Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

12 December  2020

 

 

 

NO BURIAL FOR MUSLIMS; YES HELA FOR SINHALESE

Memorials confirm that we value the past even though the physical body of the person is no longer with us. In Sri Lanka, there has been controversy over public functions in the memory of Tamil Militants who died in combat. To the extent those who considered the militants as part of themselves, it is their Natural Right to mourn and celebrate. In essence, such would elevate the contributions to the higher common levels – and make the dead part of our ancestral power. All ancestral powers are exponential in value.  It’s these powers that make the value of the whole – greater or less than the sum of the individual parts.

Where an unlawful person dies and her/his death is genuinely mourned by a law abiding person – the former’s value is raised to the higher value of the two – which is known as the Common value. In this instance, the value of  the whole is greater than the sum of the individuals. The latter’s is raised to the level of the whole Group.  It is therefore a win-win situation discovered by most religious ancestors.

Institutional values are therefore of paramount importance – so that one does not enforce on others outside the boundaries of one’s faith. Practice of Law is confirmation of Institutional values. The end of that pathway is Truth / Nirvana/Ultimate Reality. The more global we are the wider that pathway would be. The start point is belief in local environment, such as family. The end is Oneness with Universal Energy.  

As per Newsin Asia report headed ‘Tamil leaders should take into account India’s geo-political compulsions’:

[India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who visited Sri Lanka last week, met with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R  Sampanthan at the India House for about half an hour before returning to New Delhi……

The fact is, in the current context, India does not want or is unable to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government on domestic political issues, such as the constitution and devolution. The Indian  Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, during his  official meetings with the Rajapaksa brothers  made it a point to insist that Sri Lankan Tamils’ aspirations must be addressed through the full  implementation of the 13th amendment. But this has been of no avail.]

Given that  India provided training facilities to the Tamil Militants and later provided  Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) . The influence that Tamils of Sri Lanka have over India is confirmed as follows by Wikipedia:

[In fact in 1982, the LTTE supremo Prabhakran was arrested by the police in Tamil Nadu, for a shoot-out with his rival Uma Maheswaran, in the middle of the city. Both of them were arrested and later released by the police. This activity was left unchecked as India's regional and domestic interests wanted to limit foreign intervention on what was deemed as an ethnic issue between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. To this end, the Indira Gandhi government sought to make it clear to Sri Lankan president Junius Richard Jayewardene that armed intervention in support of the Tamil movement was an option India would consider if diplomatic solutions should fail ]

I was physically present in Chennai at the time of the 1982 shooting. Even though I was neutral – I was embarrassed that it was happening in India. But now, after my experiences in which both sides  to the ethnic war caused our family pain, I feel the duty to participate intellectually. India was part of that invisible force that could make the value of the issue greater or less than total of Tamil and Sinhalese contributions that could be laterally quantified. If the LTTE had not killed Indian leader Rajiv Gandhi in 1990, it is highly unlikely that the Sri Lankan government would have defeated the LTTE in 2009. If we therefore have memorials on the basis of local experience only – the escalation of the issue would not go beyond local borders.

Sinhalese who are not opposing the war victory celebrations, limit their experiences to local levels. This was confirmed in the restrictions placed on effectively on curtailing the religious rights of Muslims in relation to burials of bodies of the victims of Covid19.

The Daily Mirror article headed ‘Several Islamic preachers in Saudi Arabia brainwash Muslim migrants: PCoI observes’ highlighted as follows:

[The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing Easter Sunday attacks yesterday observed that there were certain instances where Sri Lankan Muslims who go to Saudi Arabia were brainwashed by some Islamic preachers.]

The Timing of such expressions is important to prevent isolationism which surfaces as separatism when influenced by activists at the primary level. The government is facilitating the isolation of an inquiry that would demote the status of Muslim community in Sri Lanka which is already hurting due to Covid19 cremations.

In the Observer Research Foundation article ‘COVID-19 and Indian Muslims’ the authors highlight as follows:

[Tablighi Jamaat is not the sole representative of India’s 170 million Muslims and its actions should not be linked with the larger community. It is also pertinent to note that the Tablighi Jamaat preaches a narrow interpretation of Islam to some sections of Muslim society.]

Those who deal on the basis of ‘outcomes’ tend to make claims such as they are the ‘sole representatives’.  As I state to those who believe in me – de facto relationships could either be mere associations driven by current outcomes or they could confirm divine oneness beyond laws and relativity. Former is below the line of common law, whilst the latter is commonness itself. Either would confirm harmony but in hierarchy, the latter is the ultimate goal.

In his Economy Next article ‘Anti-Covid potion draws tens of thousands in Kegalle as danger looms’  Arjuna Ranawana highlights as follows:

[You may know it from the Baila, Bivva neda Wadakaha Sudiya  but it was a case of the mass belief that consuming a concoction called the Wadakaha Sudiya, during a total eclipse of the Sun would make you very beautiful that filled hospitals with very sick people in Ceylon on June 20, 1955.

And now with the Covid 19 pandemic striking fear into everybody, with a vaccine available only in the distance, with no sight of a cure, the danger of such concoctions, promoted widely by TV and social media can pose a grave societal risk.

 All of them are emerging not from allopathic doctors or registered Ayurveda physicians but from others claiming inherited knowledge or inventions they have stumbled upon.

The current front-runner in the stakes appears to be emerging from the Kegalle area.

The concoction is promoted by Shaman and “Hela” Medicine Man Dhammika Bandara and has received wide media coverage.

…. During the interview, Bandara said that he stumbled upon the concoction after “studying the Covid disease.”

He describes himself as being from the “Hela” school of medicine which is not the official Indigenous Medicine or Ayurveda, the millennia-old science practised in South and South-East Asia.

The Hela School does not have formal training as far as it appears but has been responsible for promoting a return to traditional foods such as ancient grains as a way of helping people with diabetes.]

 

To my mind, this is the parallel of any belief based treatment. Recently, I was recommended acupuncture treatment for my knee pain and it did help up to a point. But when I was concerned about the high cost due to the length of time taken, I continued only with the Western medical treatment where I am more or less just a number. But it works due to my own investment in Western medical minds.

 

The parallel of Western Medicine in the case of Sri Lankan war – is the Global system of law practiced in relation to war. The current government withdrew from that system – preferring its Hela / Sinhala law. It would work well for those who believe in ancient practices of war – for example as practiced  by King Duttugemunu. They would isolate them from those who practice common law of the nation, region and the globe.

As per the above report

 

[Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Minister of State for Vocational Affairs Dr Seetha Arambepola, the Minister in charge of the Covid 19 pandemic Dr Sudarshini Fernandopulle all have been photographed trying out the “medicine” before the media.]

President Trump also consumed anti malarial drug hydroxychloroquine from Indian ‘intelligence’. He still got the infection. More importantly, the following month – he got the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests.

There is no external proof that there is a connection. But to the believer it is the most reliable indicator from within – which will meet her/his needs.

The current Sri Lankan Government used native law against Tamil rebels who are part of the Tamil community that Sinhalese political leaders have tried to demote. But Tamils who invested in global laws defeated them at Global level.

We ultimately promote or demote ourselves when we are ‘free and natural’. When the way others see us matters more to us – we feel depressed by demotion. It is time Sinhalese limited themselves to their local areas and laws and leave it to Sri Lankans to manage Sri Lankans.