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| Sunday, 29 May 2005 |
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Features |  |
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The Right column Marketing Vesak As another Vesak Day recedes into the past what memories would be cherished? Judging by TV commercials, advertising banners and cutouts it may be some commercial product, an electrical gadget or consumer item that would stick in the minds of even the most faithful as they had bellyful and more of them on electronic and even print media. The media went all out to commercialise this year's Vesak as never before. It was simply a case of marketing commodities under the guise of marketing Vesak. It was told that millions changed hands and the media got enriched. Were the devout businessmen overwhelmed by compassion or suddenly enlightened to forget the profit motive - the basis of all buying and selling? Buying cheap to sell dear had been their practice from the time of the Kutavanija. Serivanijas exist only in folklore or mythology. Politicians were also very busy issuing messages, cutting ribbons, lighting lamps, making donations of public money and preaching bana (or vedi bana?). So were some enterprising folk who organised numerous danselas or free canteens by the wayside. Commuters and neighbourhood folk were fed on fried rice, pineapple, ice cream and coca cola not to mention cheap coloured fruit drinks. They were treated to gastronomic delights of diverse hues and constitutions, sometimes accompanied by pop music both local and foreign. In some instances commuters were even force-fed with soft drinks. At lean moments or prior to the heavy influx of the hungry clients one could see some organizers swaying from one side to another performing diverse dances intoxicated by the "dhamma' or the "seela". Story goes that some organizers received merit instantaneously just like the merits accrued by certain not so known NGOs in the aftermath of the tsunami. Speaking of tsunami we almost forgot them at Vesak except to occasionally pass on cheaply accrued merit to the tsunami deceased a la Mahayana tradition in this repository of pure Buddhism called the dhamma deepa or Sri Lanka. Calculating the enormous sums spent on decorations and commercial advertising under the pretext of propagating the dhamma one wonders whether they could not have been better spent for example in providing shelter to the tsunami victims who celebrated Vesak in their makeshift abodes and foreign tents braving the fury of both sun and rain. Unlike other anniversaries no resolutions were made to behave better or absolve oneself from evil in both thought and deed. Even the ritual cleaning of the three doors - mind, body and word (sita, kaya, vachanaya) was conspicuous in its absence. The Sceptic does not claim to be a devout Buddhist or a Christian or a Hindu or a Muslim for that matter. To him religion is only a birthmark he inherited unconsciously. Yet he believes in doing good for the multitude and he respects all religions. Paraphrasing the bard he would say 'Neither a believer nor a pretender be". - the Sceptic
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