Reception held by Colombo Mayor M. Hussain Mohamed in the Colombo Town Hall, 8 January 1990³

Honourable Mayor Hussain Mohamed, my dear friend, my dear brother, …. for the last thirteen days I have been here in the heart of Sri Lanka, which is a heart of beauty, purity, serenity and divinity. Each day, each hour, each minute, each second I have been loved and blessed by the soul of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is small in size, but in terms of its heart's divine qualities and life's magnanimity, Sri Lanka stands unparalleled….

During my stay here, I have seen that peace and harmony between India and Sri Lanka is more than a hopeful dream; it is a supremely blessed reality. The sincere peace-cries and oneness-smiles from the magnanimous hearts of my Sri Lankan brothers and sisters have touched the very depths of my being. In the same way, India's readiness-heart and willingness-mind for peace are being manifested most lovingly and most convincingly in her divinely chosen representative-son, Mr. Lakhan Mehrotra, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka….

A few days ago, our beloved President Ranasinghe Premadasa completed the first year of his most fruitful presidency. As the unparalleled President that he is, he went to the spiritual heads of the nation's four main religious faiths — Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist — to receive their blessings. Here the President has shown us that we all belong to the same world-family; we are all oneness-brothers and sisters.

…Tomorrow my students and I will leave Sri Lanka, but we will carry with us the sweeter-than-the-sweetest fragrance of the Sri Lankan heart. At the end of our sojourn here, I am offering to each and every Sri Lankan my gratitude, my infinite gratitude. Beyond expectation, beyond my highest flight of imagination, from the soul, heart and life of Sri Lanka I have received affection, love, compassion and blessings. And in return, most humbly, most soulfully and most devotedly I am offering my heart's tearful gratitude to the life, heart and soul of Sri Lanka.