Vannakam
After I had written the piece on Mahatma Gandhi and Salman
Rushdie, a friend in the Tamil Innayam sent me a
query - and on reflection I felt that I may share the
question and my response because the matters raised may
be of some general interest. My friend wrote:
"Dear Mr. Satyendra,
A personal question, if you do not
mind. I do not expect you should answer. But I am
inquisitive. After finding your father's way of fighting for
the rights - that is of Gandhi's - failing, after
the
Thimpu talks were spin doctored by Bhandari and
RAW/RAS, and while you stand and believe that
LTTE
is right to fight, are you still convinced that
Gandhiam can survive?
I'm not an opponent of Gandhiam nor a strong
supporter of the armed militancy. But, simply
confused."
I responded to my friend:
The question you ask is a personal one - but it is
legitimate one. It is legitimate because in the end the
search for consistency is a search for integrity. In
response to a question about Gandhi and Pirabaharan,
I have posted a
response to the Tamil.net which may also afford
some explanation of the views that I hold.
I have often agonised about whether I should write at
all - I have asked to what end do I write? The Tamil
short story writer, Sundara Ramasamy who
was in London about four years ago told me that he had
asked the same question - and his answer was that as he
gave expression in words to that which was buried in
him, he himself evolved and changed. My involvement in
the Tamil struggle during the past several years has
helped to further my understanding both of myself and
the people to whom I belong. Every inside has an
outside - and every outside has an inside. And the two
always go together. However, I can lay no claim to
infallibility.
In 1992, I was in Lucerne in Switzerland. I was taken
around some excavations of pre ice age rocks by a young
Eelam Tamil activist. As we came out, at the exit there
was a geological clock which illustrated the reality
that on a 24 hour time scale, man's own existence may
be counted in seconds. I remarked aloud that it was in
our existence in a speck of time, and that too, in a
speck of space, that conflict and
confrontation seem to assume such great
importance.
The young Eelam Tamil activist was quick to respond. He
said: ''Annai, what you say is true. But how many of us
truly live our lives on the basis of that perception.
What we say and what we do are two different things. In
the case of Pirabaharan, he has
committed his life to what he believes must be done,
here and now''.
This young Eelam Tamil activist, who if not for
standardisation,
may have made his own contribution to further
intellectual thought in some university, was making a
succinct point: ''No Vethantham please.''
Words which are not related to deeds are not of much
value. Gandhi walked his
talk. It is when our words match our deeds that we
ourselves become integrated and whole - and acquire the
capability to truly serve. Each of us have our dharma - our
way of harmony. It was Arujna's dharma to do battle and
it was in battle that Arujna found peace - and eventual
growth. Any other path would have left him in pain and
in conflict. But, the search for harmony is elusive. It
was Annie Besant who remarked once (translating
the Gita), that it
is better to act in accordance with one's own dharma
rather than try 'to act out some one elses dharma
better'.
The dividing line between violence and non violence is
not always the line of zero thickness of Euclidean
geometry. Thileepan and
Annai
Poopathy gave their lives in the struggle for Tamil
Eelam and who can say that they have failed? Again, the
Black Tigers willingly give their lives, though at the
same time, it is true that they take other lives.
Theirs is an act of violence but it is their
willingness to suffer, which finds an answering
response in the hearts and minds of thousands of Tamils
living today in many lands and across distant seas. The
same is true of the cyanide capsule in the hands of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - and to say that is
not to romanticise the armed struggle.
The struggle for Tamil Eelam is no afternoon tea party.
I remember Sathasivam
Krishnakumar (Kittu) speaking to me about action in
battle - how single minded one needed to be once
engaged in battle. There could be no wavering. No
question of a Hamlet like 'to be or not to be'. He
would pause reflectively and say: "It was almost as if
one was transformed in the heat of battle into another
being."
At the same time an armed struggle is not a carte
blanche to kill and maim and lines will have to drawn
however difficult or even seemingly impossible that
task may sometimes appear to be. I believe that
means and ends are
inseparable.
But what is the way forward? Each one of us will
determine that which appears right to him or her - and
then match his words with his deeds. It seems to me
that the way forward is not to turn a blind eye to the
issues that confront the struggle - but at the same
time refuse to undermine those who have given so much
of themselves so that their brothers and sisters may
live in equality and freedom. Additionally, there may
be a need to create the fora where such matters may be
discussed more openly amongst those who are committed
to the Tamil struggle for self determination. But talk
is not an end itself.
Yes, I do believe that 'Gandhiam' will survive as more
and more people (and that includes myself) acquire more
and more courage to openly stand up for that which they
know to be the truth and be willing to suffer for that
which they believe to be right. In Aurobindo's words:
"Man's highest aspiration - his
seeking for perfection, his longing for freedom and
mastery, his search after pure truth and unmixed
delight - is in flagrant contradiction with his
present existence and normal experience. Such
contradiction is part of Nature's general method; it
is a sign that she is working towards a greater
harmony. The reconciliation is achieved by an
evolutionary progress."
As for myself, work without faith would
be like an attempt to reach the bottom of a bottomless
pit and Gandhi's resolution
for the day continues to inspire:
Let the first act of every morning be
to make the following resolve for the day:
I shall not fear anyone on earth
I shall fear only God
I shall not bear ill toward anyone
I shall not submit to injustice from anyone
I shall conquer untruth by truth
And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all
suffering
