Dons reborn as dogs
Rajapaksa Family Stands To Receive In Commission Anywhere Between US$1.2 To US$ 1.8 Billion During 2005-15
Editorial-October 5, 2014,
Those who stole public funds, a Speaker once said in Parliament, would be reborn as buffaloes. We argued in these columns that if so, bovines would one day outnumber humans in this country. Buffaloes are, in fact, far superior to most politicians in many respects though there are some similarities between the two species such as their thick hides and predilection for wallowing in mud.
A Maha Nayake Thera also said something similar a few moons ago. Public officials who did not perform their duties and functions properly would have to pay for their lapses in the next birth, the prelate said.
Now, a university vice chancellor tells us that corrupt dons and administrators will be reborn as canines. Dog lovers may take exception to this claim which is an insult to man’s best friend. Dogs may be blamed for anything but corruption; never do they betray trust.
Sri Jayewardenepura Vice Chancellor Prof. N. L. A. Karunaratne, addressing a group of students and their parents last Thursday, said his university was full of stray dogs, but he did not want to get rid of them. He has chosen to let the poor creatures be not out of any love for them. He said he believed that they had been corrupt university dons and administrators including vice chancellors in their previous births!
The ferocious mangy mongrels found near the student welfare centre, barking and making a nuisance of themselves to one and all, were student leaders reincarnated in canine form, the learned professor told his captive audience which chortled with delight. Such curs are, no doubt, a curse, but never do they misbehave like the politically motivated undergrads who attack one another, cracking skulls, breaking bones and gouging eyes because they cannot stomach dissent. Dogs also fight once in a way but basically they are at peace with the world as well as themselves.
During university vacations, he bought food for the campus dogs, spending his personal funds, said Prof. Karunaratne, because their ubiquitous presence served as a dire warning to the present-day teachers, students and administrators alike. The only way bad karma which turned humans into animals could be avoided was for dons and administrators to work diligently for the salaries they drew without sullying their hands with corrupt activities and for students to study hard without being a nuisance to others, according to the J’pura VC.
Opinion may be divided on the reincarnation of humans in animal form, but the fact remains that most state institutions have gone to the dogs—universities included; unless their employees are made to work like dogs the prospect of their recovery is bleak.
We are not in a position to either prove or disprove Prof. Karunaratne’s canine theory, but our belief is that those who misappropriate public funds, engage in corrupt deals and freeload are never reborn. That does not mean they will attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana because they, out of fear of karmic forces, spend a fraction of their ill-gotten wealth to acquire merit by sponsoring religious events and giving to charity. They won’t be reborn because they are doomed to languish in the deepest parts of hell forever. However, punishing them is a task that should not be left entirely to karma and the guards of hell wherever that place may be; they have to be severely dealt with here and now according to the law. If enhanced punishment awaits them after death so be it. They should be investigated, tried and, if found guilty, sent to jail, where they are sure to get a foretaste of what is to come on the other side of the great divide.
