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December     Last updated: December 30 : 7:00 p.m.

Agenda
Conflict and Harmony in the Gita

An international seminar on “Bhagavadgita and Modern Problems” was held in Thiruvananthapuram from December 7 to 10. The seminar was conducted jointly by the Bharatheeya Vichar Kendra and Gita Swadhyay Samiti. The four-day global meet was inaugurated by the eminent thinker and Governor of Madhya Pradesh Dr Bhai Mahavir in the august presence of Swami Gautamananda, Vice-President, Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Dr A. Ramaswami Iyengar, Director, Chinmaya International Foundation, Dr Kapil Kapoor, Vice-Chancellor, JNU and Shri Seshagiri Rao, an emeritus professor of Virginia University. About 1500 delegates from India and abroad attended the seminar. Around fifty papers on different topics such as Dharmayoga, Health Management, Economics, Law, Personality Development, Environment, Work Culture, Defence and Human Rights were presented at the seminar. Shri K.S. Sudarshan, Sarsanghchalak of RSS, spoke on the “Conflict and Harmony in the Gita”. Excerpts from his speech : the divine message of the Gita was delivered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Its effect was that Arjuna, the warrior, who was unwilling to commit the ghastly sin of killing his own kith and kin and was ready to stay content with the life of a recluse or a sannyasi, was goaded by Sri Krishna, through his message, to fight because that was his ordained duty.

To run away from one's duty was called DySC;a (pusillanimity) {kqnza (mean) g`n;nkScZY;a (weakeness of heart) and vdhfrZdja (shameful and unbecoming of a warrior). Now Arjuna wanted to avoid war and bloodshed and lead a peaceful life and Krishna was exhorting him to fight and kill. And still we call his message a divine song! How is it justified? Everybody, every society, every nation swears by peace, goodwill and brotherhood of humanity. But still we witness conflicts at all levels, that of the individuals, of the society and of the nation. Why? It is because there are two types of people whom the Gita describe as nSo (divine) and vklqj (demonic). }kS HkwrlxksZ yksds¿fLeu~ nSo vklqj ,oa pA The term vlqj applies to those who have no moral sense, no humanistic values. They are actuated only by power and pleasure and no higher values. lqj means those who are disciplined. They are wedded to something higher, beyond the physical system and have disciplined their minds and sensory energies. These two types of people have always been there in every society.

But when the devas or suras are in ascendancy, the society experiences peace and prosperity. But when asuras became dominant then there is turmoil and misery. It is only when the latter situation obtains that the divine power incarnates to arouse the divinity lying dormant in people and to punish the demons. The qualities of these two types of people are described in detail in the 16th chapter of the Gita. Let us consider a few shlokas here :

No character can thrive on fear. For 70 years the Soviet Union tried to cast people in a particular mould by instilling in them the fear of the Big Brother, the dictator, but failed completely. They were degraded to a lower level. If we rear a child by inculcating in him a sense of fear, it will make the child secretly immoral.

(purity of mind and intellect). jnan means knowledge and vyavasthiti means its practical application. But jnan does not mean mere information. Today unlimited information, both good and bad, is available on the Internet. But unless you have the power to analyse what is good and what is bad for you, that information will be of little use. True knowledge means the knowledge of the different types of existences, their inter-relationships, their inter-dependence and the harmony and balance between them. This is called dharma which has wrongly been equated with religion.

There is no equivalent term in the English language for dharma. Dharma is that which sustains. All the systems, rules and regulations which establish a harmonious relationship between an individual, a society, Nature and the all-pervading reality, termed differently as Almighty, God, Paramatma, etc, come under dharma. Mathrudharma, patidharma, patnidharma, santhanadharma, shikshakdharma, shishyadharma, sevakdharma, swamidharma, rajdharma, prajadharma are all duties of the respective persons, enjoined to bring about a harmonious relationship between the individuals and the society. To maintain a harmonious relationship between an individual and Nature vkpkj/keZ (rule of hygiene) are enjoined. Similarly, to ensure a harmonious relationship between Nature and society l`f"V/keZ or ecological considerations are stipulated. And to achieve this harmony a relationship with the all pervading ultimate Principle or Almighty is necessary and this relationship is called religion, which is only one-fourth of dharma. Our actions in conformity with dharma or balance of nature, is what has been described as Kku;ksxO;ofLFkfr% (jnanayogavyavasthiti).

To achieve this we should be endowed with the qualities of nkua ne'p ;K'p Lokè;k;Lri vktZoe~- nkua (sharing of wealth with others) ne (control of the sensory energies). No moral life is possible without disciplining the senses. Senses are like horses which if properly bridled will carry you for long distances, otherwise you will be thrown off. ;K means sacrifice for something higher than that which is perceived by the senses. Lok/;k; is study to gather knowledge, ri% means concentration of energies of the sense organs and the mind to achieve a higher goal. If you want to become a good scientist, administrator, sportsman, spiritual seeker you need this capacity of tapas. You are in search of something higher, something better, so you have to train your mind and harness your energies to achieve it. Behind every great achievement is tapas.

Then vktZoe~ (straightforwardness, not crookedness). The opposite of all this is vklqjh lain~ (asuri sampad). nEHkks niksZ¿fHkeku'p Øzks/% ik#";eso p vKkua pkfHktkrL; ikFkZ laineklqjhe~A nEHk% (ostentation), niZ% (arrogance), dzks/k% (anger), ik#"; (conceit), vKkua (ignorance of the life cycle or /keZ). All come under asuri sampad. bne| e;k yC/ka bna izkIL;s euksjFke~ bneLrhnefi es Hkfo";fr iqu/kZue~A I have acquired this today, tomorrow I shall acquire that. This has already become mine, that will become mine in future. vlkS e;k grks 'k=kq% gfu";s pkijkufi bZ'ojks¿gega Hkksxh fl}ks¿ga cyoku~ lq[khA I have killed this enemy, I shall kill the other also, I am the God, I am given to pleasure, I am accomplished, I am strong, I am happy. It is this second type of people vklqjh lain~ who bring in conflict and it is the duty of the people endowed with nSoh lain~ to fight them to save the society from unmitigated suffering. Hence Lord Krishna exhorts Arjuna to fight the demonic forces, the adharmika forces to establish the rule of dharma, rule of law. Like individuals a society, a nation also has a personality of its own and whether the society is endowed with nSoh lain~ (divine qualities) or vklqjh lain~, (the demonic qualities) depends upon who dominates the society.

Every society or nation has both types of men in varying proportions but the question is who dominates whom. A society dominated by lqj will ensure peace and prosperity and the society dominated by vlqj will bring in untold hardships, misery and turmoil. In this world there are sections of people who believe that the creator and administrator of this universe is one. If we worship him we shall go to heaven and if we do not we shall go to hell. Such people are called vkf/knSfod. There are again two categories in them. One, those who worship different forms of God but consider all the forms to be different manifestations of the same God and hence do not think that those who worship other Gods are also wrong. ;sI;U;nsorkHkDrk% HktUrs J);kfUork% rs¿fi ekeso dkSUrs; HktUR;fof/iwoZde~A “Those who worship with devotion other Gods are also worshipping only Me though in another way.” Then there are others who think that only their God is the true one, all others are false. Those who worship false gods will live in hell for eternity. Hence to save those souls from going to hell, it is the duty of the faithfuls to bring them round to their way of worship by any means, straight or crooked, whatsoever. Christianity and Islam believe in one God but divide humanity into two—Christians and Heathens, Muslims and kafirs; and the elimination of one is a condition precedent to establishing the Kingdom of God (Jesus) or Islamic Brotherhood. Most of the conflicts in this world are the outcome of this form of thinking. Recently, a Millennium Peace Summit was organized under the auspices of the UNO in New York where about 1000 men of religion representing diverse ways of worship had gathered from all over the world.

After a four-day deliberation they came to the conclusion that all religions are but different ways to reach the same goal and all are equal and there should be no bloodshed in the name of religion. Accordingly a declaration was signed by all the holy men. But hardly had the ink dried up when the Vatican came out with a 36-page declaration, with the consent of the Pope John Paul II, stating that the Vatican does not believe that any other religion is equal to the Roman Catholic faith. Those who try to equate other religions with that of the Roman Catholics are crossing the limits of tolerance. The non-Christian religions are gravely deficient in the matter of salvation because they do not accept Jesus Christ as the only Son of God. Other churches also have ‘defects’ because they do not accept the primacy of the Pope. It is this thinking which prompted the Pope John Paul II to declare on the soil of Bharat, thereby abusing its hospitality, that: “The first millennium saw the spread of Christianity in Europe, the second millennium saw the planting of the Cross in America and Africa and the third millennium will see the conquest of Bharat and Asia.” He even gave a call for conversion. The whole history of the Western Church is soaked in blood.

Pages and pages are full of tales of ghastly murder and torture of the innocent. Women had been their special targets. They were not even considered humans. Between 1484 and 1784 nine million women were tortured to death by declaring them witches. If we read only a part of the oath that is administered to the Jesuits, who belong to the militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ, we will know the real character of the Roman Catholic Church. “I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage a relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition; and that I will hang, waist boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants' head against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race.

That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poinard or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honour, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus” (http:www.reformation.org/jesuitoath in action.html/) Mind that that oath has been last validated on March 26, 2000. And many such persons have even been declared saints. The most recent example is of the present Pope beatifying his 19th century predecessor Pope Pius IX, who reigned from 1846 to 1878, who had described Jews as “dogs” and was responsible for forced transfer of Rome's Jews into the ghetto. If this is not an vklqjh lain~ what else is? In practice, almost all denominations of the Western Christian Church follow the methods enunciated in the Jesuit Oath for converting people to Christianity. The north-eastern part of our country is a telling example of the terror, violence and deception perpetrated by the followers of the Baptist Church. Dr Radhakrishnan in his book The Hindu Way of Life says: “The intolerance of narrow monotheism is written in letters of blood across the history of man from time to time when first the tribes of Israel burst into the land of Canaan. The worshippers of one jealous God are egged on to wage aggressive wars against people of alien cults.

They invoke divine sanctions for the cruelties inflicted on the conquered. The spirit of old Israel is inherited by christianity and Islam”. (p. 40, Unwin Books, 1960) To establish Islam and Shariat law in every part of this earth, Muslims have to follow individually and collectively the following three stages of jehad. a) Persuasion and quiet pressurisation. b) Terrorism: This should create a sort of terror in the minds of non-Muslims, that sooner or later they have got to become Muslims; The sooner they adopt this as their own religion, the better it is for them; otherwise nothing is safe for them—their limbs, their life, wife, family, friends, land, etc. When such terror is created and established in their minds, they shall have no psychological will to fight a pitched battle or military war against the Muslims. c) Pitched battle/Military war: The psychologically weakened, emaciated and demoralized military force of the non-Muslims cannot face the Muslim’s force which believes that it is fighting for the cause of Allah and establishing its religion and its law of Shariat on this earth; Allah-o-Akbar.

Today Pakistan-backed ISI agents are perpetuating the same type of mindless cruelty in Kashmir and Assam and are planning to strike in different parts of Bharat at an opportune time to instil terror in the minds of the infidels. Both Christians and Muslims believe that they have entered into covenants with God, by which each religious community has received an exclusive irrevocable Power of Attorney from God that its way of worship alone is right, that after death they alone will go to eternal heaven, others will go to eternal hell. vlkS e;k grks 'k=kq% gfu";s pkijkufi bZ'ojks¿ge~ vga Hkksxh fl)ks¿ge~ cyoku~ lq[khA With the advent of the age of science an era of materialistic ideologies like Nazism, Fascism, Socialism, Communism and Capitalism started. The French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes propounded a reductionist approach. In this approach any object of study is divided into smaller and smaller parts and each part is studied separately and in detail and this sum- total of all the knowledge of different parts will give a complete picture of the object. Sir Isaac Newton considered this whole universe a huge machine made of innumerable parts acting according to certain laws. If each part could be studied in detail and the law governing them understood, then man could become the master of this universe.

The Cartesian-Newtonian concept of universe triggered off the study of smaller and smaller parts in greater and greater detail and this gave a tremendous boost to science. Science became the new religion and the concept of God overseeing the world from seventh heaven slowly took a back seat. Hence the different materialistic ideologies became Godless sects devoid of any morality or humanistic tendencies. Hitler killed mercilessly six million Jews, declaring them to belong to an impure race. Communism also divided humanity into two sections—capitalist and proletariat. The annihilation of the capitalist was considered necessary for the establishment of an exploitation-free world. Karl Marx became the prophet, Das Capital, the Book and Dialectic Materialism, the reigning truth. All those, who possessed some sort of wealth, which they could claim as their own, were declared capitalists and annihilated. A 100 million people, a majority of them farmers, were mercilessly killed and their properties confiscated, people were kept in bondage with no freedom of speech or action. Whatever the dictator said was the last word.

bZ'ojks¿ge~] fl)ks¿ge] cyoku~] lq[kh-

Any dissent was mercilessly crushed. Seventy years of this gory and painful experiment ultimately failed. Whatever goes today in the name of communism is nothing but the wagging of the tail of a lizard whose head has been crushed. The diehard optimists, however, are still thinking that the sun of communism has set only to reappear in future with greater glory. Capitalism, believing in the market economy based on competition and profit-motive, also divides humanity into two sections—the fit and the unfit. According to the principle of survival of the fittest, if the unfit perish why should anybody bother about them? Whenever there is a glut in foodgrains in USA and prices begin to fall, they throw them into the ocean. Never do they think that there are millions and millions of people who are below the poverty line and cannot get even two square meals a day, and so this foodgrain may be sent to them. That is because capitalism itself is based on selfishness. The pioneer of capitalism Adam Smith says—“Don't try to do any good. Let good come out as a byproduct of selfishness”. Another scholar of capitalism Keynes says—“For another hundred years let us believe and make others believe that good is evil and evil is good, because evil is effective while good is not. Let greed, avarice and usury be our gods for a little while longer for it is only through them that we shall be able to pass the tunnel of poverty and see light.” The net result of such principles makes capitalism also inhuman. After the collapse of communism, America wants to dominate the world. America does not suffer from any kind of scarcity.

It is the most affluent country in the world. But it still craves for world domination bZ'ojks¿ge~ vga Hkksxh fl)ks¿ge~ cyoku~ lq[kh.

With the help of such institutions as IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organisation, it wants to impose its own supremacy. If Saddam does not pay heed to America, then crush him, impose sanctions on him. If Yugoslavia doesn't listen to her then bomb it. But it could not do the same to powerful China. While bombing Belgrade, when the Chinese Embassy was hit, the American Embassy in China was burnt. Then the President of America had to apologize to China. The greatest industry in America is the armament industry. It is the backbone of American economy. So to keep the industry running the demand for armament should be kept up and hence one or another flashpoints should always be there. Hence America is interested to see that one or another theatre of war should always be there so that her arms get tested from time to time and the armament industry flourishes. It goes without saying that the demonic forces should be kept in check and this can be done by strengthening the divine forces. The Hindu society is the most suitable for this purpose, because it has been cultivating these qualities through millenniums. Certain qualities we have already seen, just as:

vHk;a lÙola'kqf}% Kku;ksxO;ofLFkfr%A nkua ne'p ;ksx'p Lok/;k;Lri vktZoe~AA others are: vfgalk lR;edzks/kks R;kx% 'kkfUrjiS'kque~A n;k Hkwrs"oyksyqIRoa eknZoa gzhjpkiye~AA

Ahimsa—non-violence. vfgalk is a negative concept. The original concept is fgalk, absence of fgalk is vfgalk. But vfgalk can be observed when you have the capacity to inflict fgalk. But even after having that capacity you do not take recourse to himsa then only it will be called ahimsa. Mahatma Gandhi used to say that cowards cannot observe vfgalk because they have no capacity to retaliate. They will only encourage the bullies. lR;e~ (truth) vØks/k% (absence of anger) R;kx% (spirit of detachment and renunciation). All higher values come from tyaga. I must give up my own interest for the sake of the society and nation. 'kkfUr (peacefulness, not being excited). Excited minds are a danger to the society. viS'kque~ (absence of ill-feeling towards others). Stalin once said: “Intense hatred is the basis of our success”. Shri Guruji (Golwalker) responded by saying : “Intense love is the basis of our success”. n;k (compassion towards all beings), vyksyqIRoa (uncovetedness), eknZoe~ (gentleness, softness). Gentle conquers the world. Swami Vivekananda said—“We have never conquered any country in the world throughout our five thousand years of history, though we had the power, we had respect for other peoples.

Live and let live was our motto.” The mild Hindu was a term of reproach during the last century. It was said that the mild Hindu had no hope in the world. But empires based on military power and wealth only vanished. Jesus said: “The meek shall inherit the world.” History shows that the meek, the peaceful have inherited the world, not the aggressive, the violent. Other qualities are ghz means modesty vpkiye~ (absence of fickleness). The Hindu society does not believe in the principal of struggle for existence. It believes in loZa lfYona czg~e all is Brahma. It doesn't believe in survival of the fittest. It believes in losZ HkoUrq lqf[ku% let all be happy. It doesn't believe in exploitation of nature, it believes in milking of Nature, i.e., nksgu. Nature has enough to meet our need but not our greed. We must have a harmonious relationship with Nature.

nwoku~ Hkko;rkuso rs rsok Hkko;Urq o% ijLija Hkko;Ur% Js;% ijekokIL;sFkA

“Cherish the devas with ;K and may those devas cherish you; thus cherishing one another, you shall gain the highest.” Deva is the personification of Nature's forces. If we violate Nature we become violated by Nature. Nature is not something to be destroyed. Nature can be used but it should be replenished also. Today the whole world is conscious of the ecological problem. The rugged individualism of the West has destroyed the human relationships, the family, the community life. The women's liberation movement started 20 years ago in America has resulted in breaking down of families, single-parent children or children with no parents and many other psychological problems. Today they have reached the conclusion that there can be no women's liberation apart from men's liberation.

This is ijLija Hkko;Ur%] i.e., cherish one another. We cannot do everything alone. We shall have to carry others with us, nobody will be happy otherwise. We must realize that we are not individuals, we are part of a bigger whole. Individual, family, society, humanity, Nature and Almighty are all connected together by the limb-body relationship, vxkafxHkko- And wherever there is this vxkafxHkko there can be no question of rights. The different limbs working for the body and the body in its turn taking care of every limb. Similarly every individual working for the family and the family in its turn taking care of every individual, every family working for the welfare of the society and the society in its turn taking care of the welfare of the family, the society in its turn will work for the welfare of humanity and humanity will strive to preserve the identities of each society.

Humanity in its turn will protect Nature and Nature will provide resources to mankind. And this can be accomplished when we accept the interconnectedness of the different forms of existence which is expressed as all is czºe (Brahma). If everyone performs his enjoined duty then it will lead to progress and prosperity. Los Los deZ.;sfHkjr% laflf)a yHkrs uj%A Everyone doing his enjoined duty ultimately leads to progress and prosperity. But such a society should be strong enough to withstand the onslaughts of demonic forces. Hence a combination of moral, intellectual and spiritual strength on one side and physical and military strength on the other side is essential for the daivi society's survival. Hence a combination of Yogeshwar Krishna and Dhanurdhar Partha is essential. ;=k ;ksxs'oj% d`".kks ;=k ikFkksZ /kuq/kZj% r=k JhfoZt;ks Hkwfr/kzqZok uhfreZfreZeA