Features

Understanding Nature’s mysteries

Published

5 years ago

2021/03/21

Sahan Weerasooriya

Emeritus Prof. S. N. Arseculeratne

My plea to readers, is please keep an open mind on what I will say, despite your conditioning and beliefs.

This is an abbreviated version of a lecture titled “Published records on and my personal experiences with Paranormal phenomena,“given in 2019 to the Peradeniya University’s Alumni Association. It will recount evidence for the reality of Parapsychological (Paranormal), mysterious phenomena described in the published literature and in my personal experiences, in accordance with what John Ziman (Fellow of London’s The Royal Society), wrote “Come with reliable, consensible evidence , and we will be ready to be convinced” and that is what I did in my lecture.

Aristotle commented ” It is of man’s nature that he wants to know“. In that quest for knowledge, scientists have unearthed much about Nature in many categories of knowledge, in the physical and biological sciences; these are considered branches of natural phenomena, which are amenable to direct exploration. There are however phenomena that were well known for centuries, but have defied exploration though they have been written about by many prestigious authors; these fall into the category of Parapsychology.

Many persons are skeptical of the reality or validity of these phenomena and consider them as mumbo-jumbo as did Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene; I wrote to him challenging his unsubstantiated skepticism. Sceptics should remember that Shakespeare’s Horatio said “There are more things in Heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy“. A former physicist Peter Betts, now a Buddhist monk, Ajahn Brahmavamso in Australia, with whom I corresponded wrote “Scientists, for the most part, are brainwashed by their education and their in-group conferences to see the world in a very narrow, microscopic way“.

Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote “Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world”. In 300 BC in China, the Lu Shih Chhun Chhiu commented ” If a man climbs a mountain, the oxen below look like sheep and the sheep like hedgehogs. Yet their real shape is very different. It is a question of the observer’s viewpoint“.

Britain’s Society for Psychical Research had 12 Nobel Prize laureates and many Fellows of the most prestigious scientific society in the world, The Royal Society of London; members included Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Nobel Laureate Brian Josephson turned from Physics to the paranormal after he saw Mathew Manning performing psychokinesis (physical acts through the mind alone) at a conference on parapsychology (psychokinesis) in Toronto, Canada; I corresponded with him.

Sigmund Freud wrote a book on Parapsychology. Albert Einstein wrote: “It is entirely possible that behind the perception of our senses worlds are hidden of which we are unaware.” Sigmund Freud wrote ” I am not one of those who , from the outset, disapprove of the study of so-called occult phenomena as unscientific , as unworthy or even dangerous. If I were at the beginning of a scientific career, instead of as now at its end, I would perhaps choose no other field of work, in spite of its difficulties.”

Psychologist Carl G. Jung wrote ” I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I I cannot explain, as fraud”. Philosopher Arthur Schoenhauer wrote “Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world”. I contributed a chapter “Approaches to the study of Reincarnation” to the book Yoga and Parapsychology edited by the Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research Prof. K. Ramakrishna Rao.

There are nine categories of these phenomena, in all of which I had personsal experience, reported evidence from friends or evidence in the published literature. I have discussed some of these topics personally with Ian Stevenson (USA), Erlandur Haraldsson of Sweden, and Rama Krishna Rao of India.

These categories comprise, 1. Rebirth, also termed Reincarnation and Palingenesis. This refers to the successive births of a personality after the death of each one. Ian P. Stevenson of Virginia University (USA) the world’s foremost authority on it, published a book, “Twenty cases suggestive of Reincarnation” to which I contributed a case; I introduced him at his lecture at the Peradeniya university. N. Senanayake also wrote a book “Recent trends in Rebirth Research“, to which I contributed.

The succeeding birth has a person recapitulating some of the characters of the preceding personality and his acts committed in previous births, reaping their karmic consequences. Arthur Ellison, University of London wrote “The best evidence for genuine reincarnation appears to be that produced in such quantity and high quality by Professor Ian Stevenson in his work all over the world, with children having appropriate memories. John G. Fuller in his remarkable book “The airmen who would not die” wrote that the evidence “…brought many discerning and even skeptical people to the unalterable conclusion that there is life after death”. The evidence cited by most authors is circumstantial in legal terms.

. Spirits of dead people; also termed Discarnate Entities, DEs are personalities after their death on earth, which then exist in some unidentified celestial abode. These entities can be accessed parapsychologically. They are considered to be helpful to people on earth as when the sister who had died, temporarily disabled a car to be driven by her brother thus preventing his entry to the site of a later bombing. It expresses the bond between the Discarnate Entity and the beneficiary. John G. Fuller wrote two books on this topic. Nobel laureate Maurice Maeterlinck wrote The Unknown Guest, about these cases. DEs seem to have precognitive and psychokinetic abilities.

. Planetary controls in Nature, Astrology, I had numerous experiences with the mundane variety as well as with the 1,400 years-old Indian Palm leaf horoscopes studied by the German author Thomas Ritter. My personal experience was the astrological prediction of my future medical career and my writing of a book on poisons, both of which were realized over the next 20 years. I verified from an expert on snake poisons, that he has Rahu, an indicator or poisons, in the first house of his horoscope representing his mind. Another who had Venus, the controller of sex, in his first house of his horoscope which had Venus as the ruler; he had a tragic end through sexual misadventures. R. S. Offenbach wrote on the palm leaf horoscopic writings from India, about the bombings of New York in 2001. I had a remarkable case of an astrologer who, from the birth data of a scientist, constructed in my absence to avoid telepathy, the fate of this man in a car accident which left him totally disabled and later dead.

Palmistry, This refers to the analysis and prediction of life’s events through the lines on a palm. I was told of three cases by the persons concerned, themselves, of events predicted through the lines on their palms. West & Toonder (1970) noted that “Most professional palmists combine straightforward analysis along traditional lines with clairvoyance and it is not as a rule possible to distinguish between the two”.

5. Anomalous cognition,

Extra-sensory Perception, Clairvoyance is the ability of a psychic to read concealed writings mentally without direct vision. I had an Indian who visited my home in Malaysia, who was able to read and recopy documented but concealed items through the mind alone. Hans Eysenck (London University and pioneer psychologist) commented: ” The only conclusion the unbiased observer can come to must be that there exist a small number of people who obtain knowledge existing wither in other peoples’ minds or in the outer world, by means as yet unknown to modern science”.

. Fore-seeing the future, Precognition, The most remarkable example was the publication of a novel by Morgan Robertson in England in 1894, some 18 years before the predicted event really happened; the congruence between the fictional events and the real event was total. Robertson described fictionally the sinking of the British ship Titan after a collision with an iceberg in the North Atlantic, The real ship the Titanic suffered the identical fate 18 years later, with the loss of 1,500 passengers. Nostradamus the 15^th century French psychic made accurate predictions of global events including the rise of Hitler in Germany and Middle Eastern terrorists.. My personal experience was with a layman-psychic who foresaw the results of my medical research which were totally confirmed by scientists abroad 10 years later. His technical description of the immunological results was e stunningly accurate. He also predicted my foreign tour for work in WHO.

Acts done by the mind alone, Psychokinesis, The performance of physical acts through the mind alone and not through physical means. My experience was my contact with the famous Indian psychic Sai Baba, followed a day later by my recovery of an important lost item. Nobel laureate Brian Josephson wrote his experiences after seeing Mathew Manning perform psychokinesis in Toronto; he said that he then became interested in the paranormal. I corresponded with him. Uri Geller’s psychokinetic performances were confirmed by Dr David Bohm and Dr John Hasted (University of London).

Purely mental communication of information between persons, Telepathy. A classic example was that of the inventor of the electro-encephalograph Hans Berger whose sister was accessed telepathically by him when he had an accident far away. Alan Turing, the inventor of the computer, wrote on telepathy, (1950): “These disturbing phenomena seem to deny all our usual scientific ideas; how we should like to discredit them. Unfortunately the evidence at least for telepathy is overwhelming“.

Prophetic dreams. These are dreams experienced by people about events which concerned their professional or personal interests . The most remarkable was Auguste Kekule’s dream of a snake biting its own tail as a parallel of the circular structure of the Benzene molecule in 1862; Benzene is a key chemical compound in organic chemistry. He was a professor of Chemistry in Belgium. A Sri Lankan parallel of a prophetic dream was a domestic’s dream of her employer’s wife who was hospitalized with a head injury; she visited the hospital to see her employer’s wife, eight years after leaving her service.

My frequent experience of the denial of paranormal phenomena by skeptics, commonly arises from the work of fraudulent or incompetent practitioners, especially astrologers, compounded by incurable skepticism, or beliefs especially of religious origin which negate such experiences and phenomena.

(The writer is an Emeritus Professor of the Peradeniya University and a Founder Fellow of the National Academy of Science, Sri Lanka)

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Features

Relief without recovery

Published

15 hours ago

2026/03/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

A US airstrike on an Iranian oil storage facility

The escalating conflict in the Middle East is of such magnitude, with loss of life, destruction of cities, and global energy shortages, that it is diverting attention worldwide and in Sri Lanka, from other serious problems. Barely four months ago Sri Lanka experienced a cyclone of epic proportions that caused torrential rains, accompanied by floods and landslides. The immediate displacement exceeded one million people, though the number of deaths was about 640, with around 200 others reported missing. The visual images of entire towns and villages being inundated, with some swept away by floodwaters, evoked an overwhelming humanitarian response from the general population.

When the crisis of displacement was at its height there was a concerted public response. People set up emergency kitchens and volunteer clean up teams fanned out to make flooded homes inhabitable again. Religious institutions, civil society organisations and local communities worked together to assist the displaced. For a brief period the country witnessed a powerful demonstration of social solidarity. The scale of the devastation prompted the government to offer generous aid packages. These included assistance for the rebuilding of damaged houses, support for building new houses, grants for clean up operations and rent payments to displaced families. Welfare centres were also set up for those unable to find temporary housing.

The government also appointed a Presidential Task Force to lead post-cyclone rebuilding efforts. The mandate of the Task Force is to coordinate post-disaster response mechanisms, streamline institutional efforts and ensure the effective implementation of rebuilding programmes in the aftermath of the cyclone. The body comprises a high-level team, led by the Prime Minister, and including cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, provincial-level officials, senior public servants, representing key state institutions, and civil society representatives. It was envisaged that the Task Force would function as the central coordinating authority, working with government agencies and other stakeholders to accelerate recovery initiatives and restore essential services in affected regions.

Demotivated Service

However, four months later a visit to one of the worst of the cyclone affected areas to meet with affected families from five villages revealed that they remained stranded and in a state of limbo. Most of these people had suffered terribly from the cyclone. Some had lost their homes. A few had lost family members. Many had been informed that the land on which they lived had become unsafe and that they would need to relocate. Most of them had received the promised money for clean up and some had received rent payments for two months. However, little had happened beyond this. The longer term process of rebuilding houses, securing land and restoring livelihoods has barely begun. As a result, families who had already endured the trauma of disaster, now face prolonged uncertainty about their future. It seems that once again the promises made by the political leadership has not reached the ground.

A government officer explained that the public service was highly demotivated. According to him, many officials felt that they had too much work piled upon them with too little resources to do much about it. They also believed that they were underpaid for the work they were expected to carry out. In fact, there had even been a call by public officials specially assigned to cyclone relief work to go on strike due to complaints about their conditions of work. This government official appreciated the government leadership’s commitment to non corruption. But he noted the irony that this had also contributed to a demotivation of the public service. This was on the unjustifiable basis that approving and implementing projects more quickly requires an incentive system.

Whether or not this explanation fully captures the situation, it points to an issue that the government needs to address. Disaster recovery requires a proactive public administration. Officials need to reach out to affected communities, provide clear information and help them navigate the complex procedures required to access assistance. At the consultation with cyclone victims this was precisely the concern that people raised. They said that government officers were not proactive in reaching out to them. Many felt they had little engagement with the state and that the government officers did not come to them. This suggests that the government system at the community level could be supported by non-governmental organisations that have the capacity and experience of working with communities at the grassroots.

In situations such as this the government needs to think about ways of motivating public officials to do more rather than less. It needs to identify legitimate incentives that reward initiative and performance. These could include special allowances for those working in disaster affected areas, recognition and promotion for officers who successfully complete relief and reconstruction work, and the provision of additional staff and logistical support so that the workload is manageable. Clear targets and deadlines, with support from the non-governmental sector, can also encourage officials to act more proactively. When government officers feel supported and recognised for the extra effort required, they are more likely to engage actively with affected communities and ensure that assistance reaches those who need it most.

Political Solutions

Under the prevailing circumstances, however, the cyclone victims do not know what to do. The government needs to act on this without further delay. Government policy states that families can receive financial assistance of up to Rs 5 million to build new houses if they have identified the land on which they wish to build. But there is little freehold land available in many of the affected areas. As a result, people cannot show government officials the land they plan to buy and, therefore, cannot access the government’s promised funds. The government needs to address this issue by providing a list of available places for resettlement, both within and outside the area they live in. However, another finding at the meeting was that many cyclone victims whose lands have been declared unsafe do not wish to leave them. Even those who have been told that their land is unstable feel more comfortable remaining where they have lived for many years. Relocating to an unfamiliar area is not an easy decision.

Another problem the victims face is the difficulty of obtaining the documents necessary to receive compensation. Families with missing members cannot prove that their loved ones are no longer alive. Without official confirmation they cannot access property rights or benefits that would normally pass to surviving family members. These are problems that Sri Lanka has faced before in the context of the three decade long internal war. It has set up new legal mechanisms such as the provision of certificates of absence validated by the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) in place of death certificates when individuals remain missing for long periods. The government also needs to be sensitive to the fact that people who are farmers cannot be settled anywhere. Farming is not possible in every location. Access to suitable land and water is essential if farmers are to rebuild their livelihoods. Relocation programmes that fail to take these realities into account risk creating new psychological and economic hardships.

The message from the consultation with cyclone victims is that the government needs to talk more and engage more directly with affected communities. At the same time the political leadership at the highest levels need to resolve the problems that government officers on the ground cannot solve. Issues relating to land availability, legal documentation and livelihood restoration require policy decisions at higher levels. The challenge to the government to address these issues in the context of the Iran war and possible global catastrophe will require a special commitment. Demonstrating that Sri Lanka is a society that considers the wellbeing of all its citizens to be a priority will require not only financial assistance but also a motivated public service and proactive political leadership that reaches out to those still waiting to rebuild their lives.

by Jehan Perera

Features

Supporting Victims: The missing link in combating ragging

Published

15 hours ago

2026/03/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

A recent panel discussion at the University of Peradeniya examined the implications of the Supreme Court’s judgement on ragging, in which the Court recognised that preventing ragging requires not only criminal penalties imposed after an incident occurs but also systems and processes within universities that enable victims to speak up and receive support. Bringing together perspectives from law, university administration, psychology and students, the discussion sought to understand why ragging continues to persist in Sri Lankan universities despite the existence of legal prohibitions. While the discussion covered legal and institutional dimensions, one theme emerged clearly: addressing ragging requires more than laws and disciplinary rules. It requires institutions that are capable of supporting victims.

Sri Lanka enacted the Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Educational Institutions Act No. 20 of 1998 following several tragic incidents in universities, during the 1990s. Among the most widely remembered is the death of engineering student S. Varapragash at the University of Peradeniya in 1997. Incidents such as this shocked the country and revealed the consequences of allowing violent forms of student hierarchy to persist. The 1998 Act marked an important legal intervention by recognising ragging as a criminal offence. The law introduced severe penalties for individuals found guilty of engaging in ragging or other forms of violence in educational institutions, including fines and imprisonment.

Despite the existence of this law for nearly three decades, prosecutions under the Act have been extremely rare. Incidents continue to surface across universities although most are not reported. The incidents that do reach university administrations are dealt with internally through disciplinary procedures rather than through the criminal justice system. This suggests that the problem does not lie solely in the absence of legal provisions but also in the ability of victims to come forward and pursue complaints.

The tragic reminders; the cases of Varapragash and Pasindu Hirushan

Varapragash, a first-year engineering student at the University of Peradeniya, was forced by senior students to perform extreme physical exercises as part of ragging, resulting in severe internal injuries and acute renal failure that ultimately led to his death. In 2022, the courts upheld the conviction of one of the perpetrators for abduction and murder. The case illustrates not only the brutality of ragging but also how long and difficult the path to justice can be for victims and their families. Even when victims speak about their experiences, they may not always disclose the full extent of what they have endured. In the case of Varapragash, the judgement records that the victim told his father that he was asked to do dips and sit-ups. Varapragash’s father had testified that it appeared his son was not revealing the exact details of what he had to endure due to shame.

More than two decades after the death of Varapragash, the tragedy of ragging continues. The 2025 Supreme Court judgement arose from the case of Pasindu Hirushan, a 21-year-old student of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, who sustained devastating head injuries at a fresher’s party, in March 2020, after a tyre sent down the stairs by senior students struck him. He became immobile, was placed on life support, and returned home only months later. If the Varapragash case exposed the deadly consequences of ragging in the 1990s, the Pasindu Hirushan case demonstrates that universities are still failing to prevent serious violence, decades after the enactment of the 1998 Act. It was against this background of continuing institutional failure that the Supreme Court issued its Orders of Court in 2025. Among the key mechanisms emphasised by the judgement is the establishment of Victim Support Committees within universities.

Why do victims need support?

Ragging in universities can take many forms, including verbal humiliation, physical abuse, emotional intimidation and, in some instances, sexual harassment. While all forms of ragging can have serious consequences, incidents involving sexual harassment often present additional barriers for victims who wish to come forward. Victims may hesitate to complain due to weak institutional mechanisms, fear of retaliation, or uncertainty about whether their experiences will be taken seriously. In many cases, those who speak out are confronted with questions that shift attention away from the alleged misconduct and onto their own behaviour: why did s/he continue the conversation?; why did s/he not simply disengage, if the harassment occurred as claimed?; why did s/he remain in the environment?; or did his/her actions somehow encourage the accused’s behaviour? Such responses illustrate how easily victims can be subjected to a second layer of scrutiny when they attempt to report incidents. When individuals anticipate disbelief, minimisation or blame, silence may appear safer than disclosure. In such circumstances, the presence of a trusted institutional body, capable of providing guidance, protection and support, become critically important, highlighting the need for effective Victim Support Committees within universities.

What Victim Support Committees must do

As expected by the Supreme Court, an effective Victim Support Committee should function as a trusted institutional mechanism that places the safety and dignity of victims at the centre of its work. The committee must provide a safe and confidential point of contact through which victims can report incidents of ragging without fear of intimidation or retaliation. It should assist victims in understanding and pursuing available complaint procedures, while also ensuring their immediate protection where there is a risk of continued harassment. Recognising the psychological harm ragging may cause, the committee should facilitate access to counselling and emotional support services. At a practical level, it should also help victims document incidents, record statements, and preserve evidence that may be necessary for disciplinary or legal proceedings. The committee must coordinate with university authorities to ensure that complaints are addressed promptly and responsibly, while maintaining strict confidentiality to protect the identity and well-being of those who come forward. Beyond responding to individual cases, Victim Support Committees should also contribute to broader awareness and prevention efforts, within universities, helping to create an environment where ragging is actively discouraged and students feel safe to report incidents. Without such support, the process of pursuing justice can become overwhelming for individuals who are already dealing with the emotional impact of abuse.

Making Victim Support Committees work

According to the Orders of Court, these committees should include representatives from the academic and non-academic staff, a qualified counsellor and/or clinical psychologist, an independent person, from outside the institution, with experience in law enforcement, health, or social services, and not more than three final-year students, with unblemished academic and disciplinary records, appointed for fixed terms. Further, universities must ensure that committees consist of individuals who possess both expertise and genuine commitment in areas such as student welfare, psychology, gender studies, human rights and law enforcement, in line with the spirit of the Supreme Court’s directions, rather than consisting largely of ex officio positions. If treated as routine administrative positions, rather than responsibilities requiring specialised knowledge, sensitivity and empathy, these committees risk becoming symbolic rather than functional.

Greater transparency in the appointment process could strengthen the credibility of these committees. Universities could invite expressions of interest from individuals with relevant expertise and demonstrated commitment to supporting victims. Such an approach would help ensure that the committees benefit from the knowledge and dedication of those best equipped to fulfil this role.

The Supreme Court judgement also introduces an important safeguard by giving the University Grants Commission (UGC) the authority to appoint members to university-level Victim Support Committees. If exercised with integrity, this provision could help ensure that these committees operate with greater independence. It may also help address a challenge that sometimes arises within institutions, where individuals, with relevant expertise, or strong commitment to addressing issues, such as violence, harassment or student welfare, may not always be included in institutional mechanisms due to internal administrative preferences. External oversight by the UGC could, therefore, create opportunities for such individuals to contribute meaningfully to Victim Support Committees and strengthen their effectiveness.

Ultimately, the success of the recent judgement will depend not only on the directives it issued, the number of committees universities establish, or the number of meetings they convene, or other box-checking exercises, but on how sincerely those directives are implemented and the trust these committees inspire among students and staff. Laws can prohibit ragging, but they cannot by themselves create environments in which victims feel safe to speak. That responsibility lies with institutions. When universities create systems that listen to victims, support them and treat their experiences with seriousness, universities will become places where dignity and learning can coexist.

(Udari Abeyasinghe is attached to the Department of Oral Pathology at the University of Peradeniya)

Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.

by Udari Abeyasinghe

Features

Big scene … in the Seychelles

Published

15 hours ago

2026/03/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

Mirage: Off to the Seychelles for fifth time

Several of our artistes do venture out on foreign assignments but, I’m told, most of their performances are mainly for the Sri Lankans based abroad.

However, the group Mirage is doing it differently and they are now in great demand in the Seychelles.

Guests patronising the Lo Brizan pub/restaurant, Niva Labriz Resort, in the Seychelles, is made up of a wide variety of nationalities, including Russians, Chinese, French and Germans, and they all enjoy the music dished out by Mirage, and that is precisely why they are off to the Seychelles … for the fifth time!

The band is scheduled to leave this month and will be back after three weeks, but their journey to the Seychelles will continue, with two more assignments lined up for 2026.

In August it’s a four-week contract, and in December another four-week contract that will take in the festive celebrations … Christmas and the New Year.

Donald’s birthday
celebrations

According to reports coming my way, it is a happening scene at the Lo Brizan pub/restaurant, Niva Labriz Resort, whenever Mirage is featured, and the band has even adjusted its repertoire to include local and African songs.

They work three hours per day and six days per week at the Lo Brizan pub/restaurant.

Donald Pieries:
Leader, vocalist,
drummer

Led by vocalist and drummer Donald Pieries, many say it is his

musical talents and leadership that have contributed to the band’s success.

Donald, who celebrated his birthday on 07 March, at the Irish Pub, has been with the group through various lineup changes and is known for his strong vocals.

He leads a very talented and versatile line up, with Sudham (bass/vocals), Gayan (lead guitar/vocals), Danu (female vocalist) and Toosha (keyboards/vocals).

Mirage performs regularly at venues like the Irish Pub in Colombo and also at Food Harbour, Port City.