Resilience and revival amidst revered rituals: Post-Vesak pondering

WE are witnessing a meaningful and colourful Vesak amid showers. In recovering from economic woes with optimism, enthusiastic devotees resorted to various rituals with reverence. Sri Lankans have begun to show their serenity, synergy, and solidarity, in steadily moving through a turbulence. Today’s column reflects our resilience and revival, with inherited prospects and pitfalls

- By Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri

Overview

“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and test of our civilisation,” said Mahatma Gandhi. In fact, it is our duty to ensure that beauty of unity in diversity. It is encouraging to see people from all walks of life coming forward with rare unity despite typical blame games of opportunistic politicians. Vesak as a festival of light was a reassurance of “Apekema” (the “SriLankanness”) dispelling the darkness of chaos and confusion. The starting point of such a rich experience is the inner serenity or stillness.

Sanity of serenity

“Stillness is your essential nature,” says Eckhart Toll, the Canadian author of spirituality fame. He refers to the inner space or awareness in which the words on this page are being perceived and become thoughts. Without that awareness, there would be no perception, no thoughts, no world. “You are that awareness, disguised as a person. When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.”

See that in the moment of noticing the silence around you, you are not thinking. You are aware, but not thinking. Eckhart Toll invites us to experience silence in a deeper sense. When you become aware of silence, immediately there is that state of inner still alertness. You are present. You have stepped out of thousands of years of collective human conditioning.