25 April 2023
Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
AMERICAN
& INDIAN CASTE SYSTEMS
Today, we remembered
and paid tribute to all those who fought for us, in wars. I personally paid my
respects to my mother’s brother Uncle Ratnam Durai who is a war hero, who in
his will wanted his savings to go to my mother as her dowry. His painful war
experience was recorded as follows:
STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN RAYMOND A.MALONEY OF
THE US AIR CORPS TO THE U.S. O.S.S IN 1945
DEATH OF RATNUM DURAI. O.S.S. AGENT CODE NAMED REX
ON 22 JANUARY 1944 BY
JAPANESE KEMPEITAI’S DAILY TORTURE & BEATINGS
Q: Do you have any information concerning the
death of one RATNAM DURAI at the New Law Courts Building, Rangoon, Burma? If
so, please state what you know of your own knowledge concerning the incident?
Capt. Maloney: When I was placed in the New Law Courts
Building, RATNUM DURAI was already confined in a cell adjacent to the one to
which I was assigned, and was moved to my cell in about 10 days. On nearly
every day for several weeks after I arrived, one or more interrogators, usually
the interpreters, would come to the cell and ask him questions. I understood
from the questions that they were seeking information as to the radio
frequencies and codes he used as an agent for the United States intelligence,
where he was trained, and the names of other natives trained with him. The
interrogators would frequently beat him with a heavy club or rubber hose while
in the cell. At other times he would be taken from the cell and be gone for a
period of from a few hours to 2 days. When he was returned to his cell his body
would show evidence of very severe beating, and frequently he had been so badly
mistreated that he could not walk. About half the time he was given nothing to
eat and did not recover. He died in January 1944, about 6 weeks after I
arrived. He had no diseases or injury, except from apparent beatings, when I
first arrived.
Q: State what
was told to you concerning this mistreatment and of the background of RATNUM
DURAI?
Capt. Maloney: I was told that DURAI was a Hindu and a citizen of
Burma, but had been trained by the United States Intelligence and
dropped from a plane behind the Japanese lines in Burma as an agent; that he
was captured during the latter part of November 1943 and immediately brought to
the New Law Courts Building.
DURAI told me
that he was always beaten when he was taken from his cell for interrogation and
that on several occasions he was hung by his feet from the ceiling of the
interrogation room, so that his head was barely above the floor, and that water
was then poured in his nose.
Q: Can you
give any information as to those responsible for the mistreatment resulting in
the death of RATNUM DUARI?
Capt. Maloney: There was one Japanese interpreter who was on the
case continuously and gave many of the beatings. He was about 25 years old,
about 5’5” tall and could speak good English. He said he knew a little about
boxing and that he was one of the few Japanese there who wore their hair long
as in Western style.
Signed : RAYMOND A.MALONEY, Captain, AC. ASN
0-726056
As per my understanding
of the system of Karma, we carry forward good /positive Energy when we complete
our experiences. The stronger the pain the richer the completed Energy. This
valuable lesson will assist war affected Sri Lankans to develop self governance
power. In my conversations with some who responded to my article on caste
system I used my understanding of karma as follows:
American Hindu:
Dear Gajalakshmi,
Sorry to hear that the farmer caste is still
discriminating against other castes. Being in the middle of the conflict, you
are well able to appreciate the sorrow that humans cause each other by
magnifying non existent differences, while ignoring the similarities.
In the USA of course, there are no caste
differences based on work, which if present would bring society to a standstill.
America is still divided on political lines reflected in the major parties on
racial lines. Many are apprehensive that it could lead to a civil war.
We are of course born into different situations
depending on the lessons to be learnt in life - the best teacher.
The caste system in the North East of Sri Lanka
is based on sheer hypocrisy.
The Caste system in India is shown in this
image -
As you can see, in Sri Lanka, except for the
Brahmins in temples, we all belong to the Sudra class.
There is
nothing to divide Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus into superior and inferior! We do
not differ in colour or any other morphological difference.
As in America, the superiority / inferiority is
based on beliefs convenient to the exploitation of groups of fellow
humans.
I think that the present difficulties for Sri Lankan
Tamils arise from the KARMA of 2000 odd years of false caste discrimination
against groups of people who are not different in caste in the eyes of God.
Efforts to prevent fellow Hindus from
worshiping at the temple is an abomination to Hinduism!
Efforts to discourage fellow Hindus from
getting an adequate education for thousands of years pushes them into
poverty!
Efforts to limit attendance at eating places
like cafes, etc. and imposing barriers to marriage leaves great trauma in the
mind / suffering.
In short, Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka have been
following customs directly opposite to the major
teachings of Hinduism about the Jeevatma and Paramatma, the purpose
of our many lifetimes being to realize that both are the same - that God
exists in everyone of us. Without realizing this, we will wonder from
lifetime to lifetime as if blindfolded, collecting bad karma in not treating
others with respect and goodness.
Every time someone hurts another's feelings by
ignorant beliefs of being superior, there will be consequences for the
individual as well as collectively for the group enforcing these adharmic
practices!
It is very unlikely that there will be peace of
mind for the discriminating Tamils, becoming subjected to the same humiliation
by another majority group in Sri Lanka.
All Tamils must start by forgiving and changing
our ways, so that the bad karma ceases.
It is foolish pride and false beliefs that keep
us going round and round in circles. What do we know of what we were in
our past life? What will we be in our future life?
It is all Maya that drives our wheel of life
(Samsara).
In this age of job opportunities, caste based
on hereditary work makes no sense.
If Sri Lankan Tamils want to change their lot
in life, the most important step is to stop hurting fellow Tamils.
Gaja:
I
believe that caste, like Tamil & Sinhalese; Hindus & Muslims was
towards developing sovereignty in small groups. This also helps develop our
cognitive power. In secular management these are projects within a program.
Projects have a beginning and an end. When we make projects our programs, we
begin parallel systems that never meet.
If the projects / ethnicities are sovereign and therefore independent of
the program, the groups would maintain their distance from each other. When
they learn voluntarily from the other’s example they would pay their respects
to the one who produced the example. That is the confirmation that we are
sovereign group. One who takes another’s finished product must pay the due
price as an outsider / customer or pay one’s respects to remain in the program.
It
is interesting that you have concluded as follows:
‘America is still divided on
political lines reflected in the major parties on racial lines. Many are
apprehensive that it could lead to a civil war.’
This
is where Americans of Sri Lankan origin who have realised sovereignty would
naturally become the vaccine that would prevent racial war. Those who are yet
to reconcile would accelerate the American civil war. The reason for the
divisions is the breakdown in institutional
structures at the workplace, due to focus on economic outcomes. When
votes are ‘bought’ for money the merit-based structure walks out.
Hence
I oppose your following statement:
‘In the USA of course, there are no caste differences based on
work’
It is there as karma. It surfaces as
racial disputes at the workplace which then affects the vote. Sins are like the
Corona Virus about which you have wisdom through the medical pathway. Why was
it named Corona? It was out of man’s control and like a king it had its own
mind. The looks confirmed this. Like Godfather it mutated and maintained its
lead. That is how our sins work. They
awaken the past when our current structure is weak – often due to excessive
benefits being ‘taken’ by the official heads/kings.
You state:
‘There
is nothing to divide Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus into superior and inferior!
We do not differ in colour or any other morphological difference.’
We do . The pariahs below the Sudras
in your caste hierarchy are dark skinned. Have you seen a ‘fair-skinned’
Pariah? I haven’t. Ask yourself why you
classified all of us as Sudras / unskilled worker? That is like Mr Wigneswaran
referring to LTTE leader as ‘Thambi’
When we take rebirth, it happens
through our ‘sins and virtues’ / Paavam & Punniyams. They are Equal & Opposite Kings. They, like
the Corona, would not directly attack us. They would influence us through our
current ‘uncorrected errors’. As a wise medical specialist you are skilled. By
calling yourself a Sudra you are demoting yourself to the Karnan who was
referred to as Suda \ Suta Puthiran/Son. Likewise Mr Wigneswaran who demoted
himself to the level of de facto leader Prabhakaran. Both are false.
Arjuna of the Kshatriya / Warrior
caste kept referring to Karnan as Suda putran (son of Sudan ) to empower
himself. Once a guy of my children’s age group, of a leading family in Thunaivi
said to me that when they were conscious of caste discrimination in football,
they felt empowered and played to ‘win’. But now that determination was missing. He used the word
‘ormam’ to present the reason for the empowerment. It their parallel of
excessive empowerment by officials in power. Karnan as per Truth was a prince.
But due to his mother’s reckless use of mantra, he became an illegitimate
child. The lesson for us is, if we use
heritages recklessly we would produce children / systems that are illegitimate
in that environment. We call them rebels
in Sri Lanka. Some Tamils did refer to the LTTE leader as ‘sun’ This
automatically discards our investment in the official system of Democratic
Politics. In Democracy, it is essential that we facilitate the freedom of the
‘opposition’ to surface through its own sovereign power. The level at which it
so manifests is the level of our natural civilisation. If you are cognisant of
Tamil investment in intellectual leadership you would provide natural
leadership to all groups that invest in brain-power that has the natural ability
to consolidate once your use goes past the surface level where we copy and
paste. They are the Sudras. When we go
past that , that level we form our own
intelligence. Then we are Kshatriyas. When we go past this brain we access the
Universal power of the Soul. At that level, we access the essence of wholesome
Energy of Truth, which is Universal power. This was known to me during the time
I went to Jaffna to publish my Tamil book on Thesawalami. While there I felt the urge to introduce each
chapter through an indicator, which was
on the basis of my intuitive Intelligence. But not so the following
introduction to the book itself. at http://www.austms.org/
If you ask me for the meaning, I
will have difficulty explaining as per my own intelligence. Yet I did not
consciously seek it. It came to me through cyberspace. Later after finalising
with the printers, I felt ‘free’ to go to Nallur festival. While waiting for
Swami to come out, I received a call from Aandra Printers in relation to
printing . I left immediately. On the
way, I ‘saw’ on a temple wall, the form of Kadayit Swami – Yoga Swami’s guru’s
guru. I felt their common power was
blessing my book. But later, when I learnt about the discovery of Sai Gayathri,
by Sai devotee G.V. Subba Rao, (see below) the penny dropped. I discovered in
Jaffna the Thirukkral that best fitted my investment in Thesawalamai mantra. It
being a true heritage merged naturally with Thirukkural. Those who maintain this layer through
mantra-chanting and other rituals are Brahmins. You could say that in Jaffna, was crowned a Brahmin by Jaffna Divine Gurus. You may
already know about Sai Gayathri, but to help others in this group, I produce an
excerpt: from https://www.facebook.com/SRI.SATHYA.SAI.BABA/posts/sai-gayatri-meaning-origin-essence-glory-the-revelation-of-sathya-sai-gayathriby/10154956379721119/
.
By
G.V. Subba Rao, reprinted from Sanathana Sarathi, March 1979
The occasion was
Christmas Eve of 24 December 1977. The place was the Sathya Sai Mandir
in Brindavan, Whitefield, near Bangalore. The assembled audience consisted of a
group of students and faculty members of Sri Sathya Sai College as well as a
number of visiting devotees. It was in the glorious presence of Sri Sathya Sai
Baba himself that a great vedic scholar Pandit Sri Ghandikota Subrahmanya
Shastry was inspired to announce Sri Sathya Sai Gayathri, the mystic formula
devoted to Sri Sathya Sai.
This reads as follows:
Om Saayeeshvaraaya
Vidhmahe
Sathya Dhevaaya
Dheemahi
Thannassarvah
Prachodayaath
When
was pregnant with my third child I decided to name her Gayathri, who was born
on 23 October 1977. The day is the same as Mr Wigneswaran’s birthday. It
is also the same as Jeevarasa of Thunaivi who also was born on 23 October 1977.
To me, this means that both – the problem and the solution are my children.
Realising this I dedicated my recent
book ‘Different Logics’ first to Gayathri who cured herself from Long-Covid.
Gayathri did not like the last position on age basis, Hence within the children
of Equal status Gayathri was given the Brahmin position:
‘DEDICATED
To Energies from:
Daughter Gayathri the lone fighter
against the unknown
Daughter Uma the consolidator of the
known
Son Pradeep the eternal Artist
Husband Param the reliable teacher of
the known
You Reader, my other half
Sri Lankan Tamil Politician
Interesting
coincidence!
In America
the clergy is one group
Brahmins
those in the
Military Services are in another group
- Shatriyas
those in business
are the third group
- Vaisiyas
those in
workers' unions
- Sudras
all others
- Pariahs ?
Gaja:
As per my
discovery about Americans:
Those who believe
in the law are Brahmins
Those who
currently practice the law are Kshatriyas
Farmers, those in
Business and all those who are driven by money are – Vaisiyas
All process
workers are Sudras
All those who
‘show’ more loyalty to the current form of the country they left behind
for status benefits are Pariahs.
The rebels called
them Traitors.
Regards
Gajalakshmi
