The Story Of A Sri Lankan Constant

By Mahesan Niranjan -July 28, 2013 |

Prof Mahesan Niranjan

Have you ever observed Physicists? They are usually searching for constants, and separating them from variable quantities aren’t they? You must have heard of Plank’s constant, gravitational constant, the speed of light and so on. I am no physicist, but I know enough of the subject to be able to say that if you don’t recognize the existence of some constants, you are in danger of solving the wrong problem.

Let me tell you a story about a particular constant to do with Sri Lanka. For this, we first go back to the year 1970. There was a little boy in the village of Karainagar, a lovely little island off the north coast of Sri Lanka. The island used to be called Karaitheevu. Theevu means island in Tamil, but when the Dutch built a causeway, we islanders changed the name to Karainagar, nagarin Tamil meaning town or city, a little recognition that this hard-working, industrious and close-knit community considered itself perfectly entitled to.

The boy’s parents were school teachers, whose jobs were transferable, and the Department of Education had a policy of transferring teachers for a few years to parts of the country that were identified as “difficult areas.” The beautiful up-country town of Bandarawela was classified as one of these, and they were sent there to serve for five years. Once the family settled there, it was thought a good idea for the boy to learn Sinhala. By then it was the official language of the country for several years.

Pushpa acca, an unemployed young lady living two houses away was contracted as tutor

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How A None-Religious Person Can Be A Better Moral Being

By Shyamon Jayasinghe -July 28, 2013

Shyamon Jayasinghe

A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”  ―Albert Einstein.

One of the commonest misconceptions among religious people and common folk is that religion of some sort is necessary for one to be a moral being. A close relative of mine – a formally well -educated guy mind you- knowing I am a non-believer recently asked me if I don’t believe in ‘pav pin,’ which in the Sinhalese language meant bad and good moral behavior. Some religionists tend to pigeon-hole a non-believer as an evil or weird person while some others think he is an anarchist, nihilist or good-for-nothing. On the contrary, one can be a good human being without any religious base whatever. It is possible to argue further that religion can in fact defile moral goals.

Religions have always claimed a monopoly about what they call ‘moral knowledge’ or ethics. The Gospel gives the Ten Commandments that a person must follow if he or she is to even dream of entering into heaven.  Judaism, Christianity and Islam are greatly influenced by the Ten Commandments. Hindus have twenty ethical guidelines called yamas and niyamas, “restraints and observances.” These “do’s” and “don’ts” are found in the 6,000 to 8,000-year-old Vedas, mankind’s oldest body of scripture, and in other holy texts expounding the path of yoga. The Buddha introduced the Noble Eightfold Path while popular Buddhism required the use of the ritual pansil (five precepts) based on that code. In this way, there is no doubt that all religions have embedded in them certain specified moral codes of conduct.      Read More