A scene from the drama 'Sinhabahu': There is also a legend which most Sinhala people still don't deny that they are the descendants of a lion! This writer has come across even children from popular schools sticking to this legend. Some quoate Saratchandra's 'Sinhabahu' as proof!

A rumour is shortlived because it can be verified. But the danger is that it can do all the harm before it is verified. A rumour is no longer a rumour once it is verified. Since it is hearsay or general talk, with modern means of rapid communication the truth or otherwise of a rumour can very soon be established. A rumour may be true or false but no sooner the truth or falsity is established it is the end of the rumour.

A rumour is not always based on untruth. That it why our armed forces and the police should investigate any rumour of hearsay immediately, because what is dangerous is the lifespan of a rumour, however short it is. When there is a war as now in Sri Lanka no rumour should be treated lightly though sometimes our security forces and the police may not care to verify. The examples of the recent enemy attacks taken lightly by the police as mere rumours are a case in point.

During the Second World War every train compartment in Ceylon (not Sri Lanka) had warnings like "Don't spread rumours but investigate!" "The enemy has ears" etc. Hitler employed Goebells to spread rumours. By the time they were verified the damage was done!

Even people in remote villages have cellular phones. They must be encouraged to contact 118 or 119 if they are in doubt without spreading the rumour. The danger is 118 or 119 treats such calls as rumours and forget them. A repeat, a rumour is not always based on untruth. It is the duty of those in authority to take immediate action to verity.

A legend on the other hand is not short-lived like a rumour. It exists as long as it is verified and even after such verification people may continue to believe a legend. Unlike rumours which are only spread by word of month, legends are written down and sometimes get institutionalised as in the case of the Jataka stories or the legend that God first created the Earth and then the Sun, a subsequent creation which went round the Earth. Even after Galileo invented the telescope in Italy and disproved the belief the earth was the centre of the Universe, the Church rejected Galileo's finding and forced him to deny it calling him a sinner.

The legend of the Sasa Jatakaya is believed even after Neil Armstrong went to the moon! According to that legend Sakka or the king of the gods painted the image of a rabbit on the surface of the moon. Temple murals still mislead our gullible minds with the image of a Sakka painting on our satellite, the moon. The legend, therefore, unlike the rumour, is planted firmly in the consciousness of believers and no amount of verification will erase it.

History is mostly legend, whether it is Indian history, Sri Lankan history or European history etc. Sri Lankans still think that a man called Vijaya came from India and established his kingdom here and that we were so uncivilised that he had to teach no how to build this land.

There is also a legend which most Sinhala people still don't deny that they are the descendants of a lion! This writer has come across even children from popular schools sticking to this legend. Some quoate Saratchandra's 'Sinhabahu' as proof!

A mind that accepts a rumour or a legend is still open to verification. There are no Buddhists at least in universities who think that Prince Siddharta walked on seven lotuses declaring like Mohamed Ali, "I am the greatest{ or "Aggo Hamasmi Lokassa". And on the day of his birth!

A mind that accepts a belief or a disbelief is closed for ever. Belief and disbelief are two sides of the same coin and such a person who has come to a conclusion is psychologically damned. He may have a belief he is Napoleon or that his race is superior to another race. Hitler who suffered from such a delusion that the German 'Aryans' must annihilate the non-Germans in his country constructed concentration camps and gas-chambers to kill all Jews. The belief that one is a Sinhala and the other is a Tamil has caused untold misery in this land. Whenever I ask a Sinhala or a Tamil if he can prove than he is a Sinhala or a Tamil I get all kinds of answers like "My parents are Sinhala, or Tamil" and when I ask how the parents became Sinhala or Tamil, "because their parents were Sinhala or Tamil" ad infinitum!

Learning about rumour or legend is the end of rumour or legend. Similarly, learning about belief is the end of belief. Whether one is a Napoleon or a relative of Dutugemunu or a Sinhala or Tamil will remain unexplored until the mind begins to learn if that is really so. We live and die and cause others to die because of such dangerous beliefs. Nothing separates man from man like belief. Seeing that, it the greatest of all skills. The day the inhabitants of this planet see the truth of it there will be no killing of man by man because of a belief. The Sunni and the Shia, the Catholic and the Protestant, the Hindu and the Muslim, the Sinhala and the Tamil will live in peace and harmony the day they learn about their beliefs. All paths lead to one God or reality they say, but one goes north and the other gues south!

Can Buddhists and Christians, or Hindus and Muslims, or Sinhalese or Tamils be truly friendly if one has one set of beliefs and the other has another?

Man has forgotten the meaning of the word love. Jesus is supposed to have said, "Love they neighbour", and the Buddha is supposed to have said "Never can hatred conquered by hatred". But does man love man? Then, of what use is such religion? Has religion prevented conflicts? It not why?

Our concept of religion is according to the conditioning of our parents, our society, our environment, our sacred books.

Is belief religion? Belief in God or Heaven or a Marxist Utopia? We are torn apart by belief. To show that I am different in my belief I build my church or temple or kovil or mosque. I label myself according to my belief. Today there are no human beings on this planet. There are only Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Americans, Iraqis, Iranians, Indians, Pakistanis and so on. They all have separate beliefs and they will kill each other for their beliefs.