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| Sunday, 4 July 2004 |
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A reflection on Truth by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya From the time human beings emerged from the jungle and started tilling the land they became interested on the notion of truth. Their forefathers questioned various phenomena and pondered on them until various theories emerged and these too came to be further investigated. The concept of inquiry began. However many accepted what their forefathers have told them as being the Gospel truth. No one dared to challenge the wisdom of their forefathers, yet amongst people of this primitive society, there emerged people who questioned the validity of these theories. Such people were castigated, exorcised or even murdered. Nevertheless the fascination of the human mind to discover the truth went on unheeded. The Search Over 5000 years ago in India, existed one of the longest surviving religions - Hinduism, that has become the core value of human culture. Nevertheless, thereafter many cults, sects and tribes formed themselves into religious groups of heretics who did not accept the dictates of the Brahmins and went in search of teachers living in the Himalayas shrouded in mysticism and thereby found many aberrations in Hinduism which people later began to accept as different philosophies and religions that have been accepted as the truth. It is interesting to note that during the time of Prince Siddhartha there lived another sage by the name of Jaina or Mahaweera. The Buddhists would never ever accept the practices and theories propounded by Mahaweera, as much as people who followed Mahaweera would not accept the teachings of the Buddha. But it is interesting to note that all religions which were in vogue during the time of the Buddha accepted one truth of rebirth. Buddhist at that time would bring forth many theories to show that the teachings of the Buddha were the ultimate truth, whereas Hindus and people who believed in the philosophy of Mahaweera would reject the notion of the Buddhists. It is interesting to note that the dream of Maha Maya Devi the mother of Prince Siddhartha is similar or identical to the dream of the mother of Mahaweera. The seven weeks or the 'Sath Sathiya' of the Buddha following Enlightenment is identical to the 'seven weeks' of contemplation of Mahaweera. Even "Muchilanda", the demon snake, had given shelter to both Buddha and Mahaweera under similar circumstances. The mythology, the legends are similar in many religions not only in Buddhism and Jainaism. Conflict Similarly the teachings of Moses have become the basic background for Judaism and his position as a prophet is not denied by either the Christians or the Jews. The former would believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible as the Gospel truth while the Jews would believe that Moses was the greatest prophet and the Old Testament - the first five books of the Bible called Written Torah as being the Truth. Similarly the Muslims would accept Prophet Mohammed and the Holy Quran as the truth. It is very clear that the religions do have many things in common depending on the regions they emanate from. The religions that spread from India have many common tenets like rebirth and karma, originally the belief of Hindus with slight aberrations and Middle Eastern religions have the conception of God. If you speak to believers of any of these religions they will find many theories and propositions to debunk the other beliefs and believe in what they believe is the whole truth. Accepting their faith as the truth and demolishing the other faiths as false and heretical, millions of people have died in order to safeguard and preserve what they believed as the truth. Not even the Second World War or the great Punic wars killed so many people as much those killed, murdered or raped for their religious beliefs. Men have developed a deep- rooted intolerance for each other on the basis of their beliefs. Really the concept of truth propounded by religious leaders over the centuries is so different and is diametrically opposed to each other. To some of the believers, killing the non believers` in the cause of the religion they espouse becomes a sacred duty. Civilized For 2500 years we withstood the onslaught of foreign enemies. We believe even today that the stone inscriptions, palaces and temples we had built are not second to any cultural and architectural heritage anywhere in the world. Our frescoes at Sigiriya are the greatest paintings in the world. No country would compare with our culture that is 2500 years old and we are the most civilized people in the world. Even among the Buddhists other than the divisions like Mahayana and Heenayana and the Nikayas are mainly, based on caste. Today we have other divisions like the Dharmapala Buddhists, Revolutionary Buddhists and Olcott Buddhists. Most of the Revolutionary Buddhists belong to the JVP, the Olcott Buddhists belong the JHU and the other Buddhists are not taken seriously, as they do not belong to either of these two cults. But we seem to believe that the teachings of the Buddha as being the only truth. Like the other believers appear to believe that their religion is the ultimate truth and all other religions are perpetrators of falsehoods. If we could only understand that whatever we believe in may not be the absolute truth. In order to preserve peace and human dignity we should respect the others view however contradictory these beliefs are to that of ours. To cultivate these ideas and propagate religious tolerance may do greater good to mankind than any other mission. Wise Man But amongst these perpetrators of truth and falsehood there lived in ancient Greece a man called 'Socrates'. He found that most people who claim that they are intelligent and wise knew nothing. Socrates moved away from physical things and the Universe and dwelled upon an internal inquiry asking questions about human thoughts and behaviour. He asked questions like what is good and what is justice. He soon found his fellowmen who gave answers were similar to the perceptions of truth among us, as we really do not know what the truth is except what have been told by our parents and their forefathers. Socrates was able to debunk these theories by questioning them. Ultimately he found that he is much more intelligent than all the wise men in Athens. He knew for a certainty that he did not know anything and that he only possessed the knowledge of ignorance and thereby was more intelligent and wiser than all the wise men in Athens, because he was ignorant of the Truth! Similarly racial and ethnic divisions in the belief that their language or their race is superior to any other and a false sense of patriotism and the herd instincts in us, have made the politicians use these for their advantage and to suppress us by projecting themselves saviours of our race. This resulted in people being antagonised against each other. The Tamils believe that they are superior to Sinhalese as they have a culture that may be even older that Hinduism and they pride in themselves by distinguishing themselves from the Aryans. This is hardly different to what the Sinhalese believe in. Often today we are reminded of Dutugemunu and of 'Elara'. Of the king who did not want to sacrifice his army but challenged a much younger prince for a duel. The story of Elara as portrayed in the "Mahavamsa" is rarely taught in school. Elara is portrayed as a just King who even did not mind punishing his own son. But today in the North We have a ruler who claims to be the sole representative of the Tamils . He, unlike Elara does not accept any ideology based on justice, equality and democracy. These traits are manifestations of the decadent west. Leave alone the Sinhalese they do not permit even the Tamil speaking Muslims to occupy their so called 'homeland'. No western government nor any NGO issues even a statement about atrocities and killings of the northern terrorists. Similarly we have amongst us southern terrorists who inveigle us to go to war. A Matter of Truth If only these leaders could understand that divisions based on ethnicity or religious beliefs would only end in disaster. The truth is that the majority living under tyrannical rule wants peace. Similarly if only we could understand the truth that there is definite discrimination of the Tamils and they have genuine grievances. That war has devastated their lives and they have become the most miserable creatures upon earth. That compassion we often speak of is hardly ever employed in practice should be used in abundance and the appreciation of this basic and fundamental truth by both parties would make the non- warring civilians embrace each other as peace dawns. As citizens of the country and particularly the fathers and mothers of children, we have responsibilities to guide our future adult population on the correct path. Do not permit our thoughts, feelings and beliefs to permeate the minds of our children. Let them possess an independent thinking capacity. Permit them to have an open mind and encourage them in the process of inquiry to enable facts to be seen in the proper context. Like many great men of yesteryear and today spare a few minutes to think and then the process of enquiry will begin in your own mind. |
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