News
I call on the mothers, please arise
View(s):Doctor Malkanthi Mediwake, Director of the Matara Hospital, deserves a special bouquet for what she said at the Matara Development Committee Sessions recently. As a brave lady she said some employees at the hospital drew salaries without working. This was because they were not given uniforms recently. Her argument was why they should be given uniforms if they were not working. If we have brave mothers like this the country will prosper.
Mothers who play the key role in the continuation of the human race are not given their rightful place. I call on the mothers, please arise; take your rightful place in society. If you do not fulfil your responsibilities, you are only paving the way for robbers and wicked people to have their day. You will have to take the responsibility for this.
I became a monk when I was just 10. Before that, one day I brought home a pencil that I picked up on the road. My mother tied me to an arecanut tree with a rope and punished me, thinking that I stole it. Mothers at the time were aware that if a child became a thief or an evildoer, it would reflect badly on the parents. Today, I am sad to see that most parents look the other way and allow children to do whatever they want. If a child turns out to be a criminal or evildoer, the country will be gripped with a curse.
What is happening at the Matara Hospital is also happening in most public institutions and seriously damaging our country?
We also see problems cropping up today between teachers and students of religious institutions and temples. Today those who teach or govern the people are not treated with respect. What has happened to the teacher-pupil relationship? Employer-employee relationships are also not cordial. What has happened to the preaching of the Lord Buddha about ‘Vissasa parama Gnathi’ (Trust is the basis of a relationship)?
Are there people in this country with trusted relationships in society and politics? We need to reflect on the story of Andare in our folklore. He used his cunning ways to eat the sugar spread out on the mat, when the king said it was just sand. Today, most people do not use that shrewdness to survive. What about the Upasaka ammas who observe Sil but relate stories about how to cook a tortoise! How many are the people who think of their children and their country?
There is a lot to learn from India. We can see both heaven and hell in India. All the Buddhas came from India. The Lord Buddha was born there. He showed and preached the universal truths, facts about our duties, humanity and showed the way to happiness, truth and development.
Today, our country’s President and the Prime Minister are leaning towards India. It is encouraging. We don’t hold a firebrand from both ends. If we do that we are in trouble. We need to hold it from the safe end. Light is needed to cast away the darkness. But light or fire must be put to good use. When we analyse the history of Indian states we must study them separately from the time of King Asoka the Great. How did we receive the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha? It was due to the magnanimity of some Indian rulers.
Who possessed the royal lineage here when the British arrived? It remained with the Tamil kings. How did they have it? It was not due to the warfare between Dutugemunu and Elara. As related in Paraabhawa Sutta and Sigalovaada Sutta, it was due to the folly and mismanagement of our rulers. The kingdom was taken over by the Tamil rulers. Though these are old stories, it is our history.
In which part of the world was a mother directed to put her infant in a pounding container to be pounded? With all these who said that we are the pearl of the Indian Ocean? It is a shame! Who can cure us of the dishonor? We will have to light millions of lamps to seek god’s intervention to obtain the services of such a person.
Attention of all should be focused on ‘ETCA’.
If there are countries where people earn without working, Sri Lanka perhaps leads the list. If we earn a salary without working, we are committing a sin. Why have welfare facilities where lazy people live? If what is given to us is not used properly should we be allowed to utilise the wealth of the country further?
The ETCA that we must draw from India is different. India does not provide all the food, shelter and medicine needed by its people. It only shows them the correct way. People are encouraged to live with determination and dedication. Though there is hardship, they are able to rise up and are determined to go forward. So the ETCA we need to work out with India should show us the way to work hard without being lazy.
We need to think more of our responsibilities than of our rights. It might be good to recall the punishments meted out to miscreants by our ancient kings. This would instill fears in the minds of our young people when misdeeds tempt them.
Fallow land should be taken over from the tenant farmer and handed over to the actual owners. The institutions that have been nationalized and gone bankrupt should be handed over to persons who could run them profitably. Some have acquired spaces on rent and are earning fabulous amounts while the original owners are living in want. Some acceptable compensation should be found for them.
The so called demon, the Urban Development Authority should be directed to cultivate marshy lands along the roads. The land containing drinking well water should be cleaned and toilets if any in them must be shifted elsewhere. The open toilet in the hill country should be closed and proper pipes and taps should be installed to carry waste water. Landslides occur because of our own fault. Kidney problems could be solved by rehabilitating toilets and proper disposal of waste material.
Though ETCA can be a problem, it can be used to drive the lazy people to action. It is good to get ideas from the people and implement it.
I believe we need to get foreign expertise to improve the conditions of our people. Indian help is timely. If the Indian way of life can be introduced here, ETCA can be properly understood and managed.
Let each one get out of the mentality of ‘minding my own business’ and work for the betterment of all. As mothers, fathers we have to work for the good of humanity casting away our divisions.
I also observe that Facebook today is popular. But it is full of nude pictures.
Decadence is rampant. A taxi driver related to me a shocking story about a 16-year-old girl of going on an unwanted journey in her Sil clothes after observing Sil on Navam Poya day. Where are we heading? Mothers have no way of protecting their children. Children are overworked. Children going for tuition are out till late at night. They are exposed to evil people or villains. Parents should be more alert. Otherwise, we might imitate the decadent Western culture.
Due to my present condition I may not be able to write my usual column in the paper for a little while. But if you require advice from me you could write to Gangaramaya, 61, Sri Jinaratana Road, Colombo 2.
At the Navam Perahera, I said that President J.R. Jayewardene, though he had a five-sixth majority in parliament, could not develop the country because of terrorism. This led to an Indian peace keeping force coming here and I also opposed it by hoisting black flags. I believe we have lost our right as a free people.
I also spoke how Appapillai Amirthalingam became the opposition leader, about the terrorism, the end of the war, the change of government, about the present leader of the opposition. I also spoke about the war between Dutugemunu and Elara, about the Nayakkar Dynasty becoming kings because of the division among the Sinhalese and that it was a Nayakkar king who wanted a mother – Ahalepola’s wife – to kill her child by pounding. I said that we have destroyed terrorism and now we must get together as one and develop this country.
The media did not publish my speech in full, but took only extracts of it. I am disappointed.
Gangaramaya,
61, Sri Jinarathana Road,
Colombo 02
Telephone : 2435169, 2327084