The True Meaning of Garava

Garava, the principle of respect for oneself and others, is a cornerstone of Burmese culture. But as Pyei Lwin Nyeinchan writes, forcing people to kowtow to authority is not the way to win respect.

Recently I had dinner with a foreigner who is a bit older than my-self. Before we started eating, I politely placed a spoonful of curry on his rice for him. Like many other Westerners I have met, he seemed somewhat surprised by this display of Burmese manners, and he asked me about the meaning of this gesture. Being proud of my own culture, I explained to him that it is what we Burmese call “oo cha de,” or the first offering. Oo cha de is an expression of respect towards an elder or a guest, and it can also be seen as a manifestation of one of the most delightful characteristics of Burmese culture.

This practice of offering the first serving of every meal to a guest or elder is directly related to the concept of“garava,” which is a fundamental cultural treasure of our society. Garava is a Sanskrit word that is always used in connection with another key concept, namely “nivata.” Both terms are derived from the Mingla Sutta, the Lord Buddha’s auspicious discourse on the 38 rules of conduct for a wholesome and happy life, which all Burmese are taught from early childhood. Garava and nivata are two of the thirty-eight principles that lay disciples of the Buddha are instructed to follow. In English, garava literally means deferential esteem felt or shown towards persons worthy of respect, or towards qualities deserving of admiration. Nivata refers to an attitude of humility in one’s behavior.

This definition of garava begs the question of who is worthy of respect and which qualities deserve admiration. Regarding persons, we show garava to elders and to people of higher status based on prestige, morality and knowledge. Displays of garava are not limited to such people, however, and in some cases it may be shown towards people of the same age and status as oneself, or even towards those who are younger and of lower status. Moreover, garava is not one-sided. It is reciprocal and mutual.

At the highest level, garava is an act of obeisance to the Dhamma, or Truth, of the Buddha’s teachings. It can be divided into three levels of expression: mental, verbal and physical. According to Buddhist belief, the mind is what matters most, so we give priority to developing the attitude of garava in our minds. Without this emphasis on developing the mental aspect, all verbal and physical expressions of garava would amount to no more than skillful performances of hypocrisy and manipulation.

Fostering an attitude of garava is an effective way to diminish the conceited habits of everyday life, which are the main causes of personal and societal problems. By developing the mind to achieve spiritual maturity, gentleness and peace, the verbal and physical manifestations of garava will appear naturally and spontaneously. In this way, Buddhists believe, the world will flourish with an abundance of delightful mingla (auspiciousness).

Garava in contemporary Burma

These days, many people complain that the younger generation is lacking garava. In a melancholy article on the subject of verbal disrespect (agarava) amongst younger Burmese, the well-known writer Ludu Daw Ahmar lamented that it is not unusual nowadays to hear young people bid farewell to monks with expressions like “Bye-bye, cheerio!” Daw Ahmar tried to remind the young people that Burmese is a rich and expressive language, and asked them to value it.

A high school teacher once told me about the prevailing disrespect amongst her students. She said that students today are shy when it is not necessary and not shy when it would be appropriate. “My students don’t want to greet me or carry my basket when I am on my way to school, because they think it means currying favor with the teachers,” she complained.

I can understand the concerns of elderly people in our society, whose generation regarded garava as a cornerstone of Burmese social values and Burma’s unique cultural identity. Throughout our country’s history, Burmese people have been proud of the way they managed to uphold their cultural uniqueness, despite the fact that the country is wedged between two powerful societies, India and China. The concept of garava is quite distinct from the application of respect in India’s prevailing caste system and the definition of respect in the Confucian ethic of China. We young people have an obligation to preserve and put into practice the most worthwhile values of our society, including garava.

A philosophy student from Rangoon University once explained the decline of garava to me in these terms:

“It is partly true that the attitude of garava among the students has lapsed.But I don’t think all students behave in disrespectful ways. You can see that kind of unacceptable behavior mostly amongst young people from wealthy families. They are squandering and splurging all the time. Moreover, because most of them are the sons of the generals and drug lords who have ‘returned to the legal fold,’ the situation has become uncontrollable. But I think the ordinary youth have an awareness that we are Burmese precisely because we possess this culture.”

When we talk about garava, we should be very careful about how we relate it to the existing power structure. There are people who have taken advantage of the Burmese people’s deeply ingrained belief in the value of respect towards others by distorting and manipulating our cultural values. Since the era of British colonial rule, successive regimes have benefited by exploiting the concept of garava.

In 1903, an inspector from the colonial government’s education department in Rangoon instructed high school students to gawdaw to him as a sign of respect. The gawdaw is a gesture of obeisance made by pressing the palms and fingers of both hands together and holding them at forehead or chin level. It is normally reserved for parents, teachers and monks, as well as the Buddha and the Dhamma. Besides these “five categories deserving respect” (based on Buddhist belief) Burmese would gawdaw to the king in the days of feudalistic monarchy. However, while such respect was shown unconditionally towards the “five categories,” kings could only expect their subjects to gawdaw to them if they observed the ethical rules of conduct.

In the case of the colonial inspector, students defied his order. Many students who disobeyed were dismissed from school, but they did not give up their resistance. After much debate on the subject of whether the students had behaved appropriately, the general consensus amongst the public was that the students should not be obliged to gawdaw to the inspector. People differentiated between acts rooted in respect and those rooted in subordination. The students felt that they were being forced to gawdaw in order to destroy their spirit and self-esteem. We Burmese asserted that we, not the British, were thakins (rightful masters) of our country by turning down any deliberate insult to our national pride.

Under the current military dictatorship, the people are forced to gawdaw to the generals because the military believes that it can instill obedience and submission in the people by compelling them to kowtow to authority. Thus the military has turned one of the most precious aspects of Burmese culture into a weapon of psychological warfare to break the confidence and dignity of the people, in much the same way as our past colonial rulers attempted to do.

The ultimate expression of garava

In Buddhism, there are three different steps or stages of garava. Firstly, we are taught to develop self-respect(atta garava). In order to nourish this self-respect, we should behave decently and in such a way that we are able to admire ourselves. People will hardly respect a person who does not have self-respect. Also, a person who does not have self-respect will not be sensitive to the concept of garava and will not know how to appreciate others in the appropriate ways. Social relations must be based on reciprocity.

Secondly, we are taught to show respect to all living creatures (loka garava). This includes not only human beings and visible animals but also the celestial beings and lower forms of existence that occupy the 31 bhumis (realms) of the world.

The paramount form of garava, which is directed towards the Dhamma of the Lord Buddha, entails respect for the Four Noble Truths upon which Buddhism is based, as well as the principles of justice, freedom, peace, equality, dignity, loving-kindness and compassion. Our capacity for Dhamma garava is a measure of our attainment in the lower forms of garava. Only when all of the principles upon which the Lord Buddha instructed us to base our relations with our fellow beings are fully respected can the auspiciousness of mingla prevail in the world.

This article was contributed by Pyei Lwin Nyeinchan, based in Thailand.