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JR the Universalist

by Tudor G. Jayewardene

The events of a country are well projected, as it were, on a wider screen to one who is away from one's own motherland. Most nostalgic memories of one's childhood, friends, school (with the mischievous but innocent pranks indulged), happy homes and the oneness and the unity which prevailed everywhere come to one's mind like an avalanche.

The rude shock sets in when I peruse the newspapers that are sent to me at regular intervals. Violence! violence! violence!

People write and ask why these should happen in Sri Lanka. They have yet to see violence in its crudest form elsewhere also. This has become an universal malady.

Never has so much been said in so few words and in the fullness of one's heart as did the late President Jayewardene addressing a meeting in Batticaloa;

" I do not believe in a Hindu Sri Lanka, a Sinhala Sri Lanka or a Muslim Sri Lanka but in one united Sri Lanka. The only division I can see is that between the developed areas and the undeveloped areas of our country."

There can be no more traditional Tamil lands nor Muslim traditional lands nor Sinhalese traditional lands.

North, South, East and West will be one traditional land henceforth for every Lankan of one family.

His Excellency declared at the seminar on "Fundamental Studies", ".....someday man will reach the limits of his exploration of the material world and still find no eternal truth. Man will then turn back towards his starting point, towards himself, as was done by the Buddha".

"Be Lamps unto yourselves, hold fast to the truth, look not for refuge to anyone beside yourself."

It can be said that public opinion in Sri Lanka was not in a rigid mould. Lankan political thought was not committed to conservatism, nor radicalism, nor moderation. It was above all fluid.

As such it contained trends rather than hard lines, and therefore, more the reason that affirmative leadership alone as enunciated by President Jayewardene would guide it into constructive channels.

His Excellency visualised this need not today, nor yesterday but decades ago and did consistently labour for its eventual realisation - viz: that the Sinhalese, the Tamil, the Moor, the Burgher will have to discover a way to live together, to think together, to work together and love together in peace and harmony and thereby transform this "pending cosmic elegy" into a creative psalm of brotherhood.

If this was to be achieved, he felt that we must evolve for all the internal human conflicts, a change of attitudes, a method which rejects revenge, aggression, retaliation and carnage. The foundation of such a method was unity, a unilateral rejection of divisive tendencies whether it is from North, South, East or West.

Therefore it was President Jayewardene's indomitable courage, affirmative faith, and impeccable leadership that will transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. He is the man of the hour, the man that Josiah Gilbert Holland has epitomised in the following beautiful words:

"God, give us men: a time like this demands, strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands; Men whom the lust of office does not kill. Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy. Men who possess opinions and will; men who have honour, men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue, and damn his treacherous flatterers without winking; Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog, in public duty and in private thinking." Therefore, my dear, dear brethren let each one of us look into our hearts, an introspection so to say, around the society in which we live, amidst this encircling gloom. The majority of you are in a state of despair, frustration and fear - the accumulation of decades of pseudo leadership.

It cannot be denied that there is much good in our thrice-blessed motherland. There are innumerable honest and dedicated men and women, who long for, and work to achieve peace and justice in our society. But the field is sown both with paddy and cockle. Our society, as in every other society is composed of both good and evil, men of peace and men of violence. We find selfish leadership, power hungry liars, charlatans, thieves and even murderers, who have no respect for the dignity of the human person.

They have no concern for the most sacred and fundamental rights of the people. They care nothing for justice and honesty. Their hands are polluted. They remain isolated from their fellow men, living in a world of their own self-love and in their glass houses. Every now and then, there breaks through society, a wave of hatred and violence, that betrays the animal instinct of the jungle. When these are organised, they become more despicable than the beastly instincts of the jungle. Human fellowship of love and brotherhood is thrown to the winds.

If seeing is believing, there happened in the deep villages of our closest neighbourhood (I am yet to be correctly informed of what really happened) in our own remote areas helpless men, women and children have been charred to death or gunned down. In another, men and women were seen falling down dead after consuming a deadly potent of illicit brew prepared by a human vulture to make the 'quick-buck.' Society has lost its values, perspectives and all that is noble and good.

We have lost the sublime attitude that the home is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Unrest, rebellion, indiscipline, callous disregard to authority, disrespect to elders, permissiveness, disgusting behaviour and speech have been encouraged and introduced into our schools and universities, places of work, hospitals, the homes and the minds and hearts of the youth, to the dismay of their parents, who are not conscious of their responsibility for the character formation of their children.

Unhappy homes often create unhappy children, who find satisfaction in drugs, terrorism and insurgency, which shake the very foundations of peace and harmony. Sometime ago, on a visit to Trvancore, we stepped into an ancient Syrian Church late one evening.

There is a wonderful old brass lamp, with about a hundred arms hanging from the ceiling. At the end of each is a cup with oil and wick. At the close of the service, the young people come up and take one of the wicks from the lamp to guide them home as they go out into the night.

There are many such lamps youth can take from their homes - the lamp of basic honesty, the lamp of goodwill, the lamp of cooperative living, the lamp of respect to elders, for all races and classes, the lamp of hatred for violence, the lamp for the spirit of self-giving service.

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