Hari Aum.
I'd like to share a poem today that I first heard as a child. This poem describes a tragedy. The tragedy of soldiers being sent to the battlefield to die. It describes a 'blunder', a dreadful mistake that led to the loss of many lives. It is based on a true story of a battle that took place on Earth a few centuries ago. The poem, and the link to the historical event upon which it is based, are shared at the end of this post.
I was reminded of this poem because of the war that is rapidly escalating on our planet today. Before I share this, I would like to reflect a little upon the current situation.
Since the recent pandemic, life has become increasingly difficult in many countries all over the world. There have been problems with accessing healthcare and cost of living is generally high. People are generally understandably frustrated and angry as a result of these events.
A number of politicians in power in various countries have also been tarnished by allegations of corruption, falsehood and scandals (this is nothing new but is even more jarring to people after the recent pandemic crisis). The public has therefore been asking questions as to why these individuals are in power at all. This has created a very uncomfortable situation for the people in power.
They like to point fingers at each other and say "It is all their fault, we have done nothing wrong, we have had no part in creating this terrible situation, we are entirely innocent". This is obviously not true.
Since the Second World War, several serious wars have been fought in the world and many innocent people have needlessly died. One example was the so-called search for 'weapons of mass destruction' in a country in the Middle East. This turned out to be a complete falsehood. There were no such weapons, but, by a happy coincidence, there was a lot of oil, to which the invading nations helped themselves. Many nations on Earth are tarnished by their previous conduct, including those participating in the present war.
The majority of politicians involved in the current war, on both sides, do not appear to be truly ethical despite their professing to be standing up for good against evil. They are clearly self-serving individuals, who wish to portray themselves as heroes to their people, while sending innocent people to die on the battlefield.
If these policitians were truly ethical, they would be talking about diplomacy not war. They would work hard, day and night, to find a diplomatic solution to this crisis. They would not be filled with this lust for blood.
This has happened in previous wars and is happening again. This war has already escalated significantly since it began last year, and is already a global war in the sense that many nations are actively involved.
As citizens, we need to carefully examine the truth of what our politicians tell us about this war and avoid blindly believing everything they say. Let us remember that they often talk the talk but do not walk the walk. They talk about wanting our welfare, but they spend little time and energy upon the things that really make a difference to our quality of life, such as investing in healthcare, education, infrastructure and so on.
To cover up their many failures and corruption, politicians all over the world talk of war in glorious terms and demand that their people sacrifice their sons and daughters. They like to talk about tanks and missiles, about fighter jets and defence systems. But they do not want to talk about peace. They do not want to even attempt to understand the perspective of the other side, they do not wish to compromise on anything.
Peace requires a willingness to listen to the other person's perspective, it requires respect for the opinion of others. A willingness to compromise, to give and take. There cannot be peace if one always wants to blame the other and have everything only one's own terms.
Unfortunately, a number of these politicians are spiritually blind individuals. They are mostly disconnected from their higher Self, lacking any compassion, lacking any understanding. They will pay a karmic price for their actions.
Every human life is precious say the yogis, regardless of country, race, religion, gender or anything else.
Ukrainian lives are precious, Russian lives are precious. All life is precious. Human life is a gift given by Spirit. It is not to be frittered away in war.
We must support the small minority of politicians who are proving with their actions that they really want peace, who are striving to resume peace talks and willing to listen to the other side (instead of making inflammatory comments and dismissing the other). There is no glory at all in war. It is a crime against the Spirit.
The man who points a gun at another, does so when he cannot see the Spirit within himself and the other. He refuses to hear the voice of the Spirit within that says "Can you not see that I exist both in you and him?". Rather, he gives in to negative inner forces of the lower mind, the forces that instigate him to commit acts of violence and cruelty.
There is a verse in the Ishavasya Upanishad that goes as follows:
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