Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

13 September   2021

 

 

Politician Asuran or Thevan?

[For many of us, the only hope for the country lies in getting out of the country. This is by no means a recent phenomenon: we have been seeing the best among us depart these shores for greener pastures over the last 30 years. The reason used to be the war; now it’s politics. It’s as though peacetime has unleashed all the ugly things about the nation that the war had bottled up. Back then we had bombs in buses and snipers at day to think about; now we have bribes and graft, nepotism and despotism, to rage against.] Some reflections on Sri Lanka’s political “memers” -

by Uditha Devapriya

The war was with a known enemy – i.e. – Opposition who showed itself.  The Corona virus is an unknown enemy who has entered our allegedly sovereign territory to challenge our claim to being Sovereign – which is the ultimate goal of government and the destination of governance. Internal corruptions are various mutations that block this path to liberation. If we therefore learn about the virus – we would clear most of these blocks. If we lack the resources – the best option is to respect the virus as our internal opposition rather than our foreign enemy.

To the extent of our own experience as Sri Lankans, should we have expected adverse effects due to the virus, followed by economic downturn? As per our knowledge – the birthplace of the virus was China. If it had been contained within China, it would not have become a pandemic. When we emigrate to nations that are ‘outsiders’ to our local culture – our strengths and weaknesses – mutate and then spread exponentially, to the extent they are ‘free’. Likewise, the virus when it emigrates from its birthplace.

When I grew up in Jaffna, I was used to seeing snakes of the domestic kind in the garden and from time to time on our roof. But later – after living in town areas I developed an allergy towards them – as per the minds of town-folks. In recent times when I went to live in Thunaivi where the sight of snakes is not unusual, I intuitively prayed to them to leave me alone. Only once did I see a small snake and that too was when I was chatting to our old gardener who asked the little snake ‘where are you going in such a hurry’. Former Sri Lankan President – Mr Sirisena similarly prayed to ISIS to leave Sri Lanka alone. But most Sri Lankans had learnt to live with the war between the LTTE and the Government. That war was not between Asurar and Thevar / Brawn driven and higher law driven groups. It was between two Asura groups. The Hindu legend that confirms the value of war between Asurar and Thevar goes as follows

‘In one of  the Hindu legends about Equality – the gods and the demons are asked to churn the ocean to find eternal bliss.  God and demon are both in us.  They say that the  idle mind is the devil’s workshop. It is better to get the demon in us to work on the other side of the god in us, than to let him be idle. Hence discriminative thinking – between right and wrong. Why better – because otherwise the brain becomes idle and fails to use its higher powers.’

 In terms of majority vote –  the whole is divided into  two  – for example as Government and its Equal Opposition. In terms of Administration – it is Right and Wrong through common principle or value. Where no common principle / value / law is applied to find right and wrong – the decision in effect is to take sides  - as was the case when those above me judged me. In terms of ownership – it is the two sides of the One outcome. At ownership stage there are no rights and wrongs but just costs and benefits at primary level. At tertiary level – everything goes into ownership and even when not recognized by others – the value resides as Energy.’

In the above legend – the rod used to churn the ocean  is Mount Mandara. It is reported that this  mountain in India, is composed of fragmented stones but the whole is one single structure. To me, it symbolizes  many memories in One intellectual structure developed from Truth. Hearsay and mere knowledge would give us many structures requiring us to consciously switch from one to the other. That is the outcome through assimilation. Closures by completing the experiences are necessary for consolidated thinking.

The mountain  personifies  Puthi / Intellect.  In the churning process it has to turn one way first and the other way next to surface the whole Truth. In the legend,  the rod is placed on the back of a Turtle and the Turtle is said to be Lord Vishnu on earth. To me that meant that the Puthi/Intellect needed to have Truth as its base. 

 

The rope used to turn the rod is King serpent Vasuki  representing  our mind which needs to be worked so that  hearsay of the idle mind, would not  override our Puthi / intellect.  As my Guru says  rope may seem like a snake in the dark if  the mind carries fear of snakes or is generally low and depressed..  Work leads to knowledge of what it really is and this overrides the memory of fear.  ] – Chapter 10 – Naan Australian

 

As per the above legend, both bitter poison and sweet nectar came out of the ocean when it was churned. Lord Shiva consumed the poison to save the earth. This was prevented by Parvathi, who held it at Shiva’s neck . Hence Shiva’s name Neelakandan / One with Blue Throat. When the nectar came out – the Asuras took it and ran to their corner to consume it all by themselves. That is the parallel of plagiarism in the academic world and stealing the medicine – that would cure the body or prevent the virus from controlling our body. How it mutates would vary as per the weakness in that place. In Sri Lanka, it has jumped from China to Indian variant.

Neither side to the Lankan war has set out to churn the polluted ocean. They are both asuras and as a Thunaivi resident said to me about her community – they would fight against each other and will kill each other. Democracy is wasted on them. In fact we need to protect Democracy from such groups who embrace the armed pathway. Only politicians who use belief in democracy deserve to lead through democracy. The rest have to alternate between unity and separation at the physical level.  We the People need to learnt to with them – without following them.   Towards this we need firm belief in the divine pathway of Truth.