Mahamevnawa Sadaham Library

දේශපාලනය සහ ආගම , ඉතාම හිරිකිත විදියට, එකිනෙකා ගෙන් යැපෙන බව , අප වැනි, මෝඩ අනුගාමිකයන් බහුල, සමාජයකින් මොනවට පැහැදිලි වේද.

**The Unholy Alliance: How Politics and Religion Feed Off Each Other in Sri Lanka**

In Sri Lanka, the deeply intertwined relationship between politics and religion has once again come under sharp public scrutiny. What should ideally be two separate spheres — one managing worldly affairs and the other guiding spiritual life — have become shamelessly dependent on one another, often at the expense of justice, morality, and public trust.

The recent controversy surrounding the Atamasthanadhipathi of Anuradhapura has laid bare this uncomfortable reality. The case has exposed how religious leaders seek political protection while politicians, in turn, rely on religious institutions for votes, legitimacy, and public support. This mutually beneficial but toxic alliance continues to thrive in a society where a large segment of the population remains emotionally attached and uncritical followers.

# # # A Culture of Blind Allegiance

This situation is painfully evident in “our society filled with foolish followers.” Many citizens have been conditioned over decades to view religious leaders as infallible and political figures as protectors of faith. This blind allegiance allows both sides to operate with reduced accountability.

When a senior monk faces serious allegations of child abuse, instead of demanding justice, sections of society and political actors rush to defend the robe. Conversely, politicians frequently visit temples with media fanfare, seeking blessings and photo opportunities to strengthen their image among voters. This exchange of favours has become so normalized that questioning it is often branded as an attack on religion itself.

# # # The Dangerous Consequences

This unholy alliance produces several damaging outcomes:

- **Erosion of the Rule of Law**: When religious figures appear to receive special treatment from law enforcement and the judiciary, public faith in institutions collapses.
- **Suppression of Justice**: Victims of abuse, particularly children, are forced to fight not only against powerful individuals but against an entire system that protects its own.
- **Manipulation of Devotees**: Ordinary people are emotionally exploited — their faith and fear are weaponized to serve political and institutional interests.
- **Stunted Social Progress**: A society that cannot separate religion from politics struggles to implement rational policies on education, child protection, and governance.

The Buddha himself warned against the dangers of excessive attachment and craving for power. Yet today, some who wear his robes appear more interested in preserving status and influence than upholding the discipline he established.

# # # Time for Honest Reflection

Sri Lanka desperately needs a mature conversation about the proper boundary between religion and state. True spirituality should empower people to think critically and act ethically, not turn them into obedient followers who can be easily manipulated.

Politicians must stop using temples as vote banks, and religious institutions must stop seeking political patronage to shield themselves from accountability. The principle of “One Country, One Law” must move beyond rhetoric and become a practical reality.

As a society, we must ask ourselves difficult questions: Are we genuine devotees of truth and justice, or merely emotional followers easily swayed by robes and political slogans? How long will we continue to allow this shameless mutual dependence to harm our children and damage our nation’s moral foundation?

The path forward requires courage — the courage to demand accountability from both politicians and religious leaders, and the wisdom to separate faith from power. Only then can Sri Lanka move towards becoming a truly just and civilized society.

The choice is ours. Will we continue to be “foolish followers,” or will we finally demand better from those who claim to lead us — both spiritually and politically?

🌍 “The world is not stable — why tire yourself over it?” – Ramana Maharshi 🕉️

In a world that constantly shifts, changes, and surprises us, we often find ourselves exhausted — chasing perfection, stability, and control.
But what if we paused for a moment and embraced the truth?

✨ Nothing is permanent. Nothing stays the same. And that’s okay.
Why struggle to fix what is meant to flow?
Why burden your soul with the weight of what cannot be held?

Let go. Breathe. Trust.
Find peace within — because that’s the only place where true stability lives.

🪔 Vesak Message from the FMF Counselling Service 🪔

On this sacred Vesak Poya Day, we are reminded of one of life's most profound truths: impermanence.

Every living being, and indeed everything around us, is touched by change. Life offers no prior notice of when a moment, a relationship, or an opportunity may come to an end.

That is why we should not let this moment pass unnoticed.

Take time to appreciate the people who care about you. Be kind to yourself. Express gratitude. Forgive when you can. Rest when you need to. And remember that your worth is not measured solely by grades, achievements, or expectations.

Every moment of life carries its own beauty. Yet, more often than not, we realize its value only after it has passed.

This Vesak, may we cultivate mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom. May we learn to be fully present in our lives and cherish the simple blessings that surround us every day.

Wishing all FMF students a peaceful and meaningful Vesak.

🪔 FMF Counselling Service
Faculty of Management and Finance
University of Colombo

මිනිසාට සන්සුන්භාවය, ආරක්ෂාව, හෝ ආධ්‍යාත්මික මගපෙන්වීම ලබා ගැනීමට
විශේෂ වස්ත්‍ර පැළඳ, සඟවා ජීවිතයක් ගත කරන අතරමැදි කෙනෙකු සැබවින්ම අවශ්‍යද?
මෙම සැකය සරළ වුවද ගැඹුරු දාර්ශනික එකකි:
එම අතරමැදි පුද්ගලයාම එකක් වශයෙන් මනුෂ්‍ය දුර්වලතා සමඟ—බොහෝවිට අටුකළ ජීවිතය නිසා වැඩි තදින්—සටන් කරන්නේ නම්,
ඔහුට අනෙකුත් අයට සැබෑ සරණක් විය හැක්කේද?
පරිපූර්ණ මගපෙන්වන්නා පිළිබඳ මෝහය
සතවර්ෂ ගණනාවක් පුරාවට බොහෝ ආගම්
පූජකයන්, භික්ෂූන් සහ අනෙකුත් ආගමික නායකයන්
සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාව සහ දේවත්වය (හෝ නිරූපිත සත්‍යය) අතර
අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සම්බන්ධකයන් ලෙස පිහිටුවා ඇත.
ඔවුන්ට අත්හැරීම, පවිත්‍රභාවය සහ ස්වීය පාලනයෙන් යුතු ජීවිතයක් ජීවිත කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වේ.
එහෙත් ඉතිහාසයත්, වර්තමාන සිදුවීම්ත් නැවත නැවතත් පෙන්වන්නේ
කනස්සල්ලට පත් කරන රටාවක්:
මනුෂ්‍යත්වය අඩංගු කර තබා ගැනීමට විශාල උත්සාහ ගන්නා අයම
ඒ සමඟ අමාරුවෙන් මුහුණ දෙති.
සඟවුණු ජීවිතයක් ගත කරමින් "පවිත‍්‍රභාවය" පෙන්වීමට වෙනස් ඇඳුම් පැළඳ සිටින පුද්ගලයෙක්
අනෙකුත් අයට සැබෑ ආරක්ෂාවක් ලබා දිය හැකිද?
ඔවුන්ගේ ලිංගික අපේක්ෂා, අහංකාරය, කෝපය සහ අනෙකුත් දුර්වලතා
සාමාන්‍ය මනුෂීන්ට වඩා දැඩි නම්,
අපට ජීවිතය පිළිබඳ සැබෑ ප්‍රඥාවක් ඔවුන්ගෙන් ඉගෙන ගත හැකිද?
මෙම ප්‍රශ්නය ආගමික ආයතනවල හදවතටම පහර දෙන එකකි.
ආගමික නායකයන් මනුෂ්‍ය දුර්වලතා සඟවාගෙන
ආසන්න වශයෙන් දේවීය තත්වයට නංවන විට,
ඒකින් මෝසම්කාරීත්වය, බලය හරහා අධෝවර්ග කරගැනීම හා
සාමාජික විශ්වාසය කඩා වැටීම සිදුවේ.
අන්ධ ආසක්තියේ අවදානම
අභ්‍යන්තර සාමය හා අරුත සෙවීම
ගැඹුරු ලෙස පෞද්ගලික ගමනකි.
බුද්ධාගම ඇතුළු බොහෝ ආධ්‍යාත්මික හැඟීම් පෙන්වූයේ
මෝක්ෂය ලැබෙන්නේ
තමන්ගේම උත්සාහ, ශික්ෂණය සහ දැනුම මඟින් බවයි—
වෙනත් පුද්ගලයෙකු වෙත රඳා පවතිමින් නොවෙයි.
බුදුන් වහන්සේම
“ඔබ ඔබටම දීපයෙක් වන්න” යන්න අවධාරණය කළහ.
එහෙත් කාලයත් සමඟම සමාජය
සත්‍යයට විශේෂ ප්‍රවේශයක් ඇතැයි කියන
සංකීර්ණ අතරමැදි පද්ධති නිර්මාණය කළේය.
ඒ අතර, සාමාන්‍ය මිනිසුන්
ස්වාධීනව සිතීමෙන් වළක්වා ඇත.
ඔවුන්ට පෙන්වන්නේ,
ප්‍රඥාව සහ ආචාරධර්මීය මඟ පෙන්වීම
තමන්ගේම හැසිරීම තුළින් නොව,
වස්ත්‍ර පැළඳි පුද්ගලයන් වෙතින් සොයාගත යුතු බවයි.
මෙම අතරමැදි පුද්ගලයන් වැටී යන විට—
වෙලාවකට බියංකර ආකාරයෙන්—
හානිය දෙගුණ වේ:
අපරාධයක් සිදු වීම පමණක් නොව,
හजार ගණනක විශ්වාසයම බිඳ වැටේ.
අපට ඇත්තටම ඉගෙන ගත හැක්කේ කුමක්ද?
අලුත් සිදුවීම් මඟින් බිහිවන දැඩි සත්‍යය මෙයයි:
විශේෂ වස්ත්‍රයක් පැළඳ සිටීමෙන්
යම් පුද්ගලයෙකු ස්වයංක්‍රීයවම
ප්‍රඥාවන්ත, පවිත්‍ර හෝ අනෙකුත් අය මඟ පෙන්වීමට සුදුසු වෙනවා කියන්න බැහැ.
ඔහු මනුෂ්‍යයෙක්ම ය—
අනෙක් සැම දෙනා මෙන්ම
ආසාවන්, බියන් සහ අසාර්ථකතා ඇතිව.
සමහර විට,
“පවිත්‍ර” රූපයක් තබා ගැනීමට ඇති පීඩනය
ඒ අභ්‍යන්තර සටන් තවදුරටත් වැඩි කරවයි.
සැබෑ ආධ්‍යාත්මික වර්ධනය
වෙනත් කෙනෙකු වෙත පවරා දිය නොහැක.
එය අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ
පෞද්ගලික ආලෝකය, සත්‍ය විමසීම්,
විනය, නමනීභාවය සහ ධෛර්යයයි.
ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ ආගමික ආයතන සම්බන්ධයෙන්
ඇති පීඩිත අනාවරණයන් අතර,
සමාජය වැදගත් තීරණයකට මුහුණ දෙයි:
අපි තවත් අවුල්ගත මනුෂ්‍ය අතරමැදි පුද්ගලයන්ව
විශ්වාස කරමින් ඉදිරියට යනවාද?
නැත්නම්
තමන්ගේම ආචාරධර්ම සහ ආධ්‍යාත්මික වර්ධනය සඳහා
අපිම වගකීම භාර ගන්නවාද?
පිළිතුර,
ආගම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීම තුළ නොවිය හැක.
එය විය හැක්කේ,
අපගේම මනුෂ්‍යත්වය
අදාල නැති අය වෙත පවරා නොදීම තුළින්ය.
අවසානයේදී,
සාමය සහ සත්‍යය
වස්ත්‍ර, තනතුරු හෝ අතරමැදි කෙනෙකු තුළ නොලැබේ.
ඒවා සොයාගන්නේ
අභ්‍යන්තරයේ—
සත්‍යවන්ත ස්වයං විමසීම හා ජීවිතයෙන් ලබාගත් ප්‍රඥාව තුළය.

**Do We Really Need Intermediaries to Find Peace?**

A profound and uncomfortable question is echoing across any society:
Does humanity truly need a mediator — dressed in special robes and living a concealed life — to find comfort, solace, or spiritual guidance?

The core doubt being raised is both simple and deeply philosophical: If the intermediary himself is battling the same human weaknesses — often more intensely due to repression — can he genuinely offer refuge to others?

# # # The Illusion of the Perfect Guide

For centuries, many religions have positioned priests, monks, and other clergy as necessary bridges between ordinary people and the divine or ultimate truth. They are expected to live lives of renunciation, purity, and self-control. Yet time and again, history and current events reveal a troubling pattern: those who try hardest to suppress their humanity sometimes struggle with it the most.

Can a person who lives a hidden life, wearing different clothes to signal holiness, truly provide shelter to others? If their own sexual desires, ego, anger, and other flaws are often stronger than those of ordinary people, what authentic wisdom about life can we learn from them?”

This question strikes at the heart of institutional religion. When spiritual leaders are elevated to near-divine status while concealing very human struggles, the result is often hypocrisy, abuse of power, and shattered public trust.

# # # The Danger of Blind Dependence

The search for inner peace and meaning is a deeply personal journey. Many spiritual traditions, including Buddhism, originally taught that liberation comes through one’s own effort, discipline, and insight — not through dependence on another person. The Buddha himself encouraged followers to be “a lamp unto yourself.”

Yet over time, societies have created elaborate systems of intermediaries who claim special access to truth. In doing so, ordinary people are often discouraged from thinking independently. They are taught to seek blessings, guidance, and even moral approval from those wearing robes, rather than cultivating their own wisdom and ethical compass.

When these intermediaries fall — sometimes in the most horrific ways — the damage is twofold: not only is a crime committed, but the faith of thousands is broken.

# # # What Can We Actually Learn?

The uncomfortable truth emerging from recent events is this: A person wearing a special robe is not automatically wiser, purer, or more capable of guiding others. They are human — subject to the same desires, fears, and failings as everyone else. Sometimes, the pressure of maintaining a holy image makes those internal struggles even more intense.

True spiritual growth, many are now arguing, cannot be outsourced. It requires personal reflection, honesty, humility, and courage. It cannot be found by blindly surrendering one’s conscience and critical thinking to another fallible human being, no matter how sacred their appearance.

As Sri Lanka continues to confront painful revelations within its religious institutions, society faces a pivotal choice: Will we continue depending on fragile human intermediaries, or will we take greater responsibility for our own moral and spiritual development?

The answer may lie not in rejecting spirituality, but in refusing to outsource our humanity to those who may be struggling even more than we are.

In the end, peace and truth are not found in robes, titles, or intermediaries. They are discovered within — through honest self-examination and lived wisdom.

රිදිල, රිදිල, ඇති වුණ දාට,
එහෙමත් නැත්නම්, තෙම්පරාදු/ හෙම්බත් වුණ දාට,
මිනිස්සු හැගීම්, දැනීම් නැති ගානට එනව.
ඊට පස්සෙ, හෙන ගැහුවත් ගානක් නෑ.
සිදුවෙන දේවල්, ඔහේ බලාගෙන ඉන්නව.
අමුතුවෙන් දරාගැනීමක් කියල දෙයක් නෑ.
මම ඒ පාඩම දැක ගත්තෙ, මගේ ආදරණීය අම්මා ගෙන්.

When pain keeps hurting you again and again,
when life keeps exhausting and breaking you down,
people slowly become numb.

At some point, feelings fade.
Reactions disappear.
Even storms no longer shake them the way they once did.

They stop fighting every battle inside.
They simply sit quietly and watch life happen.
Not because they are strong anymore,
but because they are tired beyond words.

I learned that lesson by watching my beloved mother. ❤️

Former Nilambe meditation master Godwin sir's
The gentle way of buddhist meditation book. Sinhala translation SUMUDU BUDU BAWUN MAGA now available free of charge from Nilambe meditation centre.

“Study well, learn deeply, read more”—these were the constant, loving reminders from my mother, who never had the chance to learn her letters.

She repeated them gently, again and again, with all the strength a mother’s heart can hold. That became my foundation—the quiet power behind every success I’ve achieved.

“Learn first, then again, and then once more. Struggle to learn. Learn through the struggle.”
She may not have read this from a book, but she lived it—and passed it on.

My mother, who couldn’t read a single letter from a textbook, was my very first teacher in life. Not with theories or scriptures, but with pure wisdom, patience, and unconditional love.

She taught me not from the pages of a book, but from the pages of her soul.

"ඉගෙන ගනිං, පාඩම් කරපං, පොත කියවපං, අකුරු නූගත් අම්මා තනියම මතුර මතුරා නිතරම කියන්නී ය. එය මා අරබයා අම්මාගේ නිරන්තර සාත්තු සප්පායම් මැතුරුමකි.

පළමුවත්, දෙවනුවත්, තෙවනුවත් ඉගෙන ගන්න. ඉගෙන ගන්න අරගල කරන්න. අරගල කරන්න ඉගෙන ගන්න. කියා ලෙනින් කීවේ ද එයමය.

අම්මා අපට ඉගෙන ගන්න කීවේ දේස දීපංකරේ දේවල් දැන ගෙන නොවේ ය, සහජ ඉවෙන් ය, ආදරයෙන් ය.
ඇය මට ඉගැන්නුවේ පොතක පිටු වලින් නොව, ඇගේ ජීවන අත්දැකීම් පිටු වලිනි.

මගේ ජීවිතයේ බොහෝ පාඩම්වල මුල් ගුරුතුමිය මළ පොතේ අකුරක් නොදත් මගේ අම්මා ය..!"

People can be cruel sometimes.
Even after cutting off its branches,
the mango tree still stands strong…
still carrying its fruits with the same grace as before. 🌳🥭

“මිනිසුනේ උඹල හරි නපුරුයි.
හිස කදින් වෙන් කලද, පල දරා ඇත පෙරසේම.”

A quiet reminder that true strength is not in appearance,
but in the courage to keep giving despite the pain.

Maybe it is time we stop blindly sharing loud sermons and emotional “lorry talk” from every monk who appears on a stage or social media feed, without thinking critically about what is being said and who is saying it.

Institutions, whether religious, political, or social, are made up of human beings — and where there is power, there is always the possibility of corruption, hypocrisy, and moral failure. Respect for religion should never mean blind worship of individuals.

True spirituality is not found in shouting, influence, robes, or popularity. It is found in compassion, humility, discipline, truth, and the courage to live ethically.

When society places individuals beyond criticism simply because of titles or appearances, accountability disappears. And where accountability disappears, trust slowly dies.

This is not a moment to spread hatred against a religion or ordinary devotees. It is a moment for honest reflection, critical thinking, and moral responsibility.

A society grows stronger when it learns to respect faith while also demanding integrity from those who represent it.