It was 523BCE, five year after Siddhartha Gautama attained Buddhahood, and through his vision he saw two royal kinsmen of the Naga Kingdom of Sri Lanka, were preparing for battle. The nephew Chulodara and his uncle Mahodara were both after the Gem Set Throne of Nagadipa. This little islet is mentioned in both Kundalakeshi and Manimekalai (both regarded as two of the oldest Tamil Buddhist literature) as Manipallavam of Naka Nadu, present day Nainativu at the tip of the Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka.
The Kiripalu Tree
Buddha was said to have presided over the warring kinsmen under this Kiripalu tree. The banyan tree next to the Kiripalu tree also bears witness to this event. The Buddha in his sermon explained about the evils of discord and the benefits of living harmoniously in peaceful coexistence. To get the warring kinsmen's attention, it was written in the Mahawamsa, that the Buddha had to perform certain miracle, where he darkened the sky with thunderous clap and then brightened it immediately after that.
Eventually the kinsmen and the entire people of the land, paid obeisance to the Buddha and the Gem set Throne was saved from certain carnage.
The world has evolved since, no sermon alone is going to change the way people see each other.
Conflict, according to J Krishnamurthy:
"WE join groups, we join societies hoping something good would come out of it;
and soon we are lost in beliefs, in contentions, in ambitions, in appalling stupidities.
It requires a great deal of understanding to break away from all this.
No one will help us, because everybody beliefs something and has committed himself to something or other.
Being caught in all this one grows old; then there is despair and tragedy and one accepts it as the inevitable."
What started as mere survival, humans have evolved into fragmented green eyed monsters with self centered motives. Though I am not mincing my words, at the same time I also am not denying the very existence of accepting, caring, compassionate and altruistic human beings all around us. However the former is contemptuously bedeviling the latter, stifling the very effort in creating a just society.
The Nagadipa Raja Maha Viharaya
(The temple dedicated to Buddha at Nainativu)
Greeja and I were overwhelmed by merely being there at Nainativu, soaking in so much of significance that place had. More so, beyond the Nagadipa Raja Maha Viharaya, only about 500 meters away stands the Nagapooshini Amman Temple, an ancient Hindu temple which going on the Brahmananda Purana should predate the Buddha presence at Nainativu. Legend has it that this temple stands for universal peace, prosperity and humanity.
The Nagapooshini Amman Temple
The Inner Compound of The Nagapooshini Amman Temple
Both these temples are thronged by thousands of visitors of all races, religion and from all over the world. In hosting these visitors both temples in solidarity provide "annadhanam" or offering of food to temple guests. We had tasty vegetarian food served in dried banana bark, simple but it was very fulfilling.
Food on Dried Banana Bark
This temple can't be more environmentally friendlier than this, where upon finishing our meal we are to throw our serving platter into a bin area, where the cows feast on it. It is an eco system by itself.
The Bin Area
(look closely you could see the cows feasting)
It is the beginning of another year, the New Year Celebration is over, the fireworks have died down, to many it is back to the same old grime. Many may have pledged their own new year resolution, some may try hard, some more may even give up before they even start. But how many people would be reflecting upon themselves to be a better person. My experience at Nainativu was simply a humbling process, realizing how small a spec "i" am, and the lesson I learned was, everything starts with a "will," and taking "a" step forward in pursuit of it.
New Year, New Vision, but the same old me, that is not going to work.
Whether it is the egoistic Trump and Xi Jinping, the Recalcitrant Hassan Rouhani and Kim Jong Un, the Unpredictable Mahathir and Recep Erdogan, the Misunderstood Narendra Modi and Joko Widodo or even the totally lost Imran Khan and Kassym Jomart Tokayev, to name a few political leaders, who are contributors to the many uncertainty and chaos that have befell the world, they should make an effort to see humanity beyond politics and economics, or else this malady will continue.
If only sanity prevails the world will be a better place to live.
Do we need a miracle like the one performed by the Buddha in Nagadipa to awakened us from this materialistic slumber?
I don't know.
Let's not just "hope," instead "act" towards a better tomorrow.
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu (Peace, Peace,Peace)
from the Kirupalu Tree
Ravi Varmman
0119
Subang Jaya
02012020
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