Spiritual ecstasy in Kandy and a death in Rome

Sri Lankans have been in spiritual mode since April 18, the first day of the special exposition of the tooth relic of Gautama Buddha to the public. The exposition of the tooth relic will continue till April 27 (Sunday). 
Those who have been lucky to get a glimpse of the relic have expressed sheer joy. For most of these devotees, whose ambitions were met, it was a once in a lifetime achievement. 
This writer uses the word ‘achievement’ because those unenlightened beings out there would prefer to cling on to happy memories rather than meditate and let go of worldly belongings. 
Samsara (the continuous circle of birth after death) is long and pursuing religion is a long journey where religious aspirants must take small steps. Hence, it’s essential to nurture one’s spiritual goals at regular intervals. From this perspective, taking a few days off to wait in a long queue and await your turn to pay homage to the Buddha has to be acknowledged as a good idea. 
This whole arrangement for the public exposition of the revered relic was the brainchild of  President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The President received the patronage of the Asgiriya and Malwathu temples in Kandy for this purpose. 
The President was later quoted in newspapers stating that the purpose of organising the exposition was for the nationwide promotion of religious and cultural enlightenment. The President’s intention is laudable. But are those people interested in being associated with Buddhism putting the right effort towards making progress in religious and cultural enlightenment? 
Being a ‘good’ Buddhist during these unenlightened times is a challenge. Making spiritual progress during these times would be unthinkable, but not impossible. People must move away from being ceremonial Buddhists. They must, instead, find the right teacher who could guide them towards being ‘stream winners’-which is better known as Sothapanna or the first steady state in the mind that is experienced on the path towards enlightenment (arahathhood). 
People who form this massive Kandy crowd must realise two things. An individual can step into a place congested with people and find ‘oneself’- meaning realise something about the truth. The other method is to isolate yourself from the world and work hard towards ‘enlightenment’. The latter was what Gautama Buddha did some 2600 years ago. 
Pursuing a goal while being a member of a community or while being with a crowd is hard. As much as we heard of the great amounts of faith that was shown by devotees thronging Kandy, we also heard of the city being polluted by some of them. There is this test of discipline that people must pass before they embark on a spiritual journey. It was sad to see Kandy cluttered by waste items during the relic exposition. 
All eyes of the rest of the world is on Sri Lanka right now. This is because the news of the exposition of Buddha’s relics has gone viral in both traditional and social media outlets. Sri Lankan people are bathed with spiritual ecstasy as a result. 
But we cannot miss out on the fact that elsewhere in the world (Rome) Pope Francis (the 266th Pope) passed away a few days ago. Despite this rush to worship Buddha’s relics, we saw, on social media, some Buddhist priests in Sri Lanka dedicating their time to light candles in memory of deceased Pope Francis. There must be a sense of being alert to what’s happening around the world despite being spiritually inclined. 
There have been occasions in the past where Buddhists have been quite aggressive in the face of challenges to their religion. As much as Buddhists form the majority of this country, it is their right to play the role of big brother and protect other minority races in this island. If Buddhists need to improve on one thing, that is to ‘not raise their voices in the face of a religious argument but instead improve their argument’.