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.
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