Appreciations

It would be an understatement to say that my brother, Deshabandu Upajiva Ratnatunga, born in 1911, who died four years ago, was an exceptional man. At Royal College, he was a brilliant student winning many prizes, at University he obtained a First Class honours degree in mathematics and took an active part in its affairs, and he did post-graduate studies at Cambridge, winning a First Class in Geodesy.

But all this was just small hat compared to what he achieved in later life. Professor Pakeman, his mentor at University, had told a colleague that Upajiva was a man of extraordinary moral courage.

Upajiva's refusal to compromise on his principles, even on trivial matters, was regarded by some as eccentric, or even reckless. This quality of his was really put to the test in the political climate of his later years. By then, he had risen to be Surveyor General, and had to resist irregular orders coming from the highest authority in the land. He got away with it because he always delivered the goods.

This quiet soft-spoken man was also a master of persuasion.

We were surprised when Upajiva was made a Deshabandu. Politicians decide these things, and they don't like public servants who resist irregular orders. But there were politicians at the very top who did keep close watch on development projects who would have appreciated Upajiva's worth. To Upajiva, however, titles meant nothing - that he lobbied for it would be unthinkable.

Upajiva married Irene Jayakody in 1940, and her contribution to the upbringing of their children was no less than Upajiva's. She greatly valued education and wanted her children to excel. She ran the home and complemented Upajiva's role in moulding their characters. A major problem was how to send them to the best schools and yet give them a life with both parents being at home.

To this end Upajiva accepted the post of Superintendent, map production, a post he held for many years. The decision had a direct bearing in making them what they are now.

Upajiva liked a good argument. At dinnertime, he would discuss all things under the sun with his family till late at night. He welcomed dissent. He taught his children not to accept the word of anyone, even that of the Buddha, unless it was logically correct. Being no slave to tradition - he wanted his children to make their own decisions.

When his teenage daughter complained about restrictions imposed by tradition on girls, he said "society has some funny laws, do it if it doesn't hurt you". He always consulted his children on matters that affected them, because he wanted them to be "leaders not subjects".

No wonder then that they all did well. Channa is professor of surgery; Sujiva a biochemist/pathologist; Ajita an Engineer; Malini a food technologist/scientist; and Kavan an astrophysicist/research professor. They have held high positions at home and abroad and contributed to society, to science and to progress. They inherited Upajiva's qualities.

Stationed at Anuradhapura, Upajiva started a chena cultivation near Ratmale. He knew very little about cultivation, so he left this to the local villagers. It was really their project - Upajiva managed the logistics and liaised with the authorities. He sustained this project throughout his stay in Anuradhapura. It was a democratic set-up that the villagers truly appreciated, and it developed within Upajiva an abiding desire to help these people.

This desire to serve the rural poor of the dry zone remained in him but there was not much he could do from Colombo while holding high office in Government. His retirement from public service gave him that opportunity. "Freedom from Hunger" was a German funded project that helped villagers help themselves. They were looking for a Chairman at the time and it was just what Upajiva wanted. He ran that organisation for many years, restoring village tanks, building channels and repairing sluice gates, until ill health finally made this impossible.

His nephew Lt. Col. Anil Amarasekera (retired), his enthusiastic spare time assistant, now continues the work through the Thawalama Development Foundation - Anil had served in the Wanni and had been inspired by what he had seen there.

Old age caught up with Upajiva, but his mind was still clear and he spent his time contemplating the abhidhamma, the Buddha's explanation of the mind. He discovered a part missing in its logic and tried to explain this to Buddhist scholars but they would have none of it - they held stubbornly to the texts. The Buddha's word, passed on by word of mouth for centuries before it was first recorded, was bound to have collected aberrations - Upajiva had found a few of these errors.

Bounced by the scholars, he tried to correct the flaws with his book "Mind and Matter". Few in Sri Lanka appreciated "Mind and Matter" but many in Germany did - they invited him there on a lecture tour. The few years before his demise, with failing eyesight he could hardly read. He was now ailing and had to endure much pain, which he bore without a murmur, as befits a man of his calibre. I sometimes spent a morning with him for I had myself now acquired a smattering of abhidhamma and had many questions to ask.

But he couldn't concentrate - by leaving it too late I missed the opportunity of a lifetime. Buddhism too missed out when the scholars rejected him. In those last years, he talked mostly of the Survey Department and of his work there, especially in the field of map production. Much of it was on how he introduced state of the art technology to produce maps of the highest international quality.

On Upajiva's contribution to map production I can do no better than quote Thilo Hoffmann. Writing to "Loris", the wild life magazine, he says: "In the nigh on 60 years that I have lived in Sri Lanka, I have made very frequent use of the 'good old' one-inch topographical sheets. I find them invaluable. Unfailingly correct, they are based on meticulous and painstaking ground surveys, and were updated from time to time. They were well designed: clear, uncluttered and easy to read. Every feature is recorded as appropriate to its importance, and is properly located and named. The paper used is very suitable for its purpose".

Mr. Hoffmann (Swiss) then criticizes the new metric maps that replaced them. He says these maps, prepared by a team from the University of Zurich, using "satellite imagery and the most advanced technical equipment", are full of mistakes, do not present the relief clearly and are difficult to read. Space does not permit me to quote at length, but the article is a fine tribute to Upajiva's work.

I can't say "may he attain Nibbana" - I don't think Upajiva wanted nibbana, his attachment to work was too strong. He will find his own way through sansara and attain nibbana in his own time.