘attitudes’ sadly have been upheld by the Mallakam District Court which delayed judgment by more than a year. I had to wrote to the Judicial Services Commission and out came to verdict – so we can raise the matter to the Court of Appeal.

Unlike some who are critical of Thesawalamai which includes the principles on which the dowry system works I am in awe of the minds of my Tamil elders who gave me Thesawalamai Law so I would uphold the dignity of my marriage and as well as my commitment to my husband’s side of the family more than to mine. I was practicing the fundamentals of this law even though it was not recognized and rewarded by my husband’s family. My experience as a migrant, with the Australian system has strengthened my mind. The parallel of Thesawalamai law is the 1901 law of Trespass here in New South Wales. I prayed to my Australian elders to guide me – and not only proved in court that the Australian Police were unlawful in arresting me  – but more importantly discarded the superficial part of my workplace relationships.  I continue to carry the consolidated value of my experiences as my Truth and the common family as my consolidate family.   

The passing away of my brother-in-law who had saved wealth – brought me the opportunity to study the Thesawalamai mind – and I am so much in awe of the wisdom of those elders who practiced equality in marriage and the hierarchical system of management at the workplace. Dowry system and the caste system are heritage names for Equal Opportunity system and Industrial Relations system of  today’s world.  By experiencing Thesawalamai we are making in action - universal declarations of Independence. Slogans of Tamil Eelam are the parallels of the money value in the wealth inherited from our Brother. One who inherits the mind is the real heir to the independence enjoyed by our Brother.  One who therefore inherits the mind of Thewalamai elders is already independent. The rest will die with their body.  A relationship becomes family when completed.  This must not be confused with physical togetherness. Recently a Sri Lankan Diaspora leader shared the following with me in clarification:

Completed ​ or Finished .

No dictionary has ever been able to satisfactorily define the difference between "complete" and "finished." During a recent linguistic conference, held in London, England, and attended by some of the best linguists in the world Samsundar Balgobin, a Guyanese linguist, was the presenter when he was asked to make that very distinction. The question put to him by a colleague in the erudite audience was this:  

Some say there is no difference between complete and   finished .   Please explain the difference in a way that is easy to understand.

Mr. Balgobin’s response: When you marry the right woman, you are complete . If you marry the wrong woman, you are finished . And, if the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are completely finished .

This applies to all relationships. That brings us to statements by the Chief Minister of Northern Province of Sri Lanka - the Hon C.V. Wigneswaran – who also is considered to be an investor in Thesawamai:

Ceylontoday: Exposing the truth cannot be racism, reconciliation maybe achieved only through finding the truth, pointed out Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, responding to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's comment over the passing of the genocide resolution at the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) last week.
"Releasing the truth to the people cannot be identified as racism, and Prime Minister's comment on our move has saddened the council. Our resolution has just pointed out the truth," he said. Only when the truth is exposed can reconciliation be reached, the 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission' in South Africa found the truth in order to find ways for reconciliation, he stated……. "We brought in the resolution to express our thoughts on the postponement of the UN report. We feel the Prime Minister had given a reply to our claim for a change in the political culture. Prime Minister's stand is making us feel that our people from the North cannot expect reconciliation with those in the South. But I feel that the Sinhala people are righteous, but their politicians have misguided them," he added.

The mind that committed alleged Genocide needs to be true as of now for this generation to make such a claim. If this is  then the Sinhala people who elect government cannot be righteous people. In my article Emperor Bali & the Tamil Mind ( http://austms.blogspot.com.au/) I have tried to bring across that Common Value.  Winning the land was personal victory for Emperor Bali.  Until it is merged with the Lord’s system of Truth – the success is not Completed. It may very well be ‘finished’.  In Mr. Wigneswaran’s case – the right partner in governance is Thesawalamai mind. If Thesawalamai in Mr. Wigneswaran catches him with the Separatists the Chief Minister will be completely finished!