Migrant Problems & Opportunities

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(March 08, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Truth as per my discovery is a Universal power. The more global we become the more we need Truth to realize Peace and Happiness, especially when we are living in mental environments of conflicting cultures. When there is Peace in the mind, we are ‘at home’ in all physical environments – however otherwise they may ‘seem’. The areas with proportionately more people per unit of land– for example Sri Lanka, compared to Australia – the greater the importance of mental environments compared to physical environments. Even in war zones, if we seek and find the Truth about the two sides through the avenues available to us, we would feel at home.

Often people confuse Facts with Truth. Facts used for majority power, outside the environment in which they were born and/or to give reasons ‘why’ even within the environment in which they were born, are effectively lies.

Majority vote helps give ‘structure’ to the thinking of those who physically participate in an activity/event. It’s the substance that gives it the reason. When our mind is still and we still feel – then there is substance.

In the case of Sri Lanka, both sides to the war are driven by ‘what happened’ rather than why it happened. Hence we no longer seem to know whether it is racism or terrorism. Both side leaders produce evidence of the other side’s actions that seem ugly to them. As per my discoveries majority Tamils living outside Sri Lanka are living in the past and hence tend to produce facts after facts, whilst majority Sinhalese including the Government of Sri Lanka, are living in the future and hence tend to produce promise after promise and those who accept them - theory after theory. When the two combine, we have the real present. One who combines the two in the mind, is living in the real present as a Universal person.

Those who bring as facts, just what happened, without feelings, are actually creating the receptors of future experiences. As they say in relation to the system of karma, we take with us only our Truth into next life. Immigration is a good example through which we are able to relate to this.

Take for example, those of us who have come to Australia which is culturally very different to Sri Lanka – except in the case of indigenous people and those who have had ‘western education’. To my mind, indigenous people are all those whose origins could not be easily traced to another country. To the extent a migrant from Sri Lanka completes the stage of life s/he is at in Sri Lanka – s/he brings to Australia, only the essence of that experience. It is for this reason that we hear some Australian Government officials and politicians say that we should leave behind, our problems in the country of origin. But then, we do not hear any Government Official saying ‘leave behind the opportunities you developed in your country of origin’. They often facilitate for us to complete those opportunities to be more Australian-looking. In an Equal Opportunity environment - we need equal level of facilities as for opportunities to convert them to be Australian-looking problems. Otherwise, those losses become the receptors of future problems. The opportunities unmatched by problems when carried into new environments increase ego related pleasures and pain.

On that basis of the Government’s responsibility, each migrant needs to shed benefits and costs, assets and liabilities, opportunities and problems that cannot be completed by her/himself as individual and/or her/his family, within a short period after they arrive in Australia. In other words, the total value of our benefits, assets and opportunities need to be equal to the total value of our costs, liabilities and problems that we bring into Australia, for us to be successful migrants and therefore to leave behind positive Australian value for our children and grandchildren. If the cost group is more – we tend to be depressed and become victims of ego. If the benefit group is greater we tend to hallucinate and live in imaginary world. That is the problem with ‘attachment’ to the past.

This applies also to those who work overseas – especially in global institutions such as the United Nations and Harvard University. Both platforms were used recently by the Sri Lankan Government’s representative to the UN, to highlight his side’s local work rather than the international value of that work. ‘What happened’ was applied directly without showing connection to the group that the victims belonged to naturally.

Another example is an email request from staff of OHCHR – UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (Appendix 1)

Likewise many parts of Tamil Diaspora, applying facts and photographs without feelings with the direct victims at various levels. These feelings are confirmed through the support, especially the direct, physical and mental support to their parallels living in various parts of Sri Lanka.

It feels sad, but we can do only that much for others. The rest needs to be done by themselves – each one as per her/his Truth.

Appendix 1

Subject: Re: Harvard University -Messenger of Truth?

UN Official:

Dear Ms. Param,

Could you please remove me from your contact list? I do not know where you got my email address, but I am not interested in receiving these emails.

Many thanks in advance.

Stefano Sensi

Gaja Param:

Thank you M/- Stefano Sensi. My personal policy in relation to emails is to delete them myself if I consider the contents to be of little or no value to myself. Where the person sending it is valuable to me. I think of the person and appreciate that person, keep it in my system for a while and then delete it during periodical cleanup. I believe that that way I keep strengthening my mind connection with those folks. That way I feel a stronger part of our common society. This way I value the work of all those who think I am of value - however small that value may seem. There are ofcourse, those who deliberately set out to hurt me by telling me what to do when I find fault with them. Unless I have official responsibilities to oblige - say for example due to a law common to both sides - I am driven by my own Truth. On that basis, I expect them to do to my email what I would do to theirs. We are then even. Otherwise, to the extent they have falsely elevated themselves above me and the likes of me, outside our official positions, the problem is with their own overvaluation of themselves and this has nothing to do with me. In fact it is an interference with my enjoyment of my hard earned 'freedom' .

You work for and use the facilities of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations. At that level, you need to value Independence and Freedom above all else. To the extent you do not, you are abusing your powers through that office. That which is earned through an institution needs to be applied within the boundaries of that institution. To the extent you work for the welfare of wider society your powers would naturally extend beyond the physical boundaries of your position and your institution of which your position is a part. Since I am not officially bound to you by any of these, you need to look within your own structures and substance for any inconvenience you experience through emails from the likes of me who naturally represent the public.

Ms Param