{"id":49479,"date":"2016-11-09T22:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T02:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=49479"},"modified":"2016-11-09T22:03:10","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T02:03:10","slug":"what-some-of-us-can-do-and-should-do-is-to-walk-the-talk-and-be-fearless-in-calling-a-lie-a-lie-and-a-fool-a-fool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=49479","title":{"rendered":"What Some of us can do and Should do is to Walk the Talk and be Fearless in Calling a Lie a lie and a Fool a Fool."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Arjuna Seneviratne <\/strong><\/p>\n

( The following is a response on facebook to the post by Ms.Nila Loganathan on this blog about the ordeal experienced by her Family in a Colombo suburb. This response is being posted here with the permission Mr.Arjuna Seneviratne)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I<\/strong> find it hard to contain my indignation. I am not very capable of anger or foaming at the mouth or pawing at the ground so I shall desist. <\/p>\n

This lady Ms.Nila,seems to have conducted herself in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings even though she is probably an adherent of another spiritual system. To her and to her family then, the greater good, the redemption, regardless of their specific faith or more probably, because of it. To the aggressors who use the Buddha’s name to denigrate him and insult him by denigrating, insulting and manhandling this family, damnation. <\/p>\n

This is nothing new and despite everyone earnestly claiming that we have achieve peace, I think we must all agree that we haven’t. As long as this is the common mindset of the majority I think we won’t.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n What some of us can do and should do, is walk the talk and be fearless in calling a lie a lie, a fool a fool, an idiot an idiot and, as all the great spiritual leaders have taught us, teach though the example of how we live our lives. This lady who wrote of the pain of her experience seems to have done just that and for that… for THAT… I would kneel before her who had to kneel before swine. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On a more worldly front, the policy is in place, the legislature is in place. They are both routinely violated by a) politicians b) religious groups c) bus drivers. <\/p>\n

So far, I haven’t seen anyone able to even curb the bus drivers so I am doubtful that they will ever get around to checking the other two. The NCNSL is currently lobbying to get the CAA, the NTC and other regulators as well as the so-called religious ministries to issue directives. It is a tough battle because our people are not citizens but voters and idiot voters at that so the politicians will probably not dare to go all the way in enforcing any of these. <\/p>\n

There is another way. Perhaps a more difficult way, a less mass-turning way, a less mass-educating way. <\/p>\n

That is to understand the various ways in which various groups and denominations go about their spiritual practices, espouse them, internalize them, make them one’s own. It is a tough ask especially when said practices result in one’s teeth shaking in one’s head but I have my own testimony to share with you in that respect.<\/p>\n

I hold a sil program once a month at my home in Kurunegala which is in close proximity to the local mosque. Five times each day, the loudspeakers mounted on the minaret calls the faithful to prayer. Everything shudders of course. The first time I held the sil program, a few of the people who attended asked me about it and inquired whether the mosque can be asked to tone it down for just that day. I must tell you that these were not belligerents like the ones that Ms.Nila experienced but still they were obviously irked, discomfited and unable to continue with the purpose for which they came to my home. <\/p>\n

So I asked them if they knew what was being said. They didn’t so I told them both in Arabic and in Sinhala. Then I said “That is a call for the people to come together, as you have come together. It is a call to commune with Allah for much the same purposes that you have come here to commune with the spirit of human existence. They do not gather to kill, to maim, to hate but to reconcile, to becalm, to make peace. <\/p>\n

Should we not be then, glad, that there are others such as ourselves who do as we do. Who feel as we feel. Who need as we need. Who harmonize as we harmonize? Come, today, we will visit with our brethren if I can arrange it. The Muezzin who recites the Adhan is a 11 year old boy. If you see him, then you can put a face to that beautiful voice. If you see him, you will see how pure he is. If you see him, you will listen to him and smile in contentment even as you sit here while the followers of Allah heed his call and arrive at the mosque”. <\/p>\n

Well, the cutlery still judders. The teeth still rattle. But not the minds. Not the hearts. Not the souls.<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Arjuna Seneviratne ( The following is a response on facebook to the post by Ms.Nila Loganathan on this blog about the ordeal experienced by her Family in a Colombo suburb. This response is being posted here with the permission Mr.Arjuna Seneviratne) I find it hard to contain my indignation. I am not very capable …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘What Some of us can do and Should do is to Walk the Talk and be Fearless in Calling a Lie a lie and a Fool a Fool.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49480,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49479\/revisions\/49480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}