10-12-2006, 07:41 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Scared of N-bomb? Read the Mahabharata</b>
SWAMI VIJNANANANDA SARASWATI
The Economic Times, Oct 11, 2006
INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006 12:21:37 AM]
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/arti...141990.cms
Einstein could never pardon himself for having been one of the founding fathers and guiding light for the American atomic commission that created the first pair of atom bombs, that showed the world a trailer of the kind of devastation that can be created by the same science which brings about the best of the comforts for you and me.
Post atom-bomb, the world started decrying these actions and Einstein was the first among them with the loudest voice â probably because all his life he couldnât pardon himself for being the father of a conspiracy that murdered thousands of innocents, worse still â where the living envied the dead â such was the pain.
Probably a situation very similar to that of Bhishma in Mahabharata â whose bed of arrows represented his conscience and how much of repentance could not undo the actions performed. He could probably never pardon himself for his inactions in moments where his pro-active role could have spared every one of the pain that they went through.
In fact, it has been my firm conviction that it is absolutely useless to debate upon the actual happenings of the events such as the ones mentioned in epics like Mahabharata , but what is of absolute consequence is the deeper meaning and the ethos that it signifies and that is what makes Vyaasa a great teacher.
The beauty probably lies in the fact that one always finds a person in our daily life who is similar to the characters in that epic.
What Vyaasa succeeds in portraying through the Mahabharata is the process of collective error â my error as a consequence of your error and all of us are collectively responsible for the errors committed and the laws of nature are such that every one â individually and collectively suffers the eventualities of mistakes.
Isnât this similar to what we all are witnessing now â with Pyongyang a new entrant in the nuclear game, there is a beautiful blame game going on. People who are out to create sanctions against this new boy, have already dirtied their hands. Let me ask a simple question â does US have the moral right to ask these questions to anybody after they killed innumerable people in Japan â just to emphatically announce their power and supremacy over others. Probably the only one nation which can stand up with Moral authority is Japan.
I donât mean that if the US had not created the deadly weapon, there wouldnât have been others who wouldnât have become the first, yet the truth is that, just because of this argument, US can not be absolved of the crime it has committed.
This is the dilemma.Â
In this nuclear world we know that there will be some who will abide by the protocol and some who wouldnât. However, it is equally true that since it is a world where there is a strong power equation and all the weaker nations will need to be somewhere pick up some strength to fight, and if not fight at least to keep the big guys off their back, this is bound to happen.
Yet the million dollar question is â is there a way out of this?
Again, in the Mahabharata , Vyaasa talked of a situation when the war seemed inevitable. Incidentally, he has always portrayed Krishna as a person who is clairvoyant and knows the past â present and the future. Hence one thing is for sure that Krishna knows that the war is going to take place and is also aware of whoâll win the war. Yet he proposes for a last ditch effort. Now, Krishna has been insulted and slighted by Duryodhana and his comrades endless times, yet of all people, Krishna agrees to play the role of a Shantidoota â Ambassador of Peace.
It is difficult, yet the spirit is clear â give peace a chance.
Another element that Vyaasa mentions in his epic is â when Gandhari, the wife of the Blind King, Dhritarashtra, who was one of the people responsible for the war leading to mass destruction, came to curse Krishna saying â Krishna, of my hundred sons, not one has survived and if I have any virtue in my bag of deeds, then with the power of that I curse you that may your clan get destroyed the same way as has mine.
Krishna smiled and said â Gandhari, I feel sorry to see you do away with the little stock of virtues you had, for you only made my work easier. The ruling class, neck deep in all kinds of vices, has lost its moral right to rule. Thatâs why I came to destroy the Kshatriyas. Henceforth, the will of the masses should be considered as the divine will.
That is why I keep saying that the earliest trace of democracy is seen in the Mahabharata .
This also makes it very clear that unless the people of the world â rather- the human beings of the world unite and stand up to fight this there is no way out and as Vyaasa had put it â that alone is probably the way the lord will manifest in todayâs age â to relieve the world of this burden of nuclear fear.
(The author conducts self-transformational & performance enhancement programmes for people from all walks of life. He can be contacted at Vijnanswami@gmail.com)
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SWAMI VIJNANANANDA SARASWATI
The Economic Times, Oct 11, 2006
INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006 12:21:37 AM]
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/arti...141990.cms
Einstein could never pardon himself for having been one of the founding fathers and guiding light for the American atomic commission that created the first pair of atom bombs, that showed the world a trailer of the kind of devastation that can be created by the same science which brings about the best of the comforts for you and me.
Post atom-bomb, the world started decrying these actions and Einstein was the first among them with the loudest voice â probably because all his life he couldnât pardon himself for being the father of a conspiracy that murdered thousands of innocents, worse still â where the living envied the dead â such was the pain.
Probably a situation very similar to that of Bhishma in Mahabharata â whose bed of arrows represented his conscience and how much of repentance could not undo the actions performed. He could probably never pardon himself for his inactions in moments where his pro-active role could have spared every one of the pain that they went through.
In fact, it has been my firm conviction that it is absolutely useless to debate upon the actual happenings of the events such as the ones mentioned in epics like Mahabharata , but what is of absolute consequence is the deeper meaning and the ethos that it signifies and that is what makes Vyaasa a great teacher.
The beauty probably lies in the fact that one always finds a person in our daily life who is similar to the characters in that epic.
What Vyaasa succeeds in portraying through the Mahabharata is the process of collective error â my error as a consequence of your error and all of us are collectively responsible for the errors committed and the laws of nature are such that every one â individually and collectively suffers the eventualities of mistakes.
Isnât this similar to what we all are witnessing now â with Pyongyang a new entrant in the nuclear game, there is a beautiful blame game going on. People who are out to create sanctions against this new boy, have already dirtied their hands. Let me ask a simple question â does US have the moral right to ask these questions to anybody after they killed innumerable people in Japan â just to emphatically announce their power and supremacy over others. Probably the only one nation which can stand up with Moral authority is Japan.
I donât mean that if the US had not created the deadly weapon, there wouldnât have been others who wouldnât have become the first, yet the truth is that, just because of this argument, US can not be absolved of the crime it has committed.
This is the dilemma.Â
In this nuclear world we know that there will be some who will abide by the protocol and some who wouldnât. However, it is equally true that since it is a world where there is a strong power equation and all the weaker nations will need to be somewhere pick up some strength to fight, and if not fight at least to keep the big guys off their back, this is bound to happen.
Yet the million dollar question is â is there a way out of this?
Again, in the Mahabharata , Vyaasa talked of a situation when the war seemed inevitable. Incidentally, he has always portrayed Krishna as a person who is clairvoyant and knows the past â present and the future. Hence one thing is for sure that Krishna knows that the war is going to take place and is also aware of whoâll win the war. Yet he proposes for a last ditch effort. Now, Krishna has been insulted and slighted by Duryodhana and his comrades endless times, yet of all people, Krishna agrees to play the role of a Shantidoota â Ambassador of Peace.
It is difficult, yet the spirit is clear â give peace a chance.
Another element that Vyaasa mentions in his epic is â when Gandhari, the wife of the Blind King, Dhritarashtra, who was one of the people responsible for the war leading to mass destruction, came to curse Krishna saying â Krishna, of my hundred sons, not one has survived and if I have any virtue in my bag of deeds, then with the power of that I curse you that may your clan get destroyed the same way as has mine.
Krishna smiled and said â Gandhari, I feel sorry to see you do away with the little stock of virtues you had, for you only made my work easier. The ruling class, neck deep in all kinds of vices, has lost its moral right to rule. Thatâs why I came to destroy the Kshatriyas. Henceforth, the will of the masses should be considered as the divine will.
That is why I keep saying that the earliest trace of democracy is seen in the Mahabharata .
This also makes it very clear that unless the people of the world â rather- the human beings of the world unite and stand up to fight this there is no way out and as Vyaasa had put it â that alone is probably the way the lord will manifest in todayâs age â to relieve the world of this burden of nuclear fear.
(The author conducts self-transformational & performance enhancement programmes for people from all walks of life. He can be contacted at Vijnanswami@gmail.com)
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