Human Rights Day 2010: A Tamil Perspective

 "One who listens to the real victim is automatically an owner with the highest authority to certify others to that extent. Those who are driven by desire to tell/dominate, tend to not listen. It is largely due to this deafness that the victims often become Human Rights campaigners."

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(December 11, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) “Laws to protect and promote human rights are indispensable. But quite often, progress comes down to people, courageous women and men striving to protect their own rights and the rights of others, determined to make rights real in people’s lives.

Diverse in background, sometimes part of a civil society organization, or a journalist or a lone citizen, they all share a commitment to expose wrongdoing and stand up, speak, and today tweet, in the name of freedom and human dignity. Far too often, their work entails tremendous risk. Defenders are harassed, stripped of their jobs and wrongfully imprisoned. In many countries, they are tortured, beaten and murdered. Their friends and family members are also subjected to harassment and intimidation. Let us remember that everyone – no matter their background, training or education – can be a human rights champion. So let us use that power. Let us each be a human rights defender.” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Yesterday was Human Rights Day. This morning, during meditation, I appreciated that there is not one effort of mine that has not brought me some satisfaction or the other. I saw my own Truth and realized that ALL my work has been rewarded – some by others but the deepest returns came as if from nowhere. They just ‘happened’ – miracle after miracle. To me, those who bring the returns are Messengers of God. The above mentioned ‘people’ are Messengers of God.

Sometimes, we are ridiculed by the very people we seek to serve. That is when it hurts most. But that is also an opportunity to become wholesome, by accepting those qualities through our strengths. Without that acceptance, we are not ‘serving’ but ‘giving’.

What is ‘Human Right’?

To me, Human Right is the right draw to the extent of my need to live in harmony with my environment, from the work and sacrifices by other humans beyond my time and space limitations. The United Nations is the best known repository of some of those values.

Often conflicts arise due to confusion between needs and benefits. One’s need could be another’s benefit and v.v.. Merit based structures need to be in place to measure benefits. Needs are to be satisfied through the expressions of belief by the deeper investor and not the highest apparent authority. In a reliable system, the deepest investor would also be the highest authority. It is the fundamental duty of a Government to protect the right of a citizen to be heard through belief where the there is complaint from that citizen that a fundamental need has not been satisfied. The ‘loss’ could be required to be proven by objective measures and the pain through subjective opinions of experts. But unless proven otherwise, the ‘reason’ why needs to be as per the expression of belief of the greater loser in a clever society and the deeper loser in a good society.

Where there is domination, there is also submission. It is to prevent the ‘other’ side of this quality unjustly hurting an outsider that we have internal hierarchy, including in families. Those who take responsibility for young members have the ‘authority’ to lead and represent the unit/family/nation to outsiders. By respecting the higher investor, the younger member becomes wholesome through her/his level. That person then leads the levels below and where there are none, the person shares naturally with others parallel to her/him. Democracy facilitates this. Nature takes us to these places - physically and mentally beyond our local borders to facilitate us to become wholesome.

These are all Human discoveries of Divine system of Nature/Truth/Love. Often we ‘understand’ and ‘forget’ unless we think there is some benefit to us – yet to come. Unless we have the experience, we do not feel and own as if the issue and all genuine investors in the issue were a part of us. Victims have the experience. If one has not experienced the pain – that person is not a victim but a temporary loser. To know whether they are real or not, we need to have the vaccination and become a part of them through listening as if we are them. This becomes possible when we renounce any personal benefits for us. Then we do not fear any personal losses.

One who listens to the real victim is automatically an owner with the highest authority to certify others to that extent. Those who are driven by desire to tell/dominate, tend to not listen. It is largely due to this deafness that the victims often become Human Rights campaigners. Those of us who are driven by our own experiences would naturally benefit any environment that we make ourselves a part of. That is how Nature / Truth / Ownership makes up for the failures of fellow humans, to make us Universal.

Human Right is the Right to be Universal and Free. Hence once this freedom is realized it is never lost and the enjoyment of it needs to be not interfered with. Truth removes those blocks instantaneously.