Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 08 January   2016

The Ultimate Judgment is by the Self

Today is the birthday of our lawyer cousin Anandakrishnan of Malaysia. Cousin Ananda’s most favorite saying was ‘As you sow, so shall you reap’. I thought of our cousin even as I read the Island editorial ‘Justitia cringing in horror’. The opening paragraph goes as follows:

[It is with trepidation that ordinary people always visit courts of law. For, even a yawn in those places is considered contempt of court which carries severe punishment. A man was sentenced to eight months in jail for yawning in a court the other day. Policemen pounce on those who ever so much as scratch their heads in a courtroom. That’s how the dignity of the judiciary is persevered!]

If this did happen – then the former Chief Justice actually dismissed herself. The law is the measure for Legal Administration. Not the opinion of the person in the judge’s chair.  Every neglected judgment such as the above – accumulates interest until it is fat enough to punish the person at the top who has the ultimate responsibility to the Public. I dedicated a whole chapter of my book Naan Australian – published by Lake House group – towards addressing this kind of disorder at Mallakam Courts in Northern Sri Lanka. At Policy level as at voting level – we need only one side to be validly heard. At Policy level – we need to be both sides representing the whole. The law makers and administrators may not read my work – but the Energy added by me would remain in waiting to support someone like me in need. THAT I am sure of, because I myself have had the experience of such support. Every Nation that recognizes at the top level – the value of religion or God – has the moral duty to hear and include such experiences in their law making. That is the primary duty of elected members of Parliament. Neglected responsibility goes into ‘automatic’ mode once the body of the matter deteriorates due to time and/or place changes. The surface memory based on the seen and the heard – deteriorates with time. Only the memory that is written through discriminating thinking and/or out of faith in a higher mind, lasts to support us beyond its physical existence. Within the Sri Lankan media – the Island is also one such accumulator of negligence karma.

The Island has been getting my emails regularly and is yet to publish even one of my articles. The Daily News published my work twice – both in relation to legal personalities – the first one of Sinhalese origin and the next one of Tamil origin. I concluded that the Daily News was more close to its soul than any other official medium in my email list. Given that I do not know anyone personally at the Daily News, I conclude that my work was picked up by someone true to her/his job. THAT is the law of Nature.  The Island Editor states:

[The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has led pro-democracy campaigns from the front and fearlessly taken on oppressive governments to protect judicial independence and tame arrogant political leaders who thought no end of themselves. It courageously took up the cudgels for Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake when she was wrongfully impeached. It has recently called for action against those who set upon the Meethotamulla protesters.]

The independence of any group – including the Judiciary is tested by its service to the Common Public. Just today our staff gave me positive feedback about the officer of the Pradeshiya Sabai who was disciplined by me for him acting without authority. In that judgment I was the judge and today I had feedback that the recipient had accepted my judgment in a positive manner. To my mind, that meant that the report I produced – had traveled through the network – with the final stage going towards empowering the new Constitution being written by the officer concerned for his part of the National Law & Order machine. That is how the circle of self-governance is completed. The communication from me might have been read and used by some higher official without attributing due credit to me. But the outcome was read by me as if I had delivered my own judgment.

At the same time, a lady citizen of Vaddukoddai said to me words to the effect ‘why are you spending more and more money without enough income to recover your investment?’ I smiled and said the outcome was confirmed yet again to be at policy level. As per that lady’s mind structure – donations to temples is worthy – especially when the donor is allocated high status in common gathering. The lady could not ‘see’ such parallel value in my case. As per the principles of Democracy – I accept Equal status from a person who never had to work outside her home for a living. Our common measures are home-making activities. She herself has been praising the quality of  Rotti/Chappathi  (Sri Lankan bread of Indian origin) made by me. To me that was endorsement in action of my policy to demonstrate Equality to the person of highest status in a particular issue at that place. The rest, I realize now – accumulates as motivating Energy.

Last evening I opened the mail of Mr. Ramanathan of Senior citizens in Sydney. To my mind, the work I was doing here in Vaddukoddai when they were celebrating their life – was at least of Equal value. Had I been active in Sydney I would not have accumulated this level of motivational Energy to come to Vaddukoddai where there is a deeper need. I believe I am capable of developing Common structures that would keep the connections between the Diaspora and the Local folks going beyond my generation. That is the Heritage value I share beyond cultural and generational borders. It cannot be measured through money profits.

Recently, Sri Lankan law experts accused me of being defamatory when I criticized them. All  lawyers concerned  have chosen to remain silent – even privately when my opposition in two matters – one in Colombo and the other in Mallakam -  brought out that my current marriage was my second marriage. That is cheap and yet it was not opposed by my side lawyers. In the Colombo matter where I am the primary litigant – I stopped the other side lawyer from going round and round the bush – as if he had discovered a secret about me. In the Mallakam matter in Northern Sri Lanka, where my husband is the primary litigant - when I stepped down after giving evidence, I disciplined both lawyers and there – as a law abiding litigant who has upheld at all times the value of marriage – legally as well as culturally – I was the Judge punishing them through my Truth. The Judge publicly punished me – as if I was a street woman. That would have returned the pain I felt in that part of Sri Lanka where I was / am working towards better life for women headed families – exponentially to the Courts – through the Judge’s position. It takes only a truly believing litigant to reverse the karma on the erring legal system.

If the Sri Lankan media had invested in law and order in areas where it had ‘freedom to judge’ – however tiny that space might have seemed - politicians and the judiciary would have become more aware of the media-watchdog and Sri Lankan media would have done what Channel 4 did in relation to war crimes.  The reason for this is the consolidated power of minds of those who discovered the Truth through Research and shared their work without expecting material returns – of money and status. No genuine contributor to Truth is ever alone. That is the Law of Truth/Love/God. Such person in current environment would invoke the erring side to punish themselves through the fear of their Truth. Ultimately we live with our mind and to the extent we relied on our own ability to discipline ourselves – we would punish ourselves before anyone else does. If someone punishes us after that – we return that accusation to them. That is the Divine power within each and every one of us.

As a Community – we share  this power to influence manifestations at the time and place of need  - which is our home. I believe that it was no coincidence that I was present and focused on the issue  when the LTTE  leadership came to an end in 2009; later when the Rajapaksa regime was dethroned and now then the new Constitution is developing. The basis of the natural Constitution of any place is the Truth discovered by the People of an area about themselves – so each group would take its place relative to the other. By including me as a person of Vaddukoddai I am shaping the actual constitution that Vaddukoddai folks beyond generations, would be able to work to experience ownership in this part of the world. That upholds the consolidated value of Tamil leadership – in self-governance. Lord Krishna shared with us the Bhagawath Geetha through Prince Arjuna who believed in Krishna. The place was the battlefield where Prince Arjuna had to rise above personal likes and dislikes to do his duty as per his allocated position. It was NOT a room in the king’s court which had failed in its duty to earn its status as the highest institution. If the Sri Lankan Judiciary had upheld its Equal position as the Executive – it would have saved Sri Lankans from the damages of war. Likewise the Judiciary of western countries would have prevented the war declared by Muslim rebels had they actually practiced Equal Opportunity principles. Sri Lankan Courts punishing citizens for yawning is in breach of the Doctrine of Separation of Powers – for it is part of the duties of the Executive Government. Patting ourselves on the back that we criticized and punished the former Executive for dismissing the then Chief Justice is confirmation of hallucination – that hearsay memory becomes with age. An institution that fails to keep within its allocated position at primary level does not have the root to uphold such high principles at the top level. In the case of Chief Justice – the Truth manifested itself when the two powers became Equally low in status.

The Judiciary habitually crosses the border to exceed its powers over the litigant. As Cousin Anandakrishnan would have said – the Judiciary  reaped as it sowed.