Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

20 December   2016

Hindu Heart and Buddhist Lips ?

‘Imagine our Malcolm Turnbull tying charms on his person!’ – Colombo Telegraph article ‘Over To God Tirupati.

Mr. Turnbull is reported to be a Catholic. But to date I do not know of Mr. Turnbull upholding Truth above Policy (as Jesus did) that would go towards him keeping his job. The author of the above article is obviously a non-Hindu who has, as per my assessment,  assimilated with Australians to whom going to Church is less important than going to work. If Mr. Turnbull did wear charms on his person – he would be confirming Aboriginal share in his position of Prime Minister. The author Mr. Shyamon Jayasinghe is obviously a contributor to ‘White Australia Policy’. He may look ‘Indian’ but his mind says to him -  he is ‘English’. We call them ‘Peethal Paranghi’s’ (Broken English).

The disrespect for Thirupathi is demonstrated as follows:

‘Even a sensible, balanced and informed personage like our Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has fallen into what I call the ‘Tirupati Mental Trap.’ We used to observe how, time and again, former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa rushed to the Tirupati Deyyo in South India-causing a measurable consternation among the Sinhala nationalists who formed the core of his political support. After all, Mahinda was not as strong as good old Tirupati. However, I had all along borne the opinion that Ranil was more strong-minded than even Tiru.’

Tamil Nadu Political leader Mr. Karunanithi is reported to have said to Actor Mr. M.G.Ramachandran that the holy ash that the latter was wearing on his forehead was cow dung. MGR himself might have worn it out of cultural habit. But  majority People to whom MGR was hero it was Holy Ash – again due to culture and the form given by Hindu leaders. The meaning to my mind is that waste and food are fundamentally ‘ash’ – if we burn the outer frills.  Likewise charms. During my last stay in Thunaivi, Vaddukoddai – the local priest gave me a short lesson on Faith Healing of those who seemed to be mentally ill. The locals do not call it mental illness. They say the names of different spirits. The healers like our priest used to be – have the positive spirit. Our priest said that if the healer did not have strong resistance the healer would get infected. The visible signs in the healer is often limited to physical disorders – including temporary incontinence. To me, they are mental  disorders that infect those who are ‘free’ in a particular environment.

Let’s take for example the following declaration by Mr. Jayasinghe:

[Just look at the state of our country: We used to have a decent and civilised constitution before the watershed year of 1971. The evil British Empire was really responsible for that constitution although Kalu Suddas (Black-Whites) passed it in the new independent Parliament. The Constitution we had over those brief years was inspired by Lord Soulbury.]

Here in Australia – Mr. Jayasinghe is a Kalu Suddha. Hence he is able to accept more comfortably the Constitution by Lord Soulbury which order is more easy for him to follow than the Sinhala Nationalistic Constitution. The Truth within us completes the picture. We often do not go within,  to know why we did something. If the outcome is pleasant and attractive we take credit for it and if it is unpleasant and burdensome – we either blame someone else or stay away from the scene – i.e. we run away from the problem.

When Buddhist leaders worship at Hindu Shrines – they are running away from those who use Buddhism selfishly – i.e. – those who ‘show’ more Buddhism than they believe in. Most Sinhalese tuk-tuk  drivers carry pictures of Hindu deities in addition to Buddhist representations. Hence the ordinary Sinhalese would accept their Political leaders going to Hindu temples also. Christians do not usually carry any other religious form. Likewise those who Converted to the Secular system. Hindus carry Christian representation but rarely Buddhist form. Buddhist form is the main part of Sinhalese expression of belief but not the whole.  

To the extent Mr. Rajapaksa waged war against the LTTE he was not a Buddhist. To be Secular – he would have had to use his investment in the Secular system. Where this was not sufficient – and he was driven by his own intuition – that fits Hinduism – especially Murugan whose Power/Shakthi/Energy  eliminated Soorapadman – the demon. Mr. Rajapaksa’s thanksgiving happened at Nallur Murugan Temple in Northern Sri Lanka and as a believer in Nallur Murugan, my reasoning for this was through the Hindu pathway from which LTTE leader had already deviated by becoming Christian. There was no pathway in Christianity either – for war against the LTTE – an armed group.

The deeper our Belief – the less the outer form needed to ‘show’. It is healthy to ‘show’ how we arrived at that destination of deep belief. Any more would weaken the belief itself and therefore there would not be enough to share with those who look up to us. The Root-Cause in Management is the Truth that the Belief leads to. Those who are culturally driven invest in belief is regular dosage. If weapons based skills formed  the pathway of certain groups and they did not submit their wins to a group of higher minds – that group would be Administered by weapons. Likewise, money driven minds. If economy is a problem for Sri Lankan Government – Thirupathi where philanthropists submit themselves is the right place.

When we live in our Belief – it becomes the  Truth which is a permanent resident within us. This Truth invokes Itself whenever we have a genuine need and/or to oppose those who show more than their belief  to justify disorderly actions. In rural areas – folks are driven by this inner Belief through cultural practices. When they are elected to Parliament where intellectual order is low  – they start using the outer form of their new position and hence show wins to impress their admirers. Both LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government did that.

Lord Thirupathi, like Nallur Murugan is the Lord of material prosperity. Indian Cinema  stars and Business persons are known to bring their wealth to Thirupathi. Those are acts of  surrender to the Lord and those who are sincere – would know the relief in their hearts. One with real economic need will connect to that philanthropic power and would become the medium through whom the power manifests Itself.

Recently a relative said to me in relation to gay-marriage within that part of the family – that this was no big deal these days. Our relative said also that gay relationships had always prevailed in our society but were not officially recognized. Likewise, armed actions against those who opposed us is part of our permanent culture – including corporal punishment within family and in school. Like in Divorce, a person who was isolated due to being gay – would tend to resent another person being accepted even though s/he is gay – unless the former accepted the isolation as ‘privacy’ needed by a different family order. Majority do not want to lose their apparent high status by following the norms through which they earned that status. It is difficult for us to keep changing the order of thought. Hence there is natural   resistance to different orders.

A valued intellectual in India asked me ‘Can we really convert to another caste by conduct, given the current day prejudices?’

My response was:

‘Not only Caste – but even in religion, we may be naturally converting to another religion without being aware of it. If it were positive – you would not need to give it another name. If negative – you would give it a new name – largely to elevate your own status.’

Buddhism in Sri Lanka has been used towards such negative conversions. Like Aborigines in Australia, there were Nature worshippers in Sri Lanka before the arrival of Indians – be they Hindus or Buddhists. Many Hindu rituals merged with such Nature worship and hence the higher mind order included these folks. Given that there is no such Buddhist coverage – these practices like gay marriages are not given official order. But the belief is carried to show respect.

As per latest news:

‘Sri Lanka's former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has warned the government against antagonising the Sinhala majority by "appeasing" the country's Tamil community by mulling to grant more powers to provincial chief ministers in the proposed constitutional reform process.’ - Rajapaksa opposes govt's plan to empower chief ministers– by Business Standard.

As a fighting Sri Lankan leader, Mr. Rajapaksa would oppose provincial empowerment which would dilute the ‘victory’ he had through arms. He has been showing more  King Dutugamunu genes and less Buddha genes. Mr. Jayasinghe describes this as follows:

[ Under Mahinda, we even had a guy whose occupation was to snatch gold from the necks of passing-by girls and women. To add insult to injury this rascal became a Minister. The better folk avoided Parliament like the plague]

Without attributing any rights or wrongs as per outcomes – one could trace the cause to:

1.      Root – the Truth in us as per our Experiences

2.      External – the influence of outer world

3.      Pathway – our investment in Policy which becomes part of our Truth when we invest in that pathway beyond our duty.

When we are free – our contributions  are through 1 & 2 above. When 1 is stronger than 2 – we tend towards One Mindedness. When it is the other way around – we tend towards becoming frivolous. One of the latter group would tend to describe one in the former group as being frivolous – as I was by Australian Judiciary with little investment in Equal Opportunity Laws.

If there was devolution without Tamils investing more deeply in self-governance – Lankan politicians in Colombo would lose control of Tamils and possibly Muslims also. This is likely to lead to takeovers of minds – by Tamil Nadu and the Middle East Muslims looking to expand their cultural and religious territories for business purposes. Belief spreads itself naturally. To continue with Unitary State structure – affirmative action is needed to support minorities of all forms.