Path of Freedom [Vimuttimagga]

In MemoriamSoma Thera addressed schools in various parts of the city. The childrenlistened to him with the greatest interest. Just before leaving Berlin, themission received an invitation from the Municipality of Iserlohn to conducta Meditation Seminar during the "Indian Week" which was a part of the'Sauerland Cultural Season'. About one hundred people from all walks oflife attended it. The late Mr. Egon Vietta was the organiser of the Seminar.On the last day of the Seminar he announced that he had brought a fewquestions from his teacher, the well-known Existentialist philosopher, Prof.Heidegger, who was ill and unable to travel. When these questions were putto the Ven. Soma Maha Thera his answers were prompt and so convincingthat Mr. Vietta said that these same questions had been put by him to Europeanscholars, individually and in groups, but he had not received such satisfyinganswers as had been given by Soma Maha Thera.Another invitation that the mission accepted was that of the Buddhistsof Hamburg. They were anxious to have us with them during Vesak time. Sofrom Islerlohn the mission left for Hamburg, where Mr. W. Stegemann, thePresident of the Buddhist Society of Hamburg, welcomed us. From here,after making a brief visit to London, Oxford, and Cambridge, the missionreturned to Hamburg where Soma Thera conducted classes in meditation,and delivered lectures and led discussions on the Dhamma. These meetingswere well attended. He much liked working among the Hamburg Buddhistsbecause, as he said, they were well informed, organized, and greatly interestedin their work as a body. In response to numerous requests, all the addressesdelivered in Germany by Soma Maha Thera were published by the HamburgBuddhist Society in their Bulletin the Mitteilungsblatt.With all this incessant work and travel Soma Thera grew weak, and whenhe returned to Ceylon from Germany in June 1958 he was very tired; butwith skilful medical attention and another operation he regained his formervigour and worked hard which he loved to do. Then again he fell ill—thistime with renal colic—and after another spell in hospital he was once morein a fit condition to continue his work. This time he slept hardly four hoursa day, from about midnight to 4 a.m. When told that he tired himself overmuch,he used to say, "I have gathered enough now but I have not time enoughto give". So he worked on to the end never caring for his health. Yet hewas happy doing it.He was held in affectionate and highest regard by all those who knewhim for his qualities of heart and head. One of them wrote from Englandthus: "I was mentioning to the Dons of the Faculty of Eastern Religions atOxford that there was in Ceylon a monk (referring to Soma Thera) who waseminently qualified by way of knowledge and learning to fill the Chair ofEastern Religions which is now vacant". Mr. Guido Auster, the Directorof the Oriental Department of the German State Library, Berlin, hearing ofhis death wrote, "He contacted many personalities of the religious and intellectuallife in Berlin and Germany. He delivered lectures at various places,XXI