Dr.Abraham T. Kovoor ( MY GURU & GUIDE )

Dr.Abraham T. Kovoor

( MY GURU & GUIDE )

Dr. Abraham T. Kovoor (1898-1978) was born, educated and married in India. Later, he immigrated to Sri Lanka and became a Sri Lankan citizen. But his famous "challenge" to any one from any part of the world who could “demonstrate supernatural or miraculous powers under fraud-proof conditions," and his two "Divine Miracle Exposure Campaigns" throughout India in 1975 made him renowned all over India. His well-known and provocative book Begone Godmen! was published in India in 1976. Thus, Dr. Kovoor has wielded considerable influence over the rationalist movement in India. There are several Indian rationalist organizations and individuals who have continued the legacy of what may be described as the "Kovoor style" of rationalist work, which concentrates mainly on miracle busting.

Kovoor liked to express himself in a dramatic manner. According to him:

He who does not allow his miracles to be investigated is a crook; he who does not have the courage to investigate a miracle is a gullible; and he who is prepared to believe without verification is a fool!

Biography
Dr. Kovoor was born at Tiruvalla in Kerala on 10 April 1898. His father, Kovoor Eipe Thomma Katthanar, was the first Vicar General of the Mar Thomma Syrian Church of Malabar. Dr. Kovoor had this to say about his birth in his "On Looking Back" contained in his book Gods, Demons and Spirits, which was published in 1980 after his death:

Like all others, I too was born as an accidental byproduct of a momentary biological activity of my parents over which I had neither control nor choice. I had no choice not only of my parents, but also of my mother tongue, community, religion, place and time of birth. Like everything in the universe I too am the product of a cosmic accident.



Christian Upbringing
Kovoor had a Christian upbringing. As he himself says," ... on looking back to my childhood, I envied my own son Prof. Aries Kovoor of the Sorbonne University. Being born to rationalist parents, my son did not have the handicap of being brought up by religious parents as I was".

Dr. Kovoor had his school education at the Syrian Christian Seminary, Tiruvalla, started by his father. After completing his school education, Kovoor went to Bengabasi College, Calcutta, for higher education, where he specialized in botany and zoology. Kovoor was a student of Calcutta University from 1921 to 1924.

According to Kovoor:

Some of the worst fears of my childhood were about ghosts, charms, curses, hell, and the anger of gods and demons. Systematic investigations and rational thinking from my university days made me doubt the veracity of numerous religious myths, occultism, prophetic predictions, immortal spirits, and claims of miracle performers.

However, some of the interesting episodes from his childhood, recounted by Kovoor in his "On Looking Back", show that, since his school days itself, he had skeptical tendencies, and was opposed to untouchability. He did not hesitate, for example, in making fun of or cracking jokes at the cost of Jesus Christ and Christian priests. Once when one of his sisters asked him to take a medicine for treating cough while praying to Jesus to cure him, Kovoor replied, "if I do both at the same time I won't be knowing which of the two helped to remove the cough. So I will take the medicine now, and if there is no effect, I can try prayer later."

After completing his university education, Kovoor worked as a teacher in Kozhencheri High School for about a year. Later he worked for two years as assistant lecturer in botany at C.M.S. College, Kottayam. However, he migrated to Sri Lanka in 1928 at the invitation of Rev P.T. Cash, the then principal of Jaffna Central College. This is how Kovoor has described the transition:

I was a Christian in my youth because I was born and brought up in a Christian home by Christian parents. Most of us cling on to our parents' religion because we are indoctrinated by them from our childhood. But, when I came of age to think and act independently, I discarded Christianity and became a rationalist because I could not accept the Bible as the word of an omniscient god. Similarly I discarded the beautiful land of my birth - Kerala - and adopted Sri Lanka - an equally beautiful country - because most of the Sri Lankans are followers of Gouthama Buddha who taught a more rational and tolerant philosophy than the founders of any other religion.



Marriage
Kovoor was married to Ms. Acca in 1925. According to Kovoor, he had his share of difficulty in finding a suitable spouse for himself, because, in those days, it was very difficult to find a Syrian Christian girl to adopt a rationalistic way of life. As he says, "I was fortunate to find such a girl in the eldest daughter of Justice Mr. K.M. Itty of the Travancore Judicial Service. She was even agreeable to my prior condition that our children should not be brought up with any type of religious indoctrination."

During his first year at Jaffna Central College, Kovoor was asked to teach scripture to a group of students who were preparing for Cambridge Senior examination. When the results came next year, Kovoor was happy to see that all his students passed in scripture - some of them with distinction. Yet, someone else was made in charge of teaching scripture to the next batch of students. When Kovoor asked the principal, Rev. Cash, about this, he replied, "I know you produced the best result we ever had in scripture. But all your students lost their faith in the Bible."

Kovoor left Jaffna Central College in 1943, after Rev. Cash's retirement. He joined Richmond College, Galle, and later St. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia. Finally, he retired from service in 1959 as the head of the science department at Thurston College, Colombo.

Post Retirement Campaigns
It was only after his retirement that Kovoor began to speak and write about his life-long researches on spiritualism and psychic phenomena. As he says, “I began giving publicity to my researches, and to express my views on diverse types of superstitious beliefs of men, only after my retirement. I refrained from giving expression to opinions earlier because of the fact that I had to earn my bread and butter by working in non-secular institutions founded to spread blind beliefs."

Though Kovoor started working systematically against superstitions after his retirement, from his youth itself he had been deliberately violating superstitious practices to test their effects. He spent, for instance, two years learning astrology and palmistry, but, as he says, "my study helped me only to discover their futility." Besides, he always selected "inauspicious times" and "bad omens" to start important events in his life and, consequently, he realized the absurdity of such beliefs. Once he lost a good buyer for one of his properties in India, as the date he selected for signing the sale deed was "inauspicious" both for the buyer as well as for the seller. Kovoor's aged mother was in tears for several days because he stepped on his left foot on his way to marry. Similarly, the foundation stone of his bungalow "Tiruvalla" at Colombo was laid at a "inauspicious" time, much against the liking of the contractor and the workers.

Eventually, when Kovoor started writing and speaking against superstitions, there was a torrent of protests from all types of occultists like religious priests, astrologers, palmists, spiritualists, etc. Some said that they could kill him by their charms. Some so-called "spiritualists", on the other hand, claimed that they could harm him through "spirits". Some others declared that they could show him "spirits", provided he could go stark naked with them to cemeteries at night, and drink a magic potion! Ultimately Kovoor decided that "the best way to expose the bluff and fraud of these charlatans was to challenge them to come forward and prove their claims in public under fraud-proof conditions."

The Challenge

The first chapter of Kovoor's book Begone Godmen! is titled "Those Challenges”. It contains an account of various challenges thrown by Kovoor, beginning from the first one that he issued in June 1963. Kovoor's final challenge to sundry "godmen” read as follows:

I, Abraham T. Kovoor of' 'Tiruvalla', Pamankada Lane, Colombo-6, do hereby state that I am prepared to pay an award of one lakh Sri Lanka rupees to any one from any part of the world who can demonstrate supernatural or miraculous powers under fraud-proof conditions. This offer will remain open till my death, or till I find the first winner.

Godmen, saints, yogis, sidhas, gurus, swamis and all others who claim that they have acquired miraculous powers through spiritual exercises or divine boons, can win this award if they can perform any one of the following "miracles".

1. Read the serial number of a sealed-up currency note.

2. Produce an exact replica of a currency note.

3. Stand stationary on burning cinders for half a minute

without blistering the feet with the help of his god.

4. Materialize from nothing an object I ask.

5. Move or bend a solid object using psychokinetic power.

6. Read the thought of another person using telepathic powers.

7. Make an amputated limb grow even one inch by prayer, spiritual powers, Lourdes water, holy ash, blessing etc.

8. Levitate in the air by yogic power.

9. Stop the heart-beat for five minutes by yogic power.

10.Walk on water.

11. Leave the body in one place and materialize in another place.

12. Stop breathing for thirty minutes by yogic power.

13.Develop creative intelligence or get enlightened through transcendental or any other type of meditation.

14. Speak an unknown language as a result of rebirth or by being possessed by holy or evil spirit.

15. Produce a spirit or ghost to be photographed.

16. Disappear from a film when photographed.

17. Get out of a locked room by divine power.

18. Increase the quantity by weight of a substance.

19. Detect a hidden object.

20. Convert water into petrol or wine.

21.Astrologers and palmist who hoodwink the gullible by claiming that astrology and palmistry are scientific, can win my award if they can pick out correctly - within a margin of five per cent error - those of males, females, the living and the dead from a set of ten palm prints or ten astrological charts giving the exact time of birth correct to the minute, and places of birth with their latitudes and longitudes.

Kovoor's challenge was governed by the following conditions:

1. The person who takes up the challenge, whether he wants my award or not, should deposit with my nominee or myself an earnest deposit of Rs. 1000. I insist on this deposit, which will be refunded in the event of his winning the test, just to keep away those bent on cheap publicity who would only waste my time, money and energy.

2. A person will be considered an acceptor of the challenge only after he makes the earnest deposit, and no correspondence will be made with anyone who fails to do so.

3 After the earnest deposit is made, the claim of the person will first be tested by my nominee in public on a mutually agreed day.

4. If the person fails to face the test or loses in the preliminary test, his deposit will be forfeited.

5. If the person wins the preliminary test, I will personally conduct the final test in public.

6. If a person wins the final test, his deposit will be

refunded together with my award of one lakh rupees.

7. All tests will be conducted under fraud-proof conditions to the fullest satisfaction of myself or my nominee.

Dr. Kovoor was not a fabulously rich person. He was fully aware of “the dire consequences" of his challenges. If there had been a single person in the world with supernatural powers, he would have landed in a Home for Destitute in his old age. However, he was fully confident that he would not lose "a single cent” by these bets, and that is why he kept all his challenges open until his death. Dr. Kovoor's challenge was published all over the world. Copies of his challenge were sent to many astrologers and godmen of India before his two miracle busting campaigns in India in 1975, but no one was able to win a single paisa from him. This is what Kovoor had to say in this regard:

Although nobody has taken up any of the numerous challenges of mine, I am, in a way happy that these challenges which are to remain open till my death, have helped numerous intelligent persons to realize that there is nothing supernatural in the universe. All that take place in nature are natural. There are no miracles, but only mysteries. Many of the mysteries of our forebears are solved today. Many of the mysteries of today may or may not be solved by tomorrow's scientists. Till that time it is absurd to give supernatural interpretations to unsolved mysteries!

In 1972, Kovoor was awarded Ph.D. degree by the Minnesota Institute of Philosophy, "... in recognition of his researches in the field of parapsychology in which he has demonstrated outstanding competence."

Dr. Kovoor founded Sri Lanka Rationalist Association for the promotion of rationalism. He was the founder- president of the organization. Mrs. Acca Kovoor, who had been a source of strength to him, was the treasurer of the organization until her death in November 1974. Her obituary read as follows:.

Mrs. Acca Kovoor expired leaving behind neither mind nor a 'spirit' to bother credulous people. According to her wish her body will be removed to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sri Lanka, Colombo, from Tiruvalla, Pamankada Lane, Colombo-6, today (Friday) at 8 a.m. No funeral, no cremation and no flowers.

Dr. Kovoor died on September 18, 1978, at the age of 80 at Colombo. Dr. Kovoor, like his wife, had willed that his body be given to the medical college in Colombo, and he had donated his eyes to a Madras hospital, which were promptly grafted on two blind men.

Philosophy
Most of the chapters in Kovoor's book Begone Godmen! are related to his miracle-busting campaigns. Besides, there are chapters on alleged "ghosts" whom Kovoor exposed successfully. There is a chapter on astrology as well. These chapters show that Kovoor was a thoroughgoing rationalist. He was not in favor of accepting any statement as true without proper verification. However, there are at least three chapters which are of direct philosophical interest, namely, "The Concept of God", "Is there a Life after Death?" and "Bible is a Dangerous Moral Guide".

The Concept of God
In "The Concept of God" Kovoor attacks some "liberal theologians" for talking about "impersonal intelligence". He categorically states that "intelligence, a mental attribute, cannot exist without the functioning of a brain tissue."

According to Kovoor:

There cannot be a mind or intelligence without life and body. Just as there cannot be fire without a fuel to burn, there cannot be life without a body conducting respiration. Thus to speak about impersonal intelligence is a crazy nonsense.

It comes out very clearly in "The Concept of God" that Kovoor is a materialist. As he says:

We have to accept the scientific fact that everything in the universe is material. The old distinction between matter and energy, matter and mind, material and spiritual, no longer exist in the light of modern science. The fundamental particles that constitute matter are nothing but energy. Thus the "mind over matter" concept of philosophers is now an out-moded one. Mind is purely material in origin and working.

Kovoor points out that the renowned neurologist, Walter Hess, has demonstrated that mental emotions like love, hatred, compassion and cruelty, etc. could be induced at will by stimulating the respective brain center with electrical impulse. Thus the so-called spiritual values are not "divinely inspired" but are mere electro-chemical activities of the neurons.

Kovoor rejects the existence of God mainly on materialistic grounds. According to him, "since the universe is material, and matter can neither be created nor be destroyed, the question of a personal or impersonal creator does not arise...all what is wanted for the chemical evolution of living matter from inert matter, are suitable conditions or environments, and not a super-intelligent creator".

According to Kovoor, there is no purpose in nature. We can derive no adequate basis for such a belief from our observation of nature. On this earth, which is a minute speck of the universe, simple algae can evolve over centuries of time into a magnificent forest. Again, the same beautiful forest can be destroyed by a tornado. There is no plan or purpose in all this, says Kovoor.

If we look around us, we see good as well as bad things in nature. It is not understandable why a benevolent God has created so many evil things. If everything that happens in the universe is pre-ordained by God, points out Kovoor, then "this mysterious being” should take full responsibility for all miseries and vices including death of numerous innocent persons in natural calamities like cyclones, tornadoes, earth-quakes and volcanic eruptions.

Kovoor squarely rejects the argument that human beings, because of their free will, are responsible and accountable for evil. He flatly asks: "Should not the blame fall on the omniscient creator who gave man free will to be evil?"

In fact, according to Kovoor, “there is absolutely no evidence to establish that God or Gods exist". In words of Kovoor:

Organic evolution, like all evolutions in nature, is a blind process producing both fit and misfit organism depending on diverse genetic and environmental factors. The misfits perish and the fit survive in prolonged struggle for existence. The fossil history of our earth shows that more organisms have become extinct than surviving ones. Thus it is clear that evolution is a process of trial and error, and creation by trial and error cannot be the way of an omnipotent and omniscient god. To say that organic evolution is guided intelligently by an unseen power is utter nonsense.

Life after Death
Kovoor rejects the view that life is located in a particular spot in body. According to him, life is generated in all living cells in body, and is sustained by oxidatory chemical action, which goes on in them. This chemical action, in its turn, is maintained by breathing and blood circulation. The process, maintains Kovoor, is not in any way different from production of heat and light energies during combustion of the hydrocarbon in a burning candle. Heat and light do not depart from a burning candle when it is put out, and return to it when relit. It is only a case of termination of chemical activity and production of energy. Similarly, nothing gets out of the body when it dies because of termination of breathing and blood circulation.

In his "Is there a Life after Death?”, Kovoor categorically states that though all religious teachings postulate a life after death, there are no valid reasons or evidence to believe in it.

Kovoor points out that "spiritualists" believe that "all living organisms have immortal souls or spirits in their bodies”. However, according to Kovoor, this is an absurd belief. As he says:

Spiritualists believe that discarnate soul has both life and mind. This is an absurd belief, because it is impossible to have life and mind without a respiring body. These bodiless 'spirits' are said to materialize, fully clad of course, before neurotic visionaries. How these disembodied spirits can speak without lungs and vocal cord, or how they can do physical acts without muscular bodies, or from where do they get their dresses to be fully clad, do not seem to bother these blind believers in spirits.

Kovoor, naturally enough, also rejects belief in rebirth. According to him, stories about children recalling their memories of their previous life have to be discarded as "pure myths". "All those who have investigated such cases dispassionately and scientifically have been," says Kovoor, "able to discover the fictitious nature, and the fraud behind such stories."

Kovoor maintains that thoughts cannot survive the death of the thinker. "If minds can have extra-cerebral existence capable of being reborn again and again," asks Kovoor, "where were these minds before life originated on our planet?" Kovoor maintains that there cannot be "thought without thinker, memory without a person to remember or consciousness without someone to be conscious."

Kovoor maintains that death is the end of life. He commends Buddha for expounding the doctrine of non-existence of soul. According to him:

The so-called soul is a combination of both life and mind since life and mind cannot survive the body it is meaningless to talk about "an everlasting life", or an immortal soul. Goutama knew this truth and preached the doctrine of 'anathma' more than twenty-five centuries ago.

It is unfortunate that the doctrine of re-incarnation, a Brahminical belief which militates against 'anathma' doctrine, crept into some Buddhist Scriptures long after the death of Goutama, the Buddha.



Bible is a Dangerous Moral Guide

The article “Bible is a Dangerous Moral Guide” has been written by Kovoor in order “to show how dangerous a book the so-called Holy Bible is as a guide to moral and ethical training”.

Kovoor begins by pointing out that millions of Christians all over the world believe “without any valid evidence” that the Bible is the “word of God”. However, he himself squarely rejects this belief. Kovoor pointedly asks: “When there is no evidence that God exists, how can it be accepted that the Bible is the word of God?”

Besides, Kovoor goes on to add, “Even if it is proved that there is a God, that fact, would not in any way support the claim that he inspired the Bible.” Bible, says Kovoor, is not the only book that is claimed to be inspired by a God. Muslims make similar claim about Koran.

According to Kovoor, it is useless to talk about the inspiration of Bible “when we know what it teaches is not true”. As he says: “The truth is that the doctrine of inspiration is a myth invented by the Jewish and Christian priests.”

Kovoor clearly states that “its historical inaccuracies, the inexactitude of its science, and the absurdity of its philosophy” makes this book unacceptable to the 20th century man. “That Bible is a human creation, altogether without divine authority,” says Kovoor, “is proved by the fact that in the field of morals it is a very dangerous guide.”

In his article, Kovoor has taken a close look at the moral teachings of the Bible. Kovoor maintains that “Bible sanctions and defends” crimes like “lying, cheating, stealing, slavery, murder, cannibalism, genocide, incest, prostitution, adultery, nudism, pornography, sexual permissiveness, tyranny and torture.”

According to Kovoor, “truth-telling is one of the most precious of virtues, we cherish. But the Bible upholds deception and lying.”

Kovoor has given several illustrations from the Old Testament as well as the New Testament of the Bible to substantiate his point. For example, Kovoor points out that St. Paul has acknowledged the use of falsehood in his teachings. According to Paul, there is nothing wrong with lying when it is done in the service of God. Kovoor quotes him as saying, “Being crafty, I caught you with guile.”

Similarly, Kovoor regards slavery and slave trade as “one of the worst degrading chapters in human history.” However, according to him, Bible approves of slavery. Among others, Kovoor has quoted the following passage from the Bible in support of his contention:



If a master smites his servant or maid with a rod, and he died under his hand, he shall be punished. Notwithstanding, if he continues to live a day or two, the master shall not be punished, for he is his money. (emphasis added)



Kovoor asks sharply: “Can a civilized man accept the teaching that one man is another man’s money?”

Further, according to Kovoor, God of Bible denies political and religious freedoms, which are regarded as ideals in twentieth century. “The Bible prescribes death penalty for any one who dares suggest a change of religious belief.” Kovoor quotes the following passage from the Old Testament in support of his contention:



If thy brother or thy son or thy daughter or thy wife of thy bosom entice thee secretly saying let us go and serve another God, thou shalt surely kill him or her. Thou shall stone him with stone till he dies.



Thus, concludes Kovoor, worshippers of all gods other than Jehovah must be killed. According to Kovoor, such commandments are the root causes of massacres taking place in the name of religion.

As far as bigotry and intolerance are concerned, even the New Testament does not fare any better. Jesus is quoted as saying in St. Luke: “But those mine enemies, which would not, that I should reign far over them, bring hither and slay them before me.”

Again, in Mark Jesus says, “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, others shall be damned.”

Many of the passages from the Bible quoted by Kovoor are too revolting for the sensibilities of a modern, democratic human being. It is best to let Kovoor speak in his own words:



Christian God’s method of punishing the wrong-doers is by killing their infant children, and allowing their wives to be ravished by others. In 2nd Samuel chapter 12, God says, “I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wife before thine eyes and give her unto thy neighbour and he shall lie with thy wife to thy presence and of all Israel”. Worse still, if there can be anything worse is God’s command to parents to murder their stubborn children. In Deuteronomy chapter 21, the law stipulates, “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of the city, and they shall say, this son is stubborn and rebellious, and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones till he dies.”

On the basis of several such examples, Kovoor concludes that as a moral guide, Bible is the most dangerous book in the world. There is no easier way to get into prison than by following the teachings of this book. According to Kovoor, “those Christian apologists who clamour for the teaching of Bible in our schools should read their Bible themselves before they press their demand.”

Teaching Religion in Schools

Dr. Kovoor's book Gods, Demons and Spirits, too, contains some chapters, which are of philosophical interest. Chapters titled, "Teaching Religion in Schools", "Promote Mixed Marriages for Survival", "Church and Family Planning” and "Of Euthanasia", for example, bring into focus the ethical ideas of Kovoor.

Kovoor wrote “Teaching Religion in Schools” in response to the demand of the All Sri Lanka Buddhist Congress for making religion a compulsory subject in Government schools.

According to Kovoor, "the citizens of this country (Sri Lanka) should have some idea of the amount of untruths and absurdities taught to small children in their impressionable ages in the name of religion." Kovoor substantiates his point by giving examples from Buddhist, Christian and Hindu mythology. As he says, "absurdities like the navel conception, virgin conception (mother of Jesus Christ) and oral conception (mother of Sri Rama) are the stuff taught in the name of religion in our schools!"

Right and Wrong

Kovoor points out that that the "religionists insist on the teaching of religion on the ground that morality can be built only through religion." However, Kovoor questions the truth of this contention. According to him, Semitic religions, namely, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have established this "peculiar notion" that belief in some God is the basis of all morality. Disbelief in this supreme creator must, therefore, according to them, be regarded as the essence of immorality.

Though for "the unthinking religionist" his religion is the only source of morality, an inquiry into the origins of the concepts of "right" and "wrong" reveals, says Kovoor, that even the most primitive races, long before the rise of organized religions, developed certain codes of conduct. Going a step further, Kovoor maintains that the rudiments of what we may call morals are to be found even among animals.

Social Instincts

Kovoor is of the view that morality is the product of animal and human evolution and originated long before any organized religions had developed. The evolution of social and moral concepts had their beginnings in the experience of the animal kingdom and they did not originate from supernatural revelations, as the religionists want us to believe. In words of Kovoor:

Side by side for the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest there developed simultaneously the social instincts of the group. Feelings such as mother love, mutual assistance, the share of food and shelter and the self sacrifice of the single individual for the welfare of the group must ultimately be regarded as the source out of which moral feelings originated...

It is most logical to assume that the early human animal that lived in the trees and the caves developed identical social trends, as did the bees, the ants, the baboons and many of the birds. It is these animal characteristics from which originated later on the ideas of right and wrong or good and evil. It is these feelings and instincts of sociability and self-sacrifice for the common good which came to be transformed in the human kingdom into mutual benevolence, sympathy and love. They are in reality the origin of our human concepts of morality.

Kovoor maintains that the vast majority of humankind are now living in a morally, socially and economically much more advanced condition than in any previous age. The burning at the stake, the torture chamber and the casting into the den of lions are things of past. This progress, says Kovoor, cannot be attributed to any of the existing creeds or religions. As he says:

Religions at all times, did their best to keep human beings in ignorance, superstition and divided among themselves... It was rationalistic and atheistic science and philosophy that inaugurated the age of Humanism with the new morality based on real brotherhood of man, regardless of race, creed, colour or caste.

Teaching of Ethics

According to Kovoor, the improved moral conditions at present era are not due to any religious creed, but due to the atheistic philosophy. It will be a tragedy if school children are taught "the virtue of untouchability" in the name of religious instruction! The popular contention that children can be taught morality only through religion, or that children brought up without religion will turn to be immoral, is a canard. Building character and morality in children through good example and teaching of ethics is much more desirable than trying to build character through false threats of punishment in a dubious after life.

Promote Mixed Marriages for Survival

Kovoor has supported mixed marriages from the point of view of fraternity. According to him, future progress of all caste-ridden countries depends on the fraternal feeling among its citizens. This can be achieved only when it is realized that "all of us are born into this world as human beings, and that all communal differences are artificial or man-made."

Kovoor is of the view that this idea of fraternity cannot be put suddenly into the minds of the people isolated into communal camps for ages. It has to be brought about by a process of national integration planned on a long-term basis. According to Kovoor, inter-marriages alone can destroy communalism. Children born out of mixed marriages will not necessarily develop sentimental attachment to either of two communities. Kovoor asserts that it is a duty of "patriotic statesmen" to promote inter-marriages. He also emphasizes the need for establishing Inter-marriage Associations for promoting inter-marriages. When society starts giving importance and recognition to inter-lingual, inter-religious and inter-caste marriages, says Kovoor, more and more young men and women will come forward to enter into mixed wedlock.

In “Promote Mixed Marriages for Survival”, Kovoor has also supported the idea of a secular state. According to Kovoor, “in countries like ours where there are numerous religions, languages and castes, true democracy can work only when the Government becomes fully secular. Religion should be left as a private affair of the individual”.

Church and Family Planning

In “Church and Family Planning”, Kovoor has severely criticized the Roman Catholic Church for opposing artificial means of birth control, including abortion. According to Kovoor, sex is a biological function like other functions of body. Since it is connected with the propagation of the species, sex is not only a personal need, but also a social one. It is a well-recognized biological fact that the females of the species in all animals, including humans, have maximum desire for sex during their ovulation period. The Roman Catholic hierarchy, without any knowledge of this biological phenomenon, has advised the lay members of the church, who wish to limit the number of children in the family, to desist from sexual intercourse during the ovulation periods of their wives. If the church allows the use of contraceptives, says Kovoor, the Roman Catholic women too could enjoy sex during their ovulation periods, when their sex urge is at its peak, and lead a happy married life.

Of Euthanasia

According to Kovoor, “euthanasia is the merciful act of painlessly terminating the life of an organism suffering from an incurable disease or wound.” Though euthanasia is practiced on animals, it is prohibited in the case of human beings. This is, says Kovoor, due to the fallacious Judaic, Christian and Islamic belief that, unlike animals, god created humans alone by hand from clay, and blew life into it through nostrils. Thus, according to them, god alone has a right to take life from human beings. In countries dominated by the influence of these religions, doctors are not allowed to practice euthanasia even with the written permission of the suffering patients. Giving his own example, Kovoor, who at the age of eighty was suffering from cancer in his bladder, says:

Before long when I am bedridden and become useless to my fellow beings and myself, I will not permit my good doctors to prolong my life and suffering anymore. Unfortunately, my doctors are prevented by an antediluvian law from terminating my suffering by putting me to sleep permanently, even if I request them to do so.

Kovoor humorously suggests that in countries like India and Sri Lanka, where majority of people believe in rebirth, euthanasia should be encouraged as a meritorious act. Because this will provide opportunity to a sick person to discard his diseased body and be reborn in a new, healthy body!

Obviously, Kovoor was in favor of legalizing euthanasia. As mentioned earlier, Dr. Kovoor, like his wife, had willed that his body be given to the medical college in Colombo for medical research.