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Siri Vajiraramaye Nanasiha Thera’s ‘Nissarana Yatra’
Ven Agga Maha Panditha Madihe Pannaseeha’s stance for the development of a country economically, socially, culturally and righteously was that it should be alongside the moral development of each individual. It is a well-known fact that Olcott Gunasekera who was with the Mahanayake for long years, traveling with him all over the island to improve people’s lives and across the oceans to attend meetings and meet people, who also co-founded the Dharmavijaya Foundation which has continued to give much service to the people of this land, was such a man from his earliest adult years.
And now we are thankful that it is all down in writing as the autobiography of Olcott Gunasekera – boyhood; Civil Servant; and moving on to his entry to the Sangha and present life as Siri Vajiraramaye Nanasiha Thera The book carries the sub title: ‘An autobiographical Odyssey, giving insights, retrospectively, of six decades of service to Sambuddha Sasana, Public Administration and Social Welfare. The title ‘Nissarana Yatra’, could be translated as ‘Journey or Voyage towards Release from Sansara’.
Questions and Answers
The biographer would be too self effacing and modest to write his life’s story, but for the fact of being persuaded (maybe gently coerced) by the Mahanayake Thera of the Amarapura Dhamarakshita Maha Nikaya, both resident in the Vajiramaya Temple. Ven Nanasiha elucidated this fact thus in answering a question of mine: “I wrote this on the invitation of Most Venerable Tirikunamale Ananda Mahanayaka Thera and not on my own volition. My intention in writing was never to boost my personality, which is ephemeral. The country has lost many good things and I am very saddened by it. I wished to place on record what the country has lost, for example, the services of an eminent public service that stood firm on what was correct and good for the country.”
The elegantly published hard cover book with its beige and brown bottom-striped cover on which is the face of the young Olcott and a large portrait of him in robes and smiling, is 292 paged with a very detailed and explanatory contents section. Photographs intersperse the pages with a large colour photograph of the monks resident in Siri Vajiraramaya. The book is in Sinhala; explained as the Bhikkhu said: “I wrote in Sinhala because I wished it reaches the people of this country.” To my question as to whether he would translate it to English, it being too valuable an exposition to be confined to one language, he replied: “I have no intention of translating. If somebody wishes to translate the book as a labour of love I have no objection to that. But is it worth it?” Of course it is. I do hope someone does translate and it is published in English too.
I include here his reply to my question – how did it get written and published?
“I started in April 2019 and my wish was to complete the memoir by March 05, 2020 to mark the fifth year of my ordination. It had to be postponed because of Covid19. Then I wanted to have the book launch on October 28, to mark the 110th birth anniversary of my mother. That too had to be postponed because of the pandemic. Then we (Mahanayaka Thera and I) marked time and decided to have it on March 05, 2021, come what may. It gave extra time for better planning.
The book was written longhand – about 600 pages – and in my acknowledgment I thanked Manel Weragala of the DVF for word processing the text.”
The Autobiography
The book is actually a tome rich with experiences of government service and social work; of traveling on Buddhist work; about the Dharmavijaya Foundation; notes on family life as a boy growing up with two siblings; married life and his own family. The gratitude to his parents, particularly to his mother who once prophesied (or hoped) he would enter the Sangha and to his wife and children comes through clearly. His school education was wide and varied because his father, a government servant, was transferred to different places. The schoolboy Olcott attended Southlands Galle, Sri Palee, Hatton, Good Shepherd Convent and Dharmaraja, Kandy, Dharmapala, Pannipitiya, St Joseph’s College, Borella and from 1946 to 52 Royal College, Colombo (Grade 6 to university entrance). From 1953 to 57 he was in the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya.
The chapter ‘Delovak Athara’ records his being selected for the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) and as university lecturer in Archaeology the same year. He was advised to join the CCS and his government service appointments were from 1958, ending in premature retirement in 1973 on abolition of the CCS. Maybe apart from his marriage and raising a family of two, the landmark of the first phase of life or that of the layman, was co founding the Dharmavijaya Foundation (DVF) in 1977. To me, his greatest voluntary service given to Sri Lanka was while he was on the Board of Governors and President of the DVF until 2015, with its credo of ‘Samavayoeva Sadhu’ – ‘Concord indeed is Commendable’ (from Asokan Edicts).
I met this outstanding person then, when a friend, Badra Gunatileke, introduced me to the Foundation and to its then President Olcott Gunasekera. I worked with him on a couple of annual reports. His true nature shone through: religious, committed, absolutely selfless and dedicated; and kind. Yes, he was very tolerant of my haste in writing and thus allowing factual and grammatical errors to creep in. His humaneness was evident.
The Presentation of the book to the public
I do not use the word ‘launch’ of the book as it was a much more significant event with the aura of religiousness pervading when on March 5, 2021, ‘NissaraṇaYātrā’ was introduced to the general public at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo. The hall was tastefully set up with a huge frieze of a reproduction of the book cover as background to the stage on which many distinguished bhikkhus sat. An array of white and yellow flowers with green leaves decorated the foot of the stage with a matching bunch on the podium. The chief of the bhikkhus present was Most Ven Ittepane Dharmalankara Mahanayaka Thera, Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayewardenapura. He began by saying that though soon after surgery he felt he had to attend this very significant occasion and felicitate a fine human being whom he remembers as a university lecturer of Ceylon History. Even then he demonstrated religious and national commitment, and eagerness to seek knowledge. Dr. Jayantha Wattavidanage, Senior Lecturer in Zoology at the Open University and Deputy Principal, Siri Vajirañāṇa Dhamma School, Maharagama, very competently compered the successful event.
Most Ven Thirukanamale Ananda Mahanayake Thera – Mahanayaka of the Amarapura Dharmarakshita Nikaya and mentor, also ‘instigator’ of the autobiography, delivered the welcome oration. In the absence at short notice of invited Ven Omalpe Sobitha Thera, Ven Medagama Nandawansa Thera spoke, commenting on the aptness of the title of the autobiography where the writer’s life is encapsulated by stepping onto the path of deliverance. When donning robes a request is made to ordain for the purpose of Nissaraṇa (nissaraṇatthāya). Yātrā means journey towards. Hence the biographer has set out on his Nissaraṇa Yātrā: Journey or Voyage towards release from bonds of Sansara. The swan at the end of the title is indicative of this ‘flight’ to deliverance.
Others who spoke were Lalith Weeratunge, Senior Presidential Adviser, who made the thematic speech and Leel Gunasekera who was senior to Ven Nanasiha both in university and the CCS. Many distinguished persons were in the audience, including Karu Jayasuriya and Ministers, MPs, and intellectuals of the country, plus of course members of Ven Nanasiha’s family, including his wife Anula, son Ashok and daughter Osadhi. All the speakers praised Mrs Anula Gunasekera for having been a devoted and supportive wife to Olcott Gunasekera for 50 years and then generously giving him the necessary permission to enter the Sangha taking ordination as a Bhikkhu at the age of 80.
I will briefly state what was said about Olcott G and Ven Vajirārāmaye Ñāṇasīha Thera, though the notes I kept are copious. He was an outstanding administrator of the prestigious Ceylon Civil Service serving in many stations and capacities, living up to the appellation ‘public servant’ as he served the people of the country selflessly, sincerely, justly, never swayed or influenced by politicians in doing what was correct. While a brilliant student in both college and university, he was also inclined to religiousness. It was his good fortune, and the country’s, that he associated with the best of bhikkhus starting with Ven Narada while attending the Vajiraramaye Daham Pasela and then of course the long association with Most Ven Madihe Paññāseeha Mahanāyaka Thera and now with others residing at Siri Vajiraramaya. He firmly believes that for the development of the country, each individual should be developing himself -economically and morally and thus his sustained stern commitment against alcohol, drug abuse and of course any form of corruption.
The book is available for free distribution. The Venerable Bhikkhu can be contacted by email: [vajiraramaye.nanasiha@gmail.com]
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