01-24-2006, 09:22 AM
More of Aurobindo on the war, at http://voiceofdharma.com/books/ir/IR_part6.htm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->September 3, 1943
(From a letter to a disciple.)
    We [Sri Aurobindo and Mother] made it plain in a letter which has been made public that <b>we did not consider the war as a fight between nations</b> and governments (still less between good people and bad people) <b>but between two forces, the Divine and the Asuric.</b> <b>What we have to see is <i>on which side </i>men and nations put themselves; if they put themselves on<i> the right side</i>, they at once make themselves instruments of the Divine purpose</b> in spite of all defects, errors, wrong movements and actions which are common to human nature and all human collectivities. <b>The victory of one side (the Allies) would keep the path open for the evolutionary forces: the victory of the other side would drag back humanity, degrade it horribly and might lead even, at the worst, to its eventual failure as a race, </b>as others in the past evolution failed and perished. <b>That is the whole question and all other considerations are either irrelevant or of a minor importance. </b>The Allies at least have stood for human values, though they may often act against their own best ideals (human beings always do that); Hitler stands for diabolical values or for human values exaggerated in the wrong way until they become diabolical (e.g. the virtues of the Herrenvolk, the master race). That does not make the English or Americans nations of spotless angels nor the Germans a wicked and sinful race, but as an indicator it has a primary importance.
    ...
    <b>Even if I knew that the Allies would misuse their victory or bungle the peace or partially at least spoil the opportunities opened to the human world by that victory, I would still put my force behind them. At any rate things could not be one-hundredth part as bad as they would be under Hitler. The ways of the Lord would still be openâto keep them open is what matters. Let us stick to the real, the central fact, the need to remove the peril of black servitude and revived barbarism threatening India and the world....</b>
    P.S. Ours is a Sadhana which involves not only devotion or union with the Divine or a perception of Him in all things and beings but also action as workers and instruments and a work to be done in the world or a force to be brought in the world under difficult conditions; then one has to see one's way and do what is commanded and support what has to be supported, even if it means war and strife carried on whether through chariots and bows and arrows or tanks and cars and American bombs and planes, in either case ghoram karma [a dreadful work, Gita, 3.1].... As for violence etc. the old command rings out for us once again after many ages: âMayaivaite nihatah purvameva nimittamatram bhava Savyasacinâ [By me and none other already they are slain, become only the occasion, O Arjuna, Gita, 11.33].131<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->September 19, 1940
(A message to the Governor of Madras, accompanied by a contribution. This declaration was Sri Aurobindo's first public intervention since he withdrew in 1910.)
    We feel that not only is this a battle waged in just self-defence and in defence of the nations threatened with the world-domination of Germany and the Nazi system of life, but that it is a defence of civilisation and its highest attained social, cultural and spiritual values and of the whole future of humanity. To this cause our support and sympathy will be unswerving whatever may happen; we look forward to the victory of Britain and, as the eventual result, an era of peace and union among the nations and a better and more secure world-order.129<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->September 3, 1943
(From a letter to a disciple.)
    We [Sri Aurobindo and Mother] made it plain in a letter which has been made public that <b>we did not consider the war as a fight between nations</b> and governments (still less between good people and bad people) <b>but between two forces, the Divine and the Asuric.</b> <b>What we have to see is <i>on which side </i>men and nations put themselves; if they put themselves on<i> the right side</i>, they at once make themselves instruments of the Divine purpose</b> in spite of all defects, errors, wrong movements and actions which are common to human nature and all human collectivities. <b>The victory of one side (the Allies) would keep the path open for the evolutionary forces: the victory of the other side would drag back humanity, degrade it horribly and might lead even, at the worst, to its eventual failure as a race, </b>as others in the past evolution failed and perished. <b>That is the whole question and all other considerations are either irrelevant or of a minor importance. </b>The Allies at least have stood for human values, though they may often act against their own best ideals (human beings always do that); Hitler stands for diabolical values or for human values exaggerated in the wrong way until they become diabolical (e.g. the virtues of the Herrenvolk, the master race). That does not make the English or Americans nations of spotless angels nor the Germans a wicked and sinful race, but as an indicator it has a primary importance.
    ...
    <b>Even if I knew that the Allies would misuse their victory or bungle the peace or partially at least spoil the opportunities opened to the human world by that victory, I would still put my force behind them. At any rate things could not be one-hundredth part as bad as they would be under Hitler. The ways of the Lord would still be openâto keep them open is what matters. Let us stick to the real, the central fact, the need to remove the peril of black servitude and revived barbarism threatening India and the world....</b>
    P.S. Ours is a Sadhana which involves not only devotion or union with the Divine or a perception of Him in all things and beings but also action as workers and instruments and a work to be done in the world or a force to be brought in the world under difficult conditions; then one has to see one's way and do what is commanded and support what has to be supported, even if it means war and strife carried on whether through chariots and bows and arrows or tanks and cars and American bombs and planes, in either case ghoram karma [a dreadful work, Gita, 3.1].... As for violence etc. the old command rings out for us once again after many ages: âMayaivaite nihatah purvameva nimittamatram bhava Savyasacinâ [By me and none other already they are slain, become only the occasion, O Arjuna, Gita, 11.33].131<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->September 19, 1940
(A message to the Governor of Madras, accompanied by a contribution. This declaration was Sri Aurobindo's first public intervention since he withdrew in 1910.)
    We feel that not only is this a battle waged in just self-defence and in defence of the nations threatened with the world-domination of Germany and the Nazi system of life, but that it is a defence of civilisation and its highest attained social, cultural and spiritual values and of the whole future of humanity. To this cause our support and sympathy will be unswerving whatever may happen; we look forward to the victory of Britain and, as the eventual result, an era of peace and union among the nations and a better and more secure world-order.129<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->