Appreciations

It has been eight years since his voice was stilled. As I light the “Moksha lamp”, I see his radiant smile lingering as a fragrant memory. I have become a pilgrim letting his beams of serenity and peace seep into me enrapturing my mind into silence.
With a smile on his lips and a cheer in his heart he stands on the radiant heights he has reached and whispers to me –

“I have thrown from me the whirling dance of mind.
And stand now in the spirit’s silence free
Timeless and deathless beyond creature-kind,
The centre of my own eternity.
I have escaped and the small self is dead;
I am immortal, alone, and ineffable;
I have gone out from the universe I made,
I have grown nameless and immeasurable.”

We commemorated his wonderful life at a prayer meeting recently. He has passed into the eternal and the tears that I shed now are for the remembrance, the memories that touched my life endlessly becoming an integral part of me. These memories are of a life well lived and a thanksgiving to Ishwara for making me a part of his life.

Soon after Yoga passed away, I wrote his biography, “My Diplomat.” This was a heart-warming task. As I wrote, I felt closer to him, living once more in spirit through all those beautiful years together. I felt inspired as each chapter unfolded.Yoga’s whole life was a wonderful saga of faith and devotion - faith in himself and God and devotion to his ideals and spirit of service. With Swami Vivekananda his mentor, Yoga might have felt - “Faith sustains and strengthens one’s self and is a source of inspiration and support in times of despair.” It was this faith that helped him to do all that he sought to do. There were times when it was difficult to keep our faith and enthusiasm amidst the political whirlpool that had engulfed our native Jaffna since the 1970s. Sensing my frustration and helplessness he would bounce back saying, “Chin up.” He never let anything hamper our spirit or vision, nor let doubts erode our determination to do what had to be done.

Armed with faith and discipline he went ahead in life taking Naresh and me along with him. Our life together was grand and beautiful because we lived it honestly with dignity and decorum. Troubles came our way by hordes at times, as in the assassination of his brothers in 1987 and his brother-in-law two years later not to mention the destruction of our lovely ‘walauwa’ and deaths of nieces and nephews in the turbulence that gripped the North. But Yoga was always there facing them with equanimity steering us through difficulties.

He was indeed a man of integrity who stood by his principles fearlessly. The words of Saint Appar, “Naamaarkum kudi allom; namanai anjom” - ‘subject to none; I fear not even the God of Death’ gave meaning to his faith and fearlessness. Even in his later life though he was perhaps a little frail outwardly, he was tough and fearless inside and would not yield to pressure. “Your head will roll,” said the then President in Colombo when he refused to change the names of the Returning Officers at the District Development Council elections in 1981 in Jaffna. He did what he had to do and stepped down. His friends said that he had the courage of his conviction to stand up and be counted.

Yoga was an enlightened liberal who sought a resolution of the ethnic question within a united Sri Lanka to be achieved peacefully with justice towards all. In his tribute to Yoga, Father Tissa Balasuriya mentioned, “Yoga would present the Tamil point of view persuasively, always within the perspective of a single nation. Having had experience in the diplomatic service, he was very skilful in recommending fair compromise solutions that respected the aspirations and demands of all groups. He could do this as he had an alert mind and a warm heart that were attuned to listen and respond to all sides of a dispute.”

All the same he gave voice to his anguish to what was happening to his people and the terrible consequence of war on innocent civilians, entire villages being displaced, property destroyed and lives lost. The need, “to bring an end to human suffering, the destruction and the loss of lives,” was uppermost in his mind.

Having retired early from the Foreign Service, he had the wonderful opportunity to serve his people. As District Secretary for Jaffna - Kilinochchi, he endeavoured to resume work on the Mahadeva Causeway to facilitate the eventual conversion of the Jaffna Lagoon into a fresh water lake. He launched housing projects, new roads in the peninsula, he accelerated direct dialing facility and plans to rehabilitate the Iranamadu tank. He took steps to enhance bus transportation, improve boat service to the offshore islands, install a biogas plant and initiate small rural development projects on livestock, poultry, dairy, fisheries and coir.
Internationally, he was well known and a much admired personality. Whether it be at Bates, Bowden or Colby in the States, Al Hikma in Iraq, the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Durban University in South Africa, the United Nations Centre for Development Studies in Nagoya, the Food and Agricultural Organisation in Rome, the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines, or the World Conference on Religions for Peace and its Asian counterpart, he was highly regarded. The General Secretary of the Asian Conference on Religion for Peace from Tokyo wrote saying, “Yoga was one of the most outstanding and beloved leaders of the Conference - an ardent and faithful leader of inter and multi religious movement for peace based on mutual dialogue, understanding and co-operation. Based upon his long years of a diplomatic career, he was a religious advocate of reconciliation and collaboration among conflicting parties.”

Yoga was deeply sensitive and always found “something good in the worst of us,” seeking out positive elements in their lives. He always gave the benefit of the doubt to a person who could even have wronged him; this did give a special dimension to his contribution to service.

His entire life was based on values – values of truth, righteousness and integrity that he adhered to all his life This made him what he was; while opposing injustice and feeling deeply the pain inflicted on his community, he never supported violence. He was a visionary and worked sincerely and truly to translate those visions into reality. A deep sincerity infused his speeches and writings. His education, his career and deep knowledge of international affairs gave him the confidence to move freely with scholars and leaders in the political, social and religious fields.

The Ancient Order of Sikatuna was conferred on him by the President of the Philippines in 1974 - an investiture for a departing envoy who had served extra-ordinarily. In 1998, the President of Sri Lanka was to confer the title of Deshabandhu on him, but he politely declined to accept it given the suffering that had engulfed his people.

Yoga’s career as a diplomat, public servant and activist was a long and distinguished one crowded with achievements and service. He served humanity as an act of worship and to my mind he is the distinguished son of the distinguished father.