Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

13  August  2019

Hindu Muslim Unity

Most of us like to think that ‘Love  at first sight’ is true. The Hindu example is in the epic Ramayanam – through divine couple - Rama & Seetha. To my mind, Déjà Vu experiences happen when our previous experience was true and we are currently in a parallel deep experience. In a way, growing up in a culture that believes in horoscopes and having had the personal experience of my horoscope readings ‘happening’ from time to time, I do believe in Déjà vu experiences. But yesterday, I was surprised by the discovery of many common  features between Myanmar and Sri Lanka – which to  me was not time based but place based. Time and Place are change agents and if we freeze one we are better able to read the influence of the other. Déjà vu as we know it freezes the place/person and confirms having had the experience at a previous time. But yesterday’s discovery was by freezing time through which two places seem to have had déjà vu experiences at the one time.

This identification may have happened due to my deeper than usual appreciation of my mother when we were in Jaffna. My mother was born and groomed in Burma and was always appreciative of her grandfather A M Pillai who according to my mother was the truly great common head of an extended family. According to my mother – Great Grandfather A M Pillai continued to support education in Jaffna – after migrating to Burma. Staying at North Gate by Jetwing – a few blocks away from our ancestral home (rented by us) in Jaffna – I do meditate on my mother and the difficulties that my mother endured to educate us. This could have taken me to the depths of my common ancestry and hence the discovery about Burma in relation to ethnic minorities. I recall also – the dream-vision  in which I was asked by Shridi Baba ( Hindu-Muslim Saint) to help Tamils and Muslims. That led me to begin a petition to release pro-LTTE persons held in custody by Australian government under terrorism charges. They were released thereafter and I thanked Shridi Baba. I have shared this through my books. Back then when I shared this with my mother – my mother said that my Great Grandfather A M Pillai believed in Shridi Baba and gave preference to employing Muslims in his commercial enterprise. This morning I felt that the Burma connection to Lanka was brought to my attention through my faith in my Great Grandfather.

I asked myself why it was important to know this commonness? The timing gave me the indicator. The Rajapaksa regime is trying to create false déjà vu picture – by fielding war time team’s army personality Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as their Presidential candidate. The evening before my premonition – I prayed  to Nallur Murugan - for continued Peace in Sri Lanka – so we could experience the beauty of Jaffna the way we are doing now. Yes, we do get searched by uniformed officers before entering temple premises but we know one to one – that the officers do not suspect us – as they did previously. I was happy with myself that I felt that way and also that I was able to pray for Sri Lanka as a whole. This is possible only when we limit ourselves to Opposition and not become enemies.  

As Opposition we see a side that the other side does not see. As enemies we do not recognize one picture but two different opposing pictures.

This morning my attention was drawn to communication from - PEARL (People for Equality and Relief in Lanka which  uses research, advocacy, & activism towards protecting  the human rights of Tamil people in the North-East of Sri Lanka. 

https://twitter.com/PEARLAlert/status/1153471166549581824?s=20)

As per their stated mandate, the above group is the Opposition of the government because it sees the side that the government does not see.

The heading of the communication was ‘Black July: Remembering The Genocide, 36 Years On’. One paragraph presented the following picture:

Understanding Black July As Premeditated 

Ahead of Black July commemorations, we launched a thread deconstructing the events that "sparked" the anti-Tamil pogroms. The often-repeated myth around the pogroms conveniently reduces the violence to a reaction by Sinhala mobs to the LTTE's attack on 13 Sri Lankan soldiers. Through analyzing newspaper reports months leading up to Black July, our thread exposes the degree of state-inflicted violence against Tamils at the time. It becomes wildly apparent that Black July was a well-planned, coordinated genocide against Tamils.

As documented previously – I had a dilemma in 2009 – when I was waiting for clearance to help the victims in war camps. It was important for me to know which side was more wrong than the other – so that my healing energies were channeled accordingly. I was praying during group prayers at Sathya Sai Baba Center at Barnes Place, Colombo. Then a question came to my mind – as to who was more at fault and the response was the 13 soldiers incident. At that time a flower from the picture at the altar fell and I took it as true direction that I needed. I believe that the success of my service to help the needy – was primarily due to truth within me. As a law abiding citizen, I would not have disrespected a uniformed officer. I would have fought against such an officer – as I do all the time at my levels – but not insult her/him. If one side was more wrong – then I would respect them less.  The above indicator helped me identify that the LTTE was at fault in this case. The direct accounts I heard later in Vavuniya from those who were recruited by force and were fleeing to save themselves confirmed the above picture.

LTTE celebrates as heroes those who died in combat. That is their work-Dharma/Ethics. Those who die are raised to Divine level where they have absolute value. At that level they have no ethnicity. By treating them differently to the Tamil soldiers who died in combat – LTTE invoked their disorderly conduct against which the LTTE claimed to fight. Once we invoke the dead – the common negative is invoked indiscriminately. Hence the fighting at that level went into a loop. Rights and wrongs using current measures become punniyam (virtues) and Paavam (sins) beyond their current environment.

To be true opposition – Tamil groups need to take close to 50% involvement. This is not in numbers but equaling the government’s side by work and sacrifices. Minorities who sacrifice more become more powerful than their parallel numbers in majority group. This is the basis of meditation. It takes us close to absolute value.

If majority Tamils seek to have war – then they would vote for Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. In a way in 2005 when LTTE influenced Tamils not to vote in the Presidential elections, was to disenfranchise the Tamil community and to continue with military governance. That failure on the part of Tamils would continue to travel with us like debilitated Saturn in the horoscope. This can be offset by valuing those who were opposed to armed combat but continued to oppose through quieter pathways.

If majority Tamils seek ‘no more war’ they need to invest more in intellectual  pathways. Attachment to the past takes us backwards and history is likely to repeat itself. Where Tamil-Muslim unity is strongly demonstrated – then even Mr Gotabhaya Rajpaksa would become like Mr Sirisena. The simple reason is the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution through which many intellectual Sri Lankans invoked the blessings of  pre-war leader leaders. Intellectual leadership is closer to absolute value than armed leadership is.