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Sri Lanka: An Opportunity for Love
Somik Raha
Sri Lanka is at a very decisive moment in its existence. Her leaders and people can choose to ignore the history of human behavior at their own peril, or seize the opportunity to do what is right. With the end of the battle against the LTTE, the people of this great nation deserve every chance at peace. However, peace cannot just come from a political foundation if it is to last and be meaningful - it must come from a much deeper space.
J. Legge translated a profound verse from Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching as follows:
"A skilful (commander) strikes a decisive blow, and stops. He does not dare (by continuing his operations) to assert and complete his mastery. He will strike the blow, but will be on his guard against being vain or boastful or arrogant in consequence of it. He strikes it as a matter of necessity; he strikes it, but not from a wish for mastery."
I will go further than Legge into this interpretation. The skillful commander is one who mourns upon victory that there was no other way to resolve the dispute. Sri Lanka should fly their flag at half-mast, to recognize the blood that has been spilled on both sides, and that better sense did not prevail and brothers and sisters had to come to war.
An obscene display of celebration will only rub into the wounds of the Tamil people, and only feed their sense of humiliation and victimhood. Instead, this is a time of mourning for all parties - including India, for India could do nothing to resolve this situation peacefully.
As Sri Lankans ponder on the next steps for their country, this is a great moment to remember where they come from, their tremendously spiritual heritage, and their access to enlightened leaders like A. T. Ariyaratne, the founder of Sarvodaya in Sri Lanka, who can do much to heal the country. Ariyaratne is a gem for our planet and his work with non-violence and metta (compassion) is a great teaching for all of us.
The story goes that an underworld gangster named Choppe hired someone to assassinate Ariyaratne as he was upset with the latter's work. Ariyaratne found out about it and the night before, he walked up to Choppe's house. Choppe was busy insulting Ariyaratne when our man walked in, and told Choppe that it would be terrible to have violence in a school (which is where the assassination was planned). Instead, Ariyaratne requested Choppe to do the assassination right there. Of course, Choppe could not do it, and became a big fan of Ariyaratne.
I was fortunate enough to attend a talk of Ariyaratne where he shared another story. He was visiting Hawaii, and there, a young fellow came up to him and spoke. Ariyaratne did not realize what was happening, but he felt the boy was such a lovely fellow that he gave a big broad smile, upon which the boy left. Later, his colleague who was with him pointed out that it was a hold-up and the boy had pointed a gun at Ariyaratne. Here's a clip from that talk:
Finally, we can take a page out of Priyanka Gandhi's life on this matter. Her father was blown to bits by the LTTE. She had tremendous anger against the world for this event. After going for a 10-day Vipassana meditation, she was able to understand her own mind and share this great insight, in an interview with Barkha Dutt.
".. the minute you realise that you're not a victim and that the other person is as much victim of that same circumstance as you, then you can't put yourself in a position where you are anyone to forgive someone else. Because your victimhood has disappeared. And to me, people ask about non-violence, I think true non-violence is the absence of victimhood. The sense that somebody else is doing harm to you. Whatever is happening to you is happening because of your own circumstances, you are creating a lot of that suffering. And anybody else who does something overtly, like kill somebody you love, or hurts you, beats you, that is also an action that is happening because of their suffering."
Priyanka went on to meet Nalini, one of the convicted in her father's assassination, and felt no anger - only understanding and compassion.
Sri Lanka: An Opportunity for Love
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Slime
URL
May 19, 2009
05:54 AM
It was 1991 when in a train I was angry that Rajiv Gandhi was killed and my reaction to that was that India intervened using IPKF. So we have suffered.
Now 18 years later, same month of May, another election over, VP is declared dead. Much blood has flown on all sides to understand that the tragedy is not Indian, Srilankan, Tamil or Sinhalese. I was in Japan attending a Pongal function this year and a famous Tamil director lamented that only place where Tamils are not able to celebrate this festival was sriLanka though they cud celebrate it in Japan. I being a non Tamil understood this.
What Indians must do is to start supporting sriLankan Tamils financially , offering them jobs, develop themselves so that in future we see them as comfortable. Indian government needs to announce a financial package which is specific to Tamil population. The festivals we celebrate we can noway deny to the population in SriLanka, Singalese or Tamil.
War is never an ultimate option for both sides, this is not about denying victimhood, it is about making effort to help those who will one day spread peace to world than an war image which has destroyed our growth regionally. Ashoka understood this long ago and thats why the slogan "Satyameva Jayate" , for that is the ultimate truth.
The right to Eelam is not with geographical separate boundaries but within the vision to win together. VP will remain historical and so will his death. His vision to see happiness for his people will live on.
MBI Munshi
URL
May 19, 2009
06:38 AM
The best thing India can do for Sri Lanka is to allow the country to heal itself and not to impose solutions that might antagonize either community i.e. Tamil and Sinhalese. Indian involvement may be viewed as interference and could be seen as doing more harm than good. The worst thing that India can do it to act as if big brother knows best and small brother must behave accordingly. This will only breed resentment and the belief that India is only serving its own interests and strategic goals.
Riuvy
May 19, 2009
07:42 AM
For a view from Canada of events occurring in Sri Lanka, I recommend Tamil Rebels Surrender - Debate Rages On by Jordan Richardson. Feel free to comment there. Perhaps regular readers at Blogcritics Magazine would be well instructed by those of you intimately familiar with South Asia.
roger nowosielski
URL
May 19, 2009
08:35 AM
Tremendous article, Somik, very inspiring. I'll second Ruvy's request (above) and would invite you to comment on Jordan Richardson's article (actually he had written two in the past couple of days) in the BC Politics section.
Your thorough familiarity with the situation, not to mention your spirituality, would be a welcome addition to our BC site. I certainly would welcome it.
Roger
Ravi Kulkarni
URL
May 19, 2009
10:51 AM
Dear Somik,
Thank you for writing this heart felt blog. I totally concur with you. India should now act to facilitate complete rehabilitation of all Sri Lankans not just the Tamils. They have all suffered long enough, and now it is time for peace. India should provide aid to develop infrastructure, education, healthcare. We should also encourage bilateral trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers and perhaps have a visa-free travel regime (if not already).
Regards,
Ravi
Kalugu
URL
May 19, 2009
02:50 PM
Somik Raha,
Thank you for a wonderful article.
Vinod Joseph
May 19, 2009
02:58 PM
I agree with Ravi Kulkarni (#5). As Ravi says, India should assist rehabilition of all Sri Lankans - Sinhalese, Tamil & Muslims. A visa-free travel regime on the lines of what's given to Nepalis sounds like a good idea.
Somik Raha
URL
May 20, 2009
12:25 AM
Thank you for the kind words. From a comment I made on another site, here is another idea. What if some inspired soul registers a website called SinhaleseForTamils.org, and another called TamilsForSinhalese.org. These two sibling websites will give people an opportunity for restitution. For every Sinhalese (or Tamil) life lost in the conflict, Tamils (or Sinhalese) will contribute restitution. Restitution will be decided by the other side. In some cases, it might be a monetary amount to support the surviving family members. In others, if the entire family is wiped out, it would be to start a school or hospital in their name. But every life will count. Imagine if this happened using the internet and allowed peer-to-peer support like this to develop, how much healing would be possible?
MBI Munshi
URL
May 21, 2009
01:12 AM
Indian efforts at rehabilitation and humanitarian aid should not another attempt at interference as the following quote seems to imply â€"
“Although India discouraged the Sri Lankan government from exercising the war option, it did not restrain itself from providing non-lethal military supplies to Sri Lanka and training of Sri Lankan security personnel. This is where India was all along caught in a dilemma: having to maintain good relations with Sri Lanka in all spheres, but, at the same time, also taking into consideration sentiments from Tamil Nadu and the interests of Sri Lankan Tamils. With the LTTE off the scene, this dilemma has been resolved, at least for the time being. However, India should take cognizance of further inroads by China in Sri Lanka on the pretext of aid and development. Colombo should also understand that giving undue space for any power that might turn inimical to India is not good for India-Sri Lanka relations in the long run.
Apart from the above two demands, India should make every effort to pressurize Sri Lanka to begin a process of healing and national reconciliation. Without an appropriate reconciliation process, the wedge between the two communities â€" majority Sinhala and minority Tamil â€" cannot be bridged. A sustainable peace can only be realised with such a process. It is indeed a long-drawn process that requires Indian help on a sustained basis.â€
N Manoharan - Post-LTTE: India’s Policy Options on Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Issue (IPCS â€" May 20, 2009)
http://www.ipcs.org/article_details.php?articleNo=2874
India should not impose its strategic requirements on Sri Lanka in the guise of humanitarian aid. The democratically government in Colombo must determine for itself if it wants to be a friend to India or a closer one to China. New Delhi must respect that decision. We remember how as an excuse to provide humanitarian relief the Indian government the escape of the LTTE leaders during the 1980’s.
commonsense
May 21, 2009
07:30 AM
we need many more somik rahas in this world.
Chandra
May 21, 2009
10:03 PM
Too much of emotional gyaan for a day :-). I think Priyanka also mentioned how the nation's feelings must be different from hers. Anyway, these are too primitive things for liberals like you to understand :-)
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