Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

25 July 2018

Marriage Laws and Governance Laws

 

Yesterday I wrote :

[So, irrational sexual conduct is to be expected of that community that lives through such simple pleasures and pains. Why would they change now that the more ‘educated’ class are invading their territory? In Hinduism we have raised the enjoyment of sexual pleasures – beyond intellectually measurable human laws and this is our heritage known as Kaamathupaal in Thirukural. Couplet 1281 for example translates as follows:

[English Couplet 1281:

Gladness at the thought, rejoicing at the sight,
Not palm-tree wine, but love, yields such delight.

Couplet Explanation:

To please by thought and cheer by sight is peculiar, not to liquor but lust]

Independent of me,  Mr. Harsha Gunasena has written:

[Robert Knox has written a book, ‘An Historical Relation of Ceylon,’ published in 1681 in London describing his experience in captivity in Ceylon from 1660 to 1679 during the time of King Rajasinghe II in Kandyan kingdom. In Chapter VII of Part 3 under the title ‘Of their lodging, bedding, whoredom, marriages and children,’ Knox stated as follows:

“Where their houses consist but of one room, the children that are of any years always go and sleep in other houses among their neighbours. Which please them better than their own. For so they come to meet with bedfellows, nor doth it displease the parents, if young men of as good quality as themselves become acquainted with their daughters, but rather like well of it…….So that youth are bred up to whoredom. Indeed here are no public whores allowed by authority……but in private few or none can exempt themselves.”]

Ex-Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran’s outburst using a different culture’s apparent weaknesses in common law and order, and its reactions from various sections of society influenced me to consider the issue of sexual enjoyment in the context of diverse and independent groups within the Tamil community. By observing the conduct as an insider through common area, I realised that the above practice of sleeping in other people’s houses – was/is very much accepted as part of the culture of Thunaivi, in Vaddukoddai, in Northern Sri Lanka. But it often led to emotionally charged fights between elders in the respective families where one side or the other moved more towards the official system due to its higher status. Majority children from those families are allergic to schools. Initially I also tried to ‘advise’ them but later I realised that it would not be fair to them if I did not live there as if I had taken rebirth. So, to the extent they confided in me – I heard them and shared my Energy is such issues – so they would not feel alone. Beyond that we were independent of each other. Towards that I keep my distance while being available to anyone in need. To me those who found their own order to independently conduct their affairs were/are  respectable. They are like Devadasis. I do not see today’s heirs of yesterday’s Devadasis as being junior to me in status. When I take a structured position – as per my birth culture – I consider them to be equal and independent of me. Devadasis are described as follows by Wikipedia:

[Traditionally devadasis had a high status in society. After marrying wealthy patrons, they spent their time honing their skills instead of becoming a housewife. They had children from their husbands who were also taught their skills of music or dance. Often their patrons had another wife who served them as housewife. Eminent personalities that have hailed from this community are Bharat Ratna M S Subbulakshmi and Padma Vibhushan Ms Balasaraswati.

During British rule, in the Indian subcontinent, kings who were the patrons of temples and temple arts lost their power. As a result, devadasis were left without their traditional means of support and patronage. During colonial times, reformists worked towards outlawing the devadasi tradition on grounds that it supported prostitution. Colonial views on devadasis are hotly disputed by several groups and organizations in India and by western academics. The British were unable to distinguish the devadasi from the girls who danced in the streets for the reasons other than spiritual devotion to the deity. This caused socio-economic deprivation and perusal of folk arts.]

In democracy, one who produces independent  outcomes is entitled to Equal status and not lesser status. When such individuals or groups are attributed lesser status and the individuals continue to live in that community and serve the leaders unofficially – Nature  endows them with exceptional talents, as presented above.

On 20 November 2003 – I wrote as follows to the New South Wales Auditor General who demonstrated appreciation for my feedback on Separation of Powers between Auditors and Management:

[Most progressive organizations produce both – Financial and Non-Financial Performance Indicators. They  are both for MANAGEMENT purposes and reflect the THINKING and WORK_IN_PROGRESS. If you use Performance Indicators – then you are thinking with them. This is like the Executive Government participating in the Judicial process. Your Non-Financial Reports are the Legal records that these organizations are required to maintain – such as the Recruitment and Employee Assessment records. Where there is a big gap between Law and Practice – it requires YOUR staff to do the additional work. Taking the Performance Indicators distracts you away from this work. It is in breach of the Doctrine of Separation of  Powers. These organizations must be allowed to confidentially do the cooking and it’s up to your staff to do the spy work from the finished product to the LAW and not to their dreams and goals. You are seeking the short path because your staff are not trained to find out from the client staff what is going on. Staff often ‘hide’ information from you because you are third party. So they should. That way your staff would improve their skills. Using client-staff’s work-in-progress deters your staff from thinking through their own specialty = AUDIT on the basis of existing LAW. Then we would become a uniform society instead of a diverse society challenging each other – you within the existing law and the operational staff towards tomorrow’s laws. Challenging leads to creativity – as you can see from me. Gandhi also said that the night he was thrown out of the first class compartment of the South African RAILWAYS was his most creative experience.]
Sri Lanka’s Armed Rebels were creative due to this kind of unjust discrimination to which they did not react to take revenge. Hence their amazing cleverness beyond the levels that those in official positions could not achieve. They stopped being creative when they invaded  the territory of those who were part of the Official system. Devadasis would have lost their creativity when they took on the official position of wife. Former leader of LTTE’s eastern branch – Karuna Amman who accepted ministerial position has become such an example.
I know through my own experience –that I became more creative in Australia than I was in Sri Lanka due to the minority status allocated to me. The elephant in the Australian workplace is this minority  talent. I did not seek to separate from mainstream but continued to function independent of mainstream – but from a distance. To the extent I was denied my truly earned status in Australia through inheritance and/or current merit – but continued to truly belong in Australia – I was able to work the whole. This is due to matter being raised to Energy level. Part of the feeling was through my identity with Indigenous Australians.
When we forego earned benefits in a unit that is recognized as being ‘sovereign’/independent -  benefits become structures. To the extent we maintain those structures without expecting/taking returns – they become Energy. Energy spreads of its own power. Hence the creativity. After enjoying the sweetness of that independence and its unlimited creativity – why would I go back to the official system? Likewise true rebels would not seek official positions. If they did – they would become like former LTTE leader for Eastern Sri Lanka - Karuna Amman. To that extent the Tamil claim of Sovereignty gets weakened. It was more seriously weakened when during the 2005 Presidential Elections LTTE leadership accepted money from Presidential candidate Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa to threaten Tamils who would dare to vote. Karuna was separated for financial mismanagement. Given that LTTE claimed to be sovereign – the rule naturally applied to them to separate them from those who genuinely valued the independence of  Sri Lankan Tamil Community. LTTE thus turned the sword on themselves. At least after 2005 – had they identified with this Truth about themselves and settled for life in exile, Tamils would have been saved the 2009 trauma.
The LTTE leadership glorified MG Ramachandran (MGR) who generously funded them. In return, now a good proportion of Sri Lankan Tamils are addicted to Indian Tamil cinema and TV. Recently Mr Radha Ravi – the son of  Mr M R Radha – who was MGR’s opposition in films – praised Sri Lankan Tamils as the most intelligent community in the world. To my mind, that was influenced by the dividends for the above donation – to LTTE which was part of the reason why Tamils emigrated. The dividends are coming from Tamils of Sri Lankan origin who are Tamil Nadu cinema’s rich customers. But then the problem is there is not enough in the community to develop self-determination structures. Cash divides. Ownership Energy naturally unites.  

When our Truth is stronger than our knowledge it precedes our conscious actions.  We must then follow and not try to overtake.