Thursday 1 March 2018


Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

01 March 2018                                       
Astrology and Ancestors

 

Cousin Ravi rang me to check on some details about our Great-grandfather A M Pillai. We had consensus about how we identify with someone in an old group photo even though we were not born then. That is the way of feelings. The current book I am writing is largely for family – especially global minded family. One of the discoveries shared is the role of faith in our life. Hence institutional structures that promote regular investment in common faith.

 

There has been strong criticism of Sri Lankan Airlines’ management since the new government came into power in 2015. But I identified with the root problem back in 2004. Part of that experience is included in my book as follows:

 

[When we say  ‘thank you’ to a service provider,  we complete the outer form of that experience. When we feel ‘thank you’ – we merge with that  service provider and/or the position through which the service was provided. Such completion at the deeper level promotes us  in our mind, to the higher position  in that relationship.  To my mind  I often got lesser monetary reward than others in most institutions I was part of, due to me lacking subjective influence over those who had the authority.  But I accepted that probably due to me being usually ‘junior’ in family. I was ‘senior’ with most of the students in school where my grades were high. I was well accepted by the teachers probably due to my acceptance of their senior positions and my ability to demonstrate respect for them, due to my family structure. That was an inherited value. This extended to workplace acceptance of seniors by position.  I now realise that even though some of the seniors were not deserving of that respect the real person/s who developed the position and / or caused for it to be developed, was / were merging with me. THAT is the beauty of  the system of Truth.  The position of Chairman of Airlanka / Sri Lankan Airlines, is  one of them.
 In 2004, I was included in the ‘Pioneers’ group to celebrate Airlanka’s 25th year anniversary.  I was  accommodated at Galadari Hotel and the then current Management team arranged for us to be picked up from the airport  and taken to Galadari  hotel. I had a chat with driver  Gamage on Buddhism and included this in my response to Justice C G Weeramantry ‘s article  published by the Daily News:
The relevance of Ahimsa - a rejoinder (Appendix)
‘I read with interest, the excerpts from the keynote address by Justice C. G. Weeramantry, former Vice President of the International Court of Justice, when he spoke about the Relevance of Ahimsa on World Peace Day. You captured this in the Daily News on 04 October - two days after Gandhi's birthday……’
The main celebrations organised  by Sri Lankan Airlines, happened at Bentota and we learnt that the Pioneers would get their plagues from the juniors whom they trained. Mine was to be from Yasmin Packeerally.  By then we had had smaller celebrations as per the Airline’s culture – and seniors then current, complimented their seniors present at the occasion. Hardly anything was said about those who were part of the Senior Management Team in 1979  – especially, the then Commercial Manager Mr. Colin Martinus who to my mind is the best Commercial Administrator known to me, the then  General Manager  Mr. Kulasegaram who valued me enough to want me to be transferred from Commercial Division to Finance which was part of his portfolio and the then Chairman, Capt.  Rakitha Wickramanayake.  I felt really upset by this and hence refused to go on stage to accept my plaque. I wrote to the rest of the team about how I felt.  I believe that I felt so deeply because by then I had had the bitter experience at the University of NSW where even some beneficiaries of my work lacked the courage to uphold my ‘provider’ status in Democratic Financial Management system. By then the University was operating in ‘de facto’ mode for Resource Management systems.  To my mind, this is a serious damage due to unjust discrimination.  Such discrimination weakens the positions that form the hierarchical structure and eventually collapses the merit based system. Today, Sri Lankan Airlines stands accused of such collapse.
Now I realise that in my mind, Air Lanka meant:
1.       My independent deservedness to be included in the Management team being trained by Singapore International Airlines
2.       The minds of all those with whom I merged during that experience
3.       The money and status benefits that I received due to that employment.
The minds of those through whom I merged – included the above three – especially in terms of structures.  The more we identify with a senior in the common structure, the more we become that senior  person and/or the position.  Sometimes, when we learn that we are by contribution to the structure more eligible than the occupant, we choose to leave – especially when that is not recognized by that senior or those above that senior with higher responsibility. To my mind, the Hindu legend of ‘prize mango’  depicts this message]

I carry AirLanka as an ancestor and hence my AirLanka will never fail me. Even if there is no recognition for AirLanka  in wider world, AirLanka will live within me and form part of the heritage that I share with my descendants of faith.

 

It took others 15 years to identify with the problems that I highlighted in 2004 – by connecting to the roots. That is ownership power. Sri Lankan leaders who believe in Astrology would know that the horoscope is about our ownership in positives as well as negatives in previous lives. Through death – we get our balance restored. But when we invoke the past – we go back to that net value of old credits or debits.  Air Ceylon died and was reborn as AirLanka.  But once the Singapore Airlines Leaders left –the Sri Lankan Government stepped into their positions but the positions did not empower them.

 

I wrote on 26 October 2017:

 

[Hence the direct interference of a member of the Government amounts to acting in breach of the fundamentals of Commercial structures  as well as the structure of the elected Government itself.
Continuing with this kind of mismanagement would lead to Sri Lankan Airlines becoming more and more like Air Ceylon – under which structure,  staff were slaughtered by their seniors to appease politicians.]

Had enough leaders in AirLanka continued to carry Singapore Airlines Management values as part of their heritage – we would have prevented this deterioration.

I do not know very much about the current leaders of Sri Lankan Airlines. But I do know that the positions that I invested in will continue to bring me peace and joy – as if AirLanka was still alive. It is for me and all to those to whom our seniors back then are our ancestors today.

Daily Mirror article ‘Why? Oh! Why?’ confirms the essence of the above as follows :
[The senior purohita long aspiring to wear the prime ministerial mantle rang up his astrologer -  a fair one – soon after his latest disappointment. 
 Highly dismayed and dejected that the much coveted plum job was almost within his reach this time round when it was suddenly snatched away, the man turned to the faithful astrologer for solace.  After all, numerous Poojas and other rituals conducted on her advice and guidance should produce some result, he thought. 

He wanted to know why certain bigwigs who held out hope for him let him down at the eleventh hour. “Why? Oh! Why?” he lamented.

The woman who got on the defensive had explained quoting chapter and verse that his own misconduct had sent   all her settings awry. As the woman began giving a list of his faults and foibles, the purohita had rung off saying that they could discuss all that later, they say.]

Those who carry their ancestors within as part of themselves do not need Astrology to know why their expectations failed to materialise. All they need is to be true to themselves.

No comments:

Post a Comment