I must say, every time I see a great teacher who is going out of the way as we know it, to gift the humanity all they have, like throwing a million stones hoping at least one would hit the target, my heart explodes with love. I’m sure those teachers make all previous Buddhas, Rahathans, Prophets, and the like, and of course God, very happy. I know they make me very happy.
Let me introduce you to one such Solo workaholic, Tissa Jananayake.
As far as I know, from the YouTube videos I have watched of his, he is a great Biology Teacher. But through Biology, teaching, he also instills a passion in children about their own body and mind. Since he is asking the children to look at themselves, their mind and body, also asking them to look at the society from their own lenses, instead of political or religious lense, and trying his best to clean their lenses, I cannot proceed without thanking his efforts.
If I may give some feedback to him, if this article ever reach him, he did a talk about psychology, I don’t believe he hit the mark there. I’m sorry for my assessment, but in all his talks he is gifting the children with expanding their view. But this one talk, which made me not follow him for sometime, he was narrowing the view and limiting it. But, I know I shouldn’t focus on the one negative he did. So I hope he knows, the only reason I write about the one weakness I have seen, is only because I love him so much. I will still love him, even if he doesn’t see this talk I refer to can be improved.
Today I watched his talk (https://youtu.be/uqjYgaMSZwo) where he spoke about some ancient Sinhala scriptures that was stolen from Sri Lanka. He also spoke about Sri Lanka’s worth from a land point of view. He, as usual was advising his children.
Instead of getting this teacher to accept more load than he already is carrying, may I ask his students, to play their part.
Dear Students of Tisssa Jananayake,
Please do not to get an ego boost about all the goodness of Sri Lanka. Please remember, everything is impermanent. If we get hit by a piece of a star, this world’s gravity itself will be impacted. Thus, please accept the country’s worth as country’s worth, and not yours. And those British who did what ever they did are all dead and gone. They wouldn’t have been able to do what they did, had our people shown a united purpose. We clearly had weak links, so it was the fault of ours, as much as it was of the Brits. Besides, Aboriginal culture, Red Indian culture, African cultures, and maybe cultures I am not much aware of, all of them suffered the same. Maori Culture managed to survive quite a bit. So it’s not only Sri Lanka. There are a lot. So it’s not advisable to start a hatred campagin either. May I remind you Loving Kindness is the only path forward. To yourself and for others. To your current country, and other countries.
So, as Tissa Jananayake advices, do keep a tab on all these politicians and other leaders of the country. Without your vote they are not anyone who can make an impact. Your previous methods of going on Strike didn’t quite work, so do show and speak your opinion, but more importantly attack from the centre, the centre of yourself, and centre of other humans. The mind created mess.
Do look at our ancient arts, and sciences, not with pride, or make it our own, but check if who ever is using them is gifting the world value for next generations. Try to get some income for the country, so our people can have a comfortable life.
Most importantly remember, don’t solely invest on making Sri Lanka the best, let’s make the World the best place to live. Because no one knows if we ever come back, which country we will come back to. It’ll be funny, if we come back in England, and the best place to live is Sri Lanka!!! Don’t make the same mistake the previous generations made.
Continue to thank and respect your teacher, Tissa Jananyake, but most importantly ALL your teachers, especially your first teachers, your parents.
Love you
Nim
Meanwhile, I once again I thank Tissa Jananayake for doing what he does. A true gem in the gem of indian ocean. Thank you.
– Nim –
A Moment with Nim! 