Wanderers in Eternity – Chapter 7 (Page 1)
7
AJITH AND REVEREND SUBUTHI
1988
“Come in, come in, sir. I thought you would show up around this time.” Seeing the pleasant smiling round face of Reverend Subuthi and hearting his gentle voice, Ajith Henegama climb the few steps that led to the temple.
As if to subdue the heat of the evening, a mild breeze bled in from the Thisara Lake. When Ajith stood the Veranda of the temple he could see the lake and far to the right the massive pagodas in Anuradhapura.
“The questions you had asked me in the letter, I cannot give answers by merely writing back. It was best that you came to meet me and talk about it all,” saying this the priest pointed to a low stool and asked Ajith to sit down.
Before saying thanks you and sitting down, Ajith fell down, on his knees and worshipped the priest. He could still feel a slight pain in his left arm.
“It was after reading the letter that you wrote to the newspaper that I was tempted to write to you, reverend. You had very well explained the stream of life.”
“Sometimes, rather than giving a long sermon, sir, one can write a small article like that to explain a whole lot more to a whole lot of people. So, tell me, sir, are you still in the army?”
“No, reverend. I retired recently. I was injured in Jaffna in 1983.’
“Oh, my, what happened ?”
“I was in a jeep nearby when a land mine exploded. A piece of metal got lodged in my left arm.”
“It’s good that you didn’t die from the explosion.”
Ajith found it hard to speak.
“Several of my friends died that day.”
“Life is like that, sir. Even if a previous karma would not pay back, sometimes accidental deaths can happen. Just the way a lamp is doused by a wind that blows in from nowhere.”
“I came to see you, reverend, after reading about hypnotic regression in your letter.”
“Podiya, Little one!” the priest yelled towards the interior of the temple as if not hearing what Ajith had just said. A young boy in a sarong appeared by the door. “Bring something to drink for our gentleman here. Have you ever had a drink made from the Ravawara plant, sir?”
“No.”
“Tea made from the herb Polpala or Ranawara is very good for you, sir.”
“I will try it.”
“Bring that with a chunk of jaggery, little one. You must be used to drinking tea with sugar.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t drink regular tea or use sugar. Those are things the white man taught us, bad habits that one cannot get rid of. They gave us tea and sugar. Now we can’t do without them.”
“That’s true, reverend.”
“So tell me your story,sir.”
Because of the friendly attitude of the monk, Ajith found it easy to open up and talk.
“The first time it happened, revered was after the incident in Jaffna. I started having a dream about a Tamil woman.”
“It this someone you have seen before?”
“Yes, reverend. One day while we were driving to Jaffna passing Niveli, one of the jeeps had an engine problem and our whole convoy stopped some place. There was a tobacco plantation nearby. This woman was in a hut nearby. She had a little boy with her. I felt as if I’ve known them from somewhere.”
“You could remember like that from previous life memory.”
“That’s the way I felt, reverend. As if I’ve known her in a previous life, as if my soul…”
“There you go, sir. There’s no such things as a soul.”
“I mean, when I said soul, it was from a previous birth experience.”
“That’s true. We go from life to life – our consciousness. But there is no such thing as a unchanging soul. Everything changes all the time. Lord Buddha in his sermons also said that there is no such thing as a soul. Because of our attachments that we think that there is a soul.”
“I don’t know the metaphysics of Buddhism that deeply, reverend.”
“You can learn all that, sir. One wrong point of view that we create is the idea of having a soul. You know why? Because our desires want to have something to call our own. Therefore we grab on to the idea of a soul. But in this time universe where everything is changing all the time, how can there be an unchanging soul. sir? Really, I mean, everything changes all the time.”
“That’s true, reverend.”
“I don’t think you have really studied the dependence origination in Buddhism? Because of the formations arise the consciousness. The formations arise because of ignorance. From the darkness. It is the stream of consciousness born that way, that makes all the attachments. From lifetime to lifetime this stream goes on ever changing.”
“It must be a memory like that I have, reverend. When I saw that woman’s face, a series of strange feelings were born within me. I cannot explain it all. How can I explain all this to you, reverend?……A feeling of love, affection”
The priest nodded his head as if he understand. “It is an attachment, A ever strong attachment indeed.”
Since podiya brought two glasses water and a saucer full of chunks of jaggery on a tray, the conversation seized for a while. Podiya offered the first glass to the gathered his hands together in worship. The words “May be well” came out of the monk’s lips.. Podiya offered the first glass to the gathered his hands together in worship. The words “May be well” came out of the monk’s lips.