Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

14  May 2017

Mindfulness Mr.Modi not Politics

It happened yet again!  Is it the Computer Energy or something deeper?  Yesterday I identified the main group that Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi met with and spoke to in Sri Lanka, as  Indian Tamils. Today, I had the return through the Indian Express article headed ‘Indian Tamils’ of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Tamils: Here is the difference’.

During my adult years, like most in my family and community, I awarded credit to myself on the basis that I was  believer in God. Until recently however, I did not seek to find which part of a positive manifestation happened due to God? But now the main connection I see  between cause and effect is through this path of personal god – commonly known as the Driving Energy of  our Conscience. Hence when I saw the above article by Ms Nandini Rathi, I felt that the return happned through this least visible speediest pathway – of Common ownership. No, Indian Express did not publish MY work. But the common issue has been picked up by that institution. It’s as simple as saying ‘As you sow, so shall you reap’ or as complex as the ‘system of karma’ which goes deeper than the seen and/or  the known to include the ‘felt’.  

In terms of Nationality, I raised the parallel question in Australia – when the Police who arrested me for Peaceful assembly listed me as Indian (as per the seen) and Sri Lankan, as per the known – when they had knowledge that I was born in Sri Lanka. I was sent by the Courts to pro bono lawyers and the first one said to me he saw was nothing wrong with calling me Sri Lankan and went on to illustrate through his own examples – to how he called Croatians, Croatians.   That lawyer was a strong football fan. Hence to my mind,  it was understandable that he would take the path of least resistance to elevating his status relative to an opponent. When we proposed marriage for my sister, one party said that we were Indian Tamils and my parents had to explain through the family of former Government Agent – Jaffna and his wife – Mr. & Mrs. Srikhanta to confirm that my mother was their relative. In terms of area, the traditional hierarchy within the Sri Lankan Tamil community, known to me  is Jaffna Tamil, Trinco Tamil, Batticaloa Tamil and then Indian / Hill Country Tamil.

The above mentioned reporter asks:

[During his recent visit to Sri Lanka for UN Vesak Day celebrations, PM Narendra Modi made a stop at Dickoya in the central hills, home to many Tamil people of Indian origin, known as the ‘Indian Tamils’ by the Lankan state. In his address to the large gathering there, Modi said, “You kept your bonds with India alive, (I) assure you that India will support Sri Lanka’s efforts towards your socio-economic development.” But what community is this and what sets it apart from the Sri Lankan Tamils who until a decade ago were caught in the bloody vortex of a civil war with the Sri Lankan state?]

Yesterday, somehow I stumbled on Oru Indhiya Kanavu / An Indian Dream,  Tamil Movie,  as if the consolidated mind of that film wanted me to watch it. The village at the center of that story is in worse situation that any village I have lived in, in Sri Lanka, including here in Thunaivi – a toddy tapper village within Vaddukoddai District – where the first Political Declaration of Independence was made on 14 May 1976. To my mind, Hill Country / Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka have a different mind-structure to that of Jaffna Tamil – just as Australian of Sri Lankan origin has a different mind structure to that of Australian of British origin. Whether we express the difference as ‘Diversity’ or isolation is what makes our expressions just or unjust. As I said last night to a Vaddukoddai lady who has joined the religious group Brahma Kumaris before completing her role as Mother, we all have a duty to uphold the laws that supported us and pass on that value to our children. The law is the consolidated mind that we follow and are regulated by. Such a mind will bring us the support of other minds when we are in real need. Relative to other branches of the Tamil community,

Jaffna Tamils who also have their origin largely in India but are not conscious of it as Upcountry Tamils,  have sacrificed earned benefits to preserve their freedom. This did not start with LTTE. In fact there are stronger Tamil minds that have rejected all outcome based actions in preserving their Independence at mind level. As I said to a young Thunaivi leader this morning after prayers – many within Thunaivi do not attend the temple unless they have an audience. The greater the service component of our work, the higher the development of the Independent mind.  The average mind is driven by majority power and hence the moves towards separation. Thunaivi village is no exception.

Like the lead lady in the above mentioned film, I chose to live as part of the people here during my periods of stay. But there are cultural differences which would lead to unjust outcomes for either side if I expected to ‘show’ outcomes for my contribution here. Hence unlike the lead lady in that film, I do not intervene in the affairs of Indigenous Thunaivi folks but help them through counseling services to find their own solutions. After this morning’s prayers and advice to our young coordinator that I felt that I was being ‘used’ I decided to put on hold further development work but decided to keep reinforcing the values that we have common achieved – especially in terms of ‘security’, law and order. Later, I was walking to the bus-halt to go into Jaffna town. Then I heard the bus and started running. I noticed Kumutha – a young mother who was disciplined by me many times running towards the bus-halt. Kumutha came back and said ‘Ammah – the line-bus has gone – but the private one will soon come’.  I then asked whether she was also going into town? Kumutha said ‘No,  I ran to stop the bus for YOU’.  What more can one ask for? Further development to ‘show’ would dilute this consolidation. I thanked Mother Kali for guiding me from within.

Like the folks of Thunaivi, upcountry Tamils also will gradually merge with higher minds – culturally as well as through secular laws and principles, to become Sri Lankans retaining their own diversity.  This merger would be disturbed if those of higher status like Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi, distract them to ‘show’ quicker outcomes. Now that they are Sri Lankans by law, India has no right over them. If Indian leaders are looking to ‘show’ they have villages within their own territory towards such showing.

The American Vice Chancellor of Australian origin also tried to ‘show’ outcomes and thus failed in his duty to the University of NSW – an Australian institution. His negligence resulted in me being sent to prison and eventually he was dismissed by the Governing Council. Like the above Vice Chancellor, members of the Diaspora (Tamil as well as Sinhalese)  who return to Sri Lanka, to ‘show’ are as guilty as Mr. Modi in distracting the folks of lesser status from finding their own positions in the natural hierarchy in their CURRENT environment. Mindfulness is all about living in the present – without finding  rights and wrongs through outcome based relativity or opposition. That would have been honoring Vesak.  I realized during this period that the lessons I learnt through   my University of NSW experiences were to protect the Indigenous communities of Sri Lanka  from getting fooled by over-enthusiastic returnees who seek to ‘show’ more to impress their community in the countries they have migrated to. Our money based contribution must be limited to the level at which these folks are ready to receive the structures that gave us that income in those foreign lands. Our money based expenditure here needs to be limited to the Commonness we feel with the local community that we think needs it. Anything more would bring about internal disorder.