Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

01 September   2016

Power of the Land

At the second stage of my Prayers & Thanksgiving at Nallur Murugan temple yesterday, I was standing at the Home of the Chariot / Ther. We were awaiting the arrival of the Chariot after the chariot’s around the temple/world  journey. Three ladies were already seated near the entrance and I took my place in the second row at the big pillar. The first lady seemed to be at least 10 years older than I and I admired her courage in taking her place at the front row where the pushing force tends to be quite intense especially when the devotees pulling the Ther go past the line. The rope seen in the picture is not really pulled by anyone in particular. My husband said that one gets only to place the hand on the rope and the rest happens naturally. Whether the Ther (faith) pushes the devotees or the Devotees pull the Ther physically is an unknown. One who seeks to be part of that experience – needs to be ready to get his feet trampled on and his body crushed. I believe that those who put themselves through the experience and endure the pain – wash off their sins and those with positive karma are blessed with higher positive experience of life itself. They become immune to external punishments.

The ladies stood up when the Chariot got close to home. The younger lady of about my age was critical of a couple of boys going through the passage in their shirts. The rule is that males could not go inside the temple with their shirts on. They are rules of humility at the place of worship. But the boys were young and to my mind, since we were outside the temple they had not broken the rules. Using the lady’s philosophy - it was wrong of men to stand on the ladies’ side – especially the ones without shirts on. That lady did not object to them. I concluded that that lady was expressing her desire to take authority at that place – but using a rule at the wrong place. When the lady asked her friend to come forward – which would have pushed me to the third row – I stood ground that at that place each devotee was for her/himself – as per the law of Democracy.  A few minutes later a male with video-camera came with a mate and climbed up the pillar. He was blocking part of the lady’s view but the lady did not say anything. The young good looking guy bent down and said softly to the lady that he wanted to film and said ‘that was ok with her was it not?’ It was said in Tamil-Sinhalese mix which meant he was Sinhalese. The lady did not say anything but did give-way a little. A teenager on my other side said – as if she was the authority  -  for the ladies to allow the guy to film. I then put my foot down and said loudly that if he wanted to film he ought to have come early and assembled like we had done. I said to the guy in a mix of Sinhala and English that he needed to use the space available to him and not block devotees getting a view of Murugan. The guy was not happy but pulled back a little – to take his place. The lady who was critical of boys with their shirts on – joined me in confirming that devotees came before videographers. I felt good – especially when the old lady behind me kept saying that she was happy to have had a good view of Murugan on Ther. I felt good because true justice prevailed there.

I learnt my own lesson in photographs when in 2010 my camera gave up when I was taking photos of Naina Theevu Amman inside the temple with the permission of the authorities. I was upset at first but realized that it helped me better participate in the ceremony – for myself. When  Kamala Ratnakumar of our Engineering group – lamented that she did not have a camera – to take the photo of the reunion – I said to Kamala to take the photo with her mind. Kamala liked that and smiled. Kamala is no more with us physically but those sweet sharing are with us.

When we have the experience we develop the photo from within. Since then I stopped taking camera to any temple. At the fourth stage of my prayers and thanksgiving – I heard supervisors inside shouting that if anyone took photos with their phones – the phones would be confiscated. There are now signs that photo-taking was not allowed inside the temple. I was happy with the rule being there. The young lady next to me kept looking through her phone – while the main ceremony was going on. After a minute of observation to ensure that it was not an emergency to her – I signaled to her to put her phone away. She obeyed immediately. There was no more drama. There was no rule against use of phone inside the temple  but there ought to be – as they have in Judicial Courts.  The vibrations during poojah are strong and most of us including that young lady got pushed and shoved to get to those vantage points for the direct sight of that marvelous presentation. The value to the mind is severely diluted when we are distracted by such frivolity.

The knowledge that young ones were taking my authority  made me happy that Nallur was recognizing my real status. I needed to take my place as per my own Truth and I believe Nallur will always facilitate this for believers. Where Law and Order as per the official system is low – common natural faith is the pathway to harmony. All of us practicing  an order to share common facilities are governors. When the yellow flower from the Chariot fell on me at the time of ‘Home-coming’ I felt  that I was blessed for taking that lead and  bringing about order to facilitate those having the experience before those who were seeking to ‘show’. That confirmed that I was Nallur and Nallur was me.

The Daily Mirror article ‘Buddhist way or the other way… a moment of reckoning for all Buddhists’ refers to the expressions of  the Minister for Health the Hon Rajitha Senaratne as follows:

“Building Buddhist temples, placing statues under Bo-trees have negated reconciliation efforts”, making a very potentially-unpopular observation, Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, however, could not have uttered truer words. Hailing from a Buddhist background, educated in the two leading Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka, firstly at Nalanda College and then Ananda, Rajitha’s utterances could be politically incorrect, but they are indeed bold and beautiful.”  

The Hindu parallel of such Buddha statue is Vairavar – Lard Shiva in Trident form.  Vairavar is the presiding deity at our family temple, here in Thunaiv-Vaddukoddai. Our cousin Vathanee and her husband Sri said they prayed for me at our Vairavar temple when they learnt that the Australian Police had abused their power to arrest me. They prayed particularly to Vairavar due to their belief that Vairavar was the Protector of the Home – including the Public area that is ‘Home’ to a person. I was arrested for merely giving form to that ‘Home-Power’ at the University of New South Wales. The parallels of the Buddha statue at the University and many other Public institutions in Australia are Democratic Rules especially of Equal Opportunity. Such placements falsely elevate the status of those who place them high – in their minds and the minds of those who obey their orders.

Lord Shiva is the Lord of the Mind. The vehicle (animal side of human) of Vairavar is the Dog. We have a black dog here whom I observed from Australia, through our camera system - to be spending time at our Vairavar temple.  While other dogs came to have dinner at our cottage  when we were physically here – this one had never come. I wanted him to. The following time – he came – as if he had read my mind – across the seas. I have since learnt that this black dog – obeys rules – for example after I disciplined him to wait for me to fill his plate and not go to his mother’s – he would wait until both plates were served before he would start his dinner. He keeps watch outside our cottage – filling the ‘security-gap’ when the cameras fail. I often identify with the commonness between our mind-order in terms of dogs with the dog in ‘his master’s voice ’ picture. I believe that the dog connects to his ‘service provider’ – even before he ‘sees’ physically who the master is. Once this connection is made – the dog’s natural strengths become those of  the Service Provider’s. Most USE dogs for their own purposes. They do not get the Natural returns that happen when the Service Provider and the Beneficiary become One.

The author of the above article states:

‘Erecting Buddha statues at any junction, preserving Bo-trees at every corner of our widely spread-out hamlets has become an infectious habit of Sinhalese Buddhist people to show the world a misplaced sense of devotion to the religion. Behind some of these ‘religion-related’ constructions are invariably found the most destructive elements in our society -- drug dealers and traffickers, illicit liquor brewers, local hooligans and petty merchants of flesh and lust -- they all expect forgiveness and repentance by extending these superficial offerings to a mind-created Buddha, so that they could go to sleep with a self-deceived peaceful mind. These superficial offerings are in fact bribes offered to an image for clemency. Decline of Buddhism from one of Prathipatthi Pooja (practice) to Aameesa Pooja (ritualistic) has been very much in evidence in the last few decades.’

Thunaivi villagers fit the above description and given that I could stay elsewhere but have chosen to stay here – many of our Vaddukoddai relatives have been puzzled. Many – including Government officials treat me as part of the Thunaivi community  and downgrade my status when they deal with me. As per the fundamentals  of Democracy – drug dealers have to be represented by one of their own in Parliament. There is place for all in Democratic Parliament. So long as these drug dealers are self-sufficient / sovereign – the village has entitlement to be represented by them in Parliament. The member Representing them needs to be driven by Truth in Parliament rather than the Law. When the Parliament is active in law that are not practiced in those villages – such members need to be quiet pleaders through others in Parliament with whom they share common faith in the National Land. In democracy they are always entitled to lead through their Truth when their electorate is affected. They would not have the Natural Authority to speak on behalf of the whole of Sri Lanka.

Hence to the extent Buddha statues are erected in Home areas – they are healthy. Where they replace someone else’s home deity – as happened at our close relative’s home in Vanni where Vairavar was taken to the back and Buddha was placed in front – that contributes to unlawful invasion. Belief in Land is essential for such actions. At the Murugan Shrine at Kathirgamam Hill in Southern Sri Lanka – a new Buddha statue was placed in front of the Hindu shrine during the previous regime. I am not surprised that that regime is now being demoted by global  forces.

As per Colombo Gazette report ‘UN chief to discuss issue on foreign judges in war probe’:

‘UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon may discuss the issue of having foreign judges in Sri Lanka’s domestic accountability process on the war, a UN spokesman said. Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the UN Chief will address a number of issues related to justice and accountability.

“It’s a forward-looking message of the need for, obviously, for accountability, for reconciliation, and for development. And that the UN will be there with the Sri Lankan people to help….to help them on their road forward,” Dujarric said when asked about Ban Ki-moon’s Sri Lanka visit.’

The visit by the UN chief during this holy period for Jaffna – is no coincidence. It means that Hindu forces have spread themselves to naturally influence the ‘position-holder’ who is now more aware of the true situation than he was in 2009. Lord Murugan is the Lord of Democracy. As per His six faces – one has to have 360 degree observation to practice Democracy as per direct experience. When one is local – and possessive – this restricts the lateral spread. Likewise when one spreads laterally through majority vote – the law of Nature says that such authority at global level needs to be earned through merit basis – from zero advantage through the system of time based belief in local authority. This applies to the UN Chief also – especially when he is away from home when the new place must feel like home. Otherwise even the UN Chief is a foreigner to Sri Lanka.

Where one has earned credit through the hierarchical system that credit needs to expressed democratically for natural lateral power sharing through multicultural   harmony for which the line of Sovereignty needs to be drawn in areas where there is high risk of unlawful invasion by majority abusing their lateral power by using it as top down authority. The erection of Buddha statue in front of Traditional Hindu Shrine – at Kathirgamam – is confirmation of extreme abuse of Democratic power by the previous regime.  The current President who also shared in that abuse – confirmed this Natural trait – when he talked about Buddhism being the only religion that had the healing power.  Neither the Minister for Health nor the author of this article M/- Vishwamitra – has shown identity with Hindu victims of such action. They have both confirmed that their foremost focus is to correct the wrongs within Buddhist society. This is fine – so long as they facilitate the elimination of all outside invasions in Hindu territory which would be Tamil territory also. The Minister must move to remove the Huge Buddha statue from Kathirgamam Hill  if he is to have Peace of mind. The way-side Buddha statues would then not bother him at all.

The author has praised the Minister as being ‘Bold and Beautiful’ in this regard. When we elevate one side – our side – because the other side is not physically present – we actually demote a part of our mind that has no form. The result is when this author relates to the Minister – s/he takes the lower position her/himself when only the two of them are present. Gone is the Independence of the Reporter. It is for this reason that we need the other side to be physically present. The Parliamentary position of Opposition represents the People who are not physically present. If the Opposition takes lower position as relative – then the People are not represented as Equal Power in Parliament.

The way the 2015 elections went – Tamils have regained their Equal position in Parliament through global mind power. It is the duty of the UN Chief to confirm and uphold that. Once we find our own judgments – no other judge has the authority to judge us. Foreigners who are specialists in certain areas – have the authority of their own investment in Democracy to observe and report. But they do not have the authority to ‘judge’ even a single Sri Lankan except through UN mechanism – where both become different parts of the UN. That Common Membership must come before any position is taken. No Sri Lankan without UN position – can therefore be directly judged by a foreign judge.  If actions are taken due to American Resolution – that would be like Hindu statue blocking Buddhist statue in predominantly Buddhist area of worship. Kathirgamam geographic area is Sinhalese majority area. But Kathirgama Murgan is Tamil philosophy. So long as even one Tamil believes in Kathiragama Murugan – that is Tamil Heritage.  The Tamil Philosophy is the mind in the altar. Sinhalese majority are the vehicles outside the altar. Sinhalese must pay their respects to those Tamils before participating in the management of the shrine. Otherwise the parental / ancestral forces would be activated to demote them including through their own home areas. Unless foreign judges have deep knowledge of both cultures – they would be elevating themselves through Sri Lankans – and would be doing so without the authority of Common Faith – unless of course they are also bottom-up religious leaders in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam & Christianity.  If they are they would not need position but would heal through natural participation with the needy in the development work. Their positions are the vehicles that facilitate such participation. They should not be respected as the Power in the altar. 

Nallur Ther festival is confirmation that Tamils are empowered to manage themselves when they are in Home-ground – not through guns but through the mind of Common Faith. We made it yet again yesterday.