The man behind the January 8 “Revolution”
Rev. Sobhita’s vision was that the real advancement of the country is achievable only through the emergence of a Srilankan nation with a collective effort by all the citizens sans any racial differences. The utmost and special quality I had observed in our Thero was that he had no animosity towards any person, and his concerns were only with regard to concepts and not with any personalities.
written by Sisira Jayamaha
translated by R.S.Jayaratne
(February 9, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) During the early years, late Rev. Maduluwawe Sobhita Thero was best known as at most venerated prelate, uniquely eloquent in Dhamma discourses most appealing to the learned as well as not so learned audiences all over the island. Despite the resounding admiration and appreciation received, he never ever exploited them either to gain cheap popularity or fame and never ever for any personal benefits. It is possible that Rev. Sobhita Thero might have believed that most of the people remain poor undergo oppression or suffering mainly due to their ignorance of the Dhamma. Hence might have dedicated him to traverse the length and breadth of the country to guide them in the Dhamma leading them to acquire a better quality of life. However, Rev.Sobhita Thero , being a visionary, may have ultimately realized, particularly after the constitutional changes in 1978, that, despite the people’s adherence to righteous conduct, they are unable to improve their quality of life mostly due to the rulers who take turns to deceive the public. Hence, he ventured to directly request the politicians to adopt a more humanitarian attitude in their treatment of the public and to provide a just and equitable system of governance to provide the much needed relief to the poor masses of the country. For this purpose Rev. Sobhita Thero utilized every opportunity including public meetings, discussions, and through print and electronic media, to appeal to the politicians irrespective of party differences, to adopt such an approach. When his appeals were not adequately responded, Rev. Sobhita Thero commenced a stronger campaign to insist on a change of the attitude of the politicians; he was subjected to explicit and implicit obstructions, censorships, blockades and many types of harassments.
