War of Worth?

A War of Worth?

So nothing is new. We just seem to have another regional war… at least loon(m)ing up between China and India which could well escalate to another world war. What do we hope to gain from such conflicts?



There is a very sensible commentary about the India Chinese conflict on the net. Read it at the following web link:

https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/for-modi-china-clash-is-his-biggest-challenge-as-pm-2247574



Here are two paragraphs from the article:

But the moot question is, can or should India be more aggressive? The pragmatic answer is a big "No" for two reasons. Firstly, China has very carefully chosen the timing of its operation. It has entered Indian territory when India is under lockdown due to the Coronavirus and is dealing with a battered economy. While China has also suffered, there are forecasts that it could be the only major economy that does not face negative growth.



Secondly, if China's defense spending is 261 billion dollars, then India's is only 71 billion dollars. Since 2000, China has been working on the plan to make its army the most powerful in the world by 2049. Chinese president Xi Jinping in May asked the military to "scale up the battle preparedness, visualising the worst-case scenario."



So… hey we are finally far more religious than we used to be. The Indians are taking pride in their heritage and culture and history and thus we ought to be helped by the gods in whatever endeavor we may want to make. So if we think of challenging a very big economy like that of China we need not worry. This reminds of several people who actually thought that God will help them in all the murder, fraud and other misdemeanors that the mind, very ingeniously suggests. Then God put them in a cell for years. The list is long.



Uh holy one why do you complain so?



In other words why do I claim that war efforts are not well thought out? Well that is always the case… Lets take a classic example… Why was world war 2 fought? For that matter why is there any war fought?

Hey….. this war (if it is fought) will not be an embodiment of religious search or insight. So world war two or 2 or || was fought because England was the neighbor of Germany and the former kept saying that the sun does not set on the British Empire. Germany wasn’t small and they also wanted a say in the way the world economy establishes itself. They wanted to sell German nuts and bolts and other things of daily use all over the world and England would have nothing of that because the sun was always shining. So Germany along with a few other similar irritated guides went out of its way to run England down. Another interesting fact, the US spent 4 trillion dollars and 400,000 of its soldiers to defeat Nazi Germany.



Pious one that is just one war. Do you have a list?



Yup. Here it is:

1)      The war of 1812 in USA. Money spent: $1.78 billion. Number of deaths…. 15,000. Reason for the bout… The Americans suffered trade as well as military deficits at the hands of the British and they wanted to occupy Canada also.

2)      Another US war… Spanish American war… Fought between the mentioned countries because conflict arose over who will rule places like Cuba, Guan, Puerto Rico etc… The Americans won most of them and arose as a global power. It cost the Americans 10.33 billion dollars and there were only 2446 deaths from American side.

3)      The Spanish Armada was sent to Invade England. This was part of an ongoing war between Spain and England which lasted for nineteen years. Finally Spain and England were willing to not interfere in the workings of Ireland and Netherlands. Also England was supposed to cease privateering on the seas (which is basically, setting up ships and people to be aggressive and loot and then sharing the profits). In the end they just told each other, “ I wont trouble you and you don’t trouble me”. Which…… they could have said earlier….





The list is long. Now we come back to India and China. Let us just try to imagine why China would be aggressive and why India would obviously want to protest. China is a global power and it gives goods to India at a low price. Sometimes the Chinese want more than just booze money which is what we tend to give them. Imagine, Chinese goods after having been imported cost LESS than what indigenous goods or Indian goods cost. Which means they (the Chinese) don’t charge us that much. Now with the rise in nationalistic fervor we declare that we are a looming superpower, better GDP, G7 membership and so on. In other words we hope to bump China and other countries as fast as we can and become equipoised as the leading nation in central Asia. We are also having tentative talks with the United States regarding bolstering of confidence in each other and China feels threatened, because it is on tenterhooks with either of us. So we have a major oriental power whom we are threatening not directly but by implied derision.



So what? So many lives and lots of money is at stake. They will want to bomb Rashtrapathi Bhavan or where arms and ammunition are stored, where people are staying… tall skyscrapers will seem to crumble. All this because we are not being gentle with a proud and powerful neighbor. Now if I have a proud and powerful neighbor I might flout the rules of diplomacy and get by, but if many lives are involved then what should be done.



Bunny, Its funny…. don’t you know that the US senate might just want to help India out?



That is very interesting. The US is at odds with China. It was at odds with India also…. in the past. Now if it propels India to fight China with some legitimate aid, doesn’t that suit the US “senate” oh so well?



And if Pakistan, China and the US combine intelligently to wipe out Indian fortresses of hope and plenty, then Bozo will be so happy because the land of religion will have been lain to waste. Which brings us to the real point. What does religion say about war and how it should be conducted?



Here are a few quotes:



Manu Samhita:

6.47  Let him patiently bear hard words, let him not insult anybody, and let him not become anybody's enemy for the sake of this (perishable) body.



The following are quotes from the 7th chapter of Manu Samhita. 

18.Punishment alone governs all created beings, punishment alone protects them, punishment watches over them while they sleep; the wise declare punishment (to be identical with) the law.

19. If (punishment) is properly inflicted after (due) consideration, it makes all people happy; but inflicted without consideration, it destroys everything.

26. They declare that king to be a just inflicter of punishment, who is truthful, who acts after due consideration, who is wise, and who knows (the respective value of) virtue, pleasure, and wealth.

27. A king who properly inflicts (punishment), prospers with respect to (those) three (means of happiness); but he who is voluptuous, partial, and deceitful will be destroyed, even through the (unjust) punishment (which he inflicts).

28. Punishment (possesses) a very bright lustre, and is hard to be administered by men with unimproved minds; it strikes down the king who swerves from his duty, together with his relatives.

29. Next it will afflict his castles, his territories, the whole world together with the movable and immovable (creation), likewise the sages and the gods, who (on the failure of offerings) ascend to the sky.

30. (Punishment) cannot be inflicted justly by one who has no assistant, (nor) by a fool, (nor) by a covetous man, (nor) by one whose mind is unimproved, (nor) by one addicted to sensual pleasures.

31. By him who is pure (and) faithful to his promise, who acts according to the Institutes (of the sacred law), who has good assistants and is wise, punishment can be (justly) inflicted.

44. Day and night he must strenuously exert himself to conquer his senses; for he (alone) who has conquered his own senses, can keep his subjects in obedience.

45. Let him carefully shun the ten vices, springing from love of pleasure, and the eight, proceeding from wrath, which (all) end in misery.

46. For a king who is attached to the vices springing from love of pleasure, loses his wealth and his virtue, but (he who is given) to those arising from anger, (loses) even his life.

47. Hunting, gambling, sleeping by day, censoriousness, (excess with) women, drunkenness, (an inordinate love for) dancing, singing, and music, and useless travel are the tenfold set (of vices) springing from love of pleasure.

48. Tale-bearing, violence, treachery, envy, slandering, (unjust) seizure of property, reviling, and assault are the eightfold set (of vices) produced by wrath.

49. That greediness which all wise men declare to be the root even of both these (sets), let him carefully conquer; both sets (of vices) are produced by that.

50. Drinking, dice, women, and hunting, these four (which have been enumerated) in succession, he must know to be the most pernicious in the set that springs from love of pleasure.

51. Doing bodily injury, reviling, and the seizure of property, these three he must know to be the most pernicious in the set produced by wrath.

Yoohooo the list goes on… just hold still and yawn

87. A king who, while he protects his people, is defied by (foes), be they equal in strength, or stronger, or weaker, must not shrink from battle, remembering the duty of Kshatriyas.

102. Let him be ever ready to strike, his prowess constantly displayed, and his secrets constantly concealed, and let him constantly explore the weaknesses of his foe.

103. Of him who is always ready to strike, the whole world stands in awe; let him therefore make all creatures subject to himself even by the employment of force.

104. Let him ever act without guile, and on no account treacherously; carefully guarding himself, let him always fathom the treachery which his foes employ.

105. His enemy must not know his weaknesses, but he must know the weaknesses of his enemy; as the tortoise (hides its limbs), even so let him secure the members (of his government against treachery), let him protect his own weak points.

106. Let him plan his undertakings (patiently meditating) like a heron; like a lion, let him put forth his strength; like a wolf, let him snatch (his prey); like a hare, let him double in retreat.

169. When (the king) knows (that) at some future time his superiority (is) certain, and (that) at the time present (he will suffer) little injury, then let him have recourse to peaceful measures.

170. But when he thinks all his subjects to be exceedingly contented, and (that he) himself (is) most exalted (in power), then let him make war.

171. When he knows his own army to be cheerful in disposition and strong, and (that) of his enemy the reverse, then let him march against his foe.

172. But if he is very weak in chariots and beasts of burden and in troops, then let him carefully sit quiet, gradually conciliating his foes.

173. When the king knows the enemy to be stronger in every respect, then let him divide his army and thus achieve his purpose.

174. But when he is very easily assailable by the forces of the enemy, then let him quickly seek refuge with a righteous, powerful king.

198. He should (however) try to conquer his foes by conciliation, by (well-applied) gifts, and by creating dissension, used either separately or conjointly, never by fighting, (if it can be avoided.)

Now we can safely assure ourselves of the following facts from the quotes above.



1)      The author is quoting from very well renowned verses in the Vedic literature which is the traditional literature of the Hindus.

2)      One should not strain the nation’s revenues simply because one has been harshly dealt with on one occasion.

3)      No doubt punishment protects everyone, but it must be inflicted by a King who is loyal to the religious dictum.

4)      The king should purge himself of the various vices otherwise his estimation of what is right and wrong will be perjury.

5)      The king should be very capable in warfare, capable of protecting his troops and himself, capable of keeping his own counsel etc.

6)      This line explains a lot. So I just quote it. 106. Let him plan his undertakings (patiently meditating) like a heron; like a lion, let him put forth his strength; like a wolf, let him snatch (his prey); like a hare, let him double in retreat.

7)      Now the real point of so much explanation is that the king wages war only when he knows that he is likely to win. When victory is not assured he should at least take the shelter of a more powerful king.

8)      In other words we should imply war only when we are sure of victory, otherwise we should just marshal our forces and brace ourselves for whatever destiny has in store. If we become adjective oriented and herald a war which can be avoided with some diplomacy then we are stoning ourselves.



Now something that I would like to get back to with some purpose. Very often war is because I and my neighbor are ill at odds with what we have. In this world everyone cannot have everything. But we all can have sufficient to meet our regular needs and be prosperous in whatever way we want and can. Thus envy is the natural insight of the tardy. That is why confrontation provokes something like mirth in the minds of thinkers who know that the flesh we cherish will ultimately be stool or ashes. Even if one party is belligerent it makes a lot of sense to be patient and forbearing for that is more precious than heaven. Our gods or God Himself is most pleased with one who is willing to overlook his personal pleasures for the happiness of many, one willing to work without worrying about personal gain, etc and only when one qualifies himself with such qualities do the gods or God Himself become benign with their dependents. Otherwise India with all its rich culture and religiosity was dominated by foreign legions for nearly a thousand years. Many temples were simply impaired and libraries demolished.



If economical instability is the cause of war then it can be attended to by careful diplomatic means. From our situation we are fairly even about the point that we are not out to conquer huge territories of land protected by formidable armies. If a powerful neighbor is a little agitated does it harm us as cogent individuals to reach a reconciliation. May be they just want a little bit more money for the goods they supply and maybe a thank you.







Finally we come down to what all this implies. Whenever the author feels uncomfortable someone seems to suggest why doesn’t he go to the war and die or live as a messiah. Wars are fought by legends…. Why don’t I become one. This seems to me to be quite interesting because it seems that in all lands, they who are religious and righteous are easily inducted into the army and easily they are sent as frontline challengers of the enemy and then Nostradamus need not be called up to find out what happens next. If a person seems very determined to achieve something determined in life the armed forces seems the best way. So… the more you become religious, the more you end up on the enemy frontier facing bullets. Somehow it seems that the national leaders of any land…. whichever land or religion it may be, they like to send those with religious zeal to the warfront to fight war after war. Basically if you are religious you get to die an early death.



Now one might be stunned to hear this statement…. Why should the believers in here and hereafter have to be hastened to death. One answer is that they (the believers) want to go to heaven and thus they get to die and meet their Maker as fast as they could. Another is, the world likes bozo…. you know, the type of men and women who like to spice up life…. The religious genre of personalities either join bozo to become one of them or they just stand out like a…. like a standing out thing…. Because they know that their maker desires them to be chaste to Him morning, evening and night. And bozo is far more ambitious…. Bozo likes to drink blood for health keeping purposes. Bozo likes to party late into the night. Bozo likes to drink to his ambitions. Bozo likes to flood the market with products, 99% of which we don’t need (if we are in on our senses). Bozo likes to route the environment with inimical gaseous substances. Bozo likes to keep our minds surcharged by aggression and depressed by inflation. And bozo likes to challenge fate. Once one wins the challenge against fate one need not fear the Almighty one for the latter has already forsaken the battlefield. Once God has run away who… who can challenge the great BOZO. So life is such that the people in general prefer Lucifer to God, because Lucifer is more memorable than God. Lucifer can give us the time of our life whereas God can chain us up in our own determinations.



Thus all these wars somehow point out… at least in recent times, that the religiously staunch, struggle to find a toehold, because those otherwise inclined like to get rid of them so that the latter don’t trouble them when the time arrives to live it up. That is why so much maneuvering is done, so much arrangements are made, all over the world to put religion in its place. God is someone we need when we are in need of solace otherwise we prefer to wave Him away to the background. Even as the author writes he struggles with baser dimensions of existence and the intimation is that the avenue to a liberal life is only widening. Lucifer and Lucy beckon so generously whereas the altitude at which God is available involves a steep climb.



So the final question is that what does one do? Does one chase oneself away from all the happiness planned throughout the week, month and year. When the wine flows freely and chance seems subdued by might of reason what does a man of worth chose to do and why ought he have to repent. The answer is difficult to give. Especially if you are going to decide on the spot. One ought to have a notebook where one writes down what are the choices one should make in life and why. Thus grace should replace greed and coke should replace wine. The price of one commodity over another is what one should be willing to pay if one is willing to do what is best for him or her.



Thus WAR is the last thing that a developing nation should herald because of behavior lacking in caution. We are slowly but surely building our roads and highways and skyscrapers and stadiums and granaries and even movie theatres. Should we chance it all because I have to insist that an OFFICIALLY atheistic regime is subject to the wrath of the gods? We do not really know how cultured the Chinese actually are. Every culture has a constellation or a heaven which takes care of it. The Chinese officials might have to take a perjorative view of heaven and its gods because such was the thought process of their great leaders, but if you take one of them aside and ask…. “Sir do you think that if you do good you will get good and if you do bad you will get bad“ ,…what do you think they will say?



That means all mature men believe in the law of karma and the forces which back such enforcement, whether they believe in a heaven or not. The communist officiant may not remember his heaven but he can be reminded about it.  Ancient Chinese art, architecture, music, medicine, religion, logic, inventions, military sense etc are some of the best and people continue to be amazed. Despite the glitz of Chinese economy, they are actually, somewhat weak because they are not able to officially come to terms with their glorious past and the heavens associated with it, which incidentally Indians are not struggling with having rejected, an indifferent approach to our cultural heritage.



Actually communism in Russia was toppled when their leaders realized that it was not the best way to go about doing things. Thus communism in China can also be dissipated if we are gentle and thus point out the drawback of a life which is bleak, because that is what an atheistic life is. Russians were the most powerful nation in the world economically, military wise, in space, in sports etc, yet the Russians themselves (along with their presidents) rooted for a  government which would bypass the cruel ways of injustice and dogma that life was none to be seen beyond a group of chemicals.



Thus since by nature we have a maker we need to just remind the forgetful neighbor of this fact…. “O neighbor in all the busy activities you attempt, you seem to forget that your Maker is affectionate to you, and hopes against hope that you will also be affectionate to Him. When you do so a whole new world opens out to you and to those you are affectionate to”. When we reaffirm our spiritual ideals we lead a progressive life and this the leaders of a great nation like China need to know, for the benefit of the world. We do not need to allow millions of deaths and billions in property loss. May we just need to re address the situation.

Why don’t we know the future?

Why don’t we know the future?

The above statement seems very odd at first sight but in the light of modern science it is a rather interesting venture. According to the laws of physics the equations of motion are time reversible or independent of the direction of the flow of time. In other words if an empty  glass can fall off a table and break into many pieces it can also reassemble and rise and situate itself back on the table. Thus ideally we should be able to reverse the state of things, however what fortunately prevents this, is, yet another law, the second law of thermodynamics. This law says that the disorder of the universe or of an isolated system only increases with the flow of time. Thus if we are conforming to the second law we can only conclude that the empty glass is more likely to break than reassemble. Although the breaking of the glass and its assembling itself together can both happen, the inevitability of the former over the latter is likely. In other words we need to conclude that although equations of motion are time reversible, the law of entropy forbids us from being too confident of undoing things that have already been done.

Thus we come to some acclimatization to this understanding and that is with how much certainty can we know about the future? In weather forecasting systems we can only forecast so much because the entropy law induces chaotic features in the predictions. Thus the forecasting is not so well supported always by actual events.

Recently, in the country of India we get to see similar chaos prevail in the support of the government by the student community. The Indian government has come up with two statutes very recently. The media and the metropolises are raging with gunfire over these two laws and what they seem to imply about the future of  the nation. As a very profound religious teacher and scholar in recent times pointed out very recently the two laws are two separate and distinct pieces of literature. Unfortunately, the media, and those who league themselves in terms of what they presume from the former are so impressed as to how two laws have been handed down to the nation, simultaneously, and seem so convinced that the two laws are diabolically linked to each other, and, will inevitably, lead to administrative mal-practice towards a religious minority, that it is heart rendering.

Is the government not allowed to come up with two or five or twenty laws and every time they do, do the educated elite have to immediately assume that there is some amount of forgery involved whereby the government is conniving to arrive at a malpractice? The two laws are distinct and they are worded very individually and differently.

There have been two legal statements one known as the CAA and the other NRC.  Lets hear from a national newspaper what these two have to say:

What is NRC? (National Register of Citizens)
NRC is the National Register of Citizens. The NRC identified illegal immigrants from Assam on the Supreme Court's order. This has been a state-specific exercise to keep its ethnic uniqueness unaltered. But ever since its implementation, there has been a growing demand for its nationwide implementation. Now, many top BJP leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah have proposed that the NRC in Assam be implemented across India. It effectively suggests bringing in a legislation that will enable the government to identify infiltrators who have been living in India illegally, detain them and deport them to where they came from.

What is the CAA? (Citizenship Amendment Act)
According to the CAA, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Parsi migrants who have entered India illegally-that is, without a visa-on or before December 31, 2014 from the Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and have stayed in the country for five years, are eligible to apply for Indian citizenship.

Why is the provision extended only to people of six religions, and not Muslims, and why does it apply only to people coming from these three countries?
The Union government claims that people of these six faiths have faced persecution in these three Islamic countries, Muslims haven't. It is, therefore, India's moral obligation to provide them shelter.

Here are the understandings that evolve from the above:

-         The CAA is just an amendment of an act that was already there.

-         India is a nation fighting terrorism all over its geography. There are Hindu Muslim riots almost every year.

-         India is a Hindu majority nation. Staunch Hindus would like some opportunity to practice their religious duties without having to hear blood curdling screams of beings they consider as sacred, like cows coming from somewhere nearby.

-         There are plenty of examples to show that the cows are considered sacred in the Abrahamic faiths and also in oriental religions like Buddhism, Jainism etc. We do not really know why other religions don’t insist on the preservation of this animal but we as Hindus demand some opportunity in terms of land and preservation rights to worship what we have considered sacred for thousands of years. Hindus have worshipped the cows as sacred even when under foreign rule. A hindu eating cow’s meat would be considered an outcaste. Hindus have paid taxes as inferior citizens in their own nation just so that they can go on without violating their rituals. Now as a free nation, Hindus would like to preserve what they have held on to for so many unyielding years. Since Hinduism had its origin in India, Indian Hindus would like to preserve what they can of their culture and heritage. As more and more people tune in we are finding that the Hindu or rather Vedic culture had many contributions to make in terms of architecture, mathematics, yoga, medicine, astronomy, ecology and fuel functions, philosophy, the human mind and its nature, administration, the cloth industry, a systematization of language, non violence and so on. Thus if we preserve our culture we stand to benefit ourselves and the world at large. If a person just wants to eat meat there are a whole lot of options out there and one need to utilize any one or any other combinations to satisfy the  sense of taste. As per our religious leaders we can slaughter the buffalo, or any such animal that can be domesticated easily. If you go to the zoo you will know that there are many animals which can be held on to in a domestic way and which can be later slaughtered for the taste of their flesh. There are rabbits, deer, giraffes, zebras, horses, antelopes, gazelles, bison… even elephants can be chained and eaten later. The cows are considered pious. The stool and urine of the cow have many curative or antiseptic properties and along with ghee, milk and butter contribute to ideological benefits as well. Lacto vegetarian diets are preferred by all religions preferring the diligence of non violence. Hindus need their cows and the cows need the Hindus. The cow is venerated as a mother and the bull is used to till the soil and thought of as the father.  Our ancestors used to utilize two bulls to plough the land and neo Darwinists are yet to come up with a better sense of symmetry.     

-         The NRC is just a requirement of a systematization of knowledge of who is who and where do they stay and what do they do etc. It simply implies a data bank which can be very effectively used to counter terrorism, other types of crimes, public utility services like finding where we’ll find a doctor or a rice mill etc. A data bank is something that can always be used to do a variety of useful activities like building hospitals or educational institutions or anything where it is necessary to have an idea of who is available for what and where.

-         The CAA is an amendment which simply says that persecuted minorities from three neighboring countries are eligible to be granted the status of a refugee. From Muslim majority countries you wouldn’t expect Muslims to be persecuted. Unfortunately some Muslims are, like the Amides, and they can find citizenship in many other countries many of which offer Muslims legal ids as priority-one citizens. If the government is embarrassed about saying that yes we are afraid of Muslims because we really do not know where there integrity is even though they may stay in India, are they potential terrorists or actual terrorists,  then it (the Indian govt) is NOT to be really blamed. This is NOT, NOT, NOT the case of discrimination against any religion or scripture or a man of God. It is just the socio-economic situation prevailing in India and neighboring countries for some time and maybe the Indian government is just trying to counter this situation in a forthright way… The Quran is not a security threat to Indians, but during Hindu, Muslim riots, Muslims riot against Hindus. If the Muslims seem less fundamental about their socio legal rights to kill or mistreat our religious representations like cows and less inclined to raise weapons against their neighbors, the Hindus, the government might just feel more inclined to be more impartial. If a terrorist organization is looking for a potential terrorist then if they are able to speak more easily to a Muslim than to someone from another community…. what can the government do but just feel uncomfortable and… apologetic.

-          Simply because the present ruling party is inclined to think favorably about our Hindu heritage they are being axiomatically accused of trying to criticize a religious minority. If I own an Audi car then I can like no other car or any other person owning another type of car… this kind of reasoning can be confusingly condemning. If the ruling party wants to represent the cultural values of a vast majority of Indians, it is just a party policy not a crime.

-         To empathize one can see that there are quite a number of reasons to represent Hindu culture. Although Hinduism is arguably the oldest religion it was reeling under foreign rule for over a thousand years. Many of its customs were subjected to sacrilege and desecration rites were profoundly performed. Millions of Hindu people converted to another religion because of persecution by the State. Although India recovered its freedom in 1947 the then Indian Prime Minister said that the industries of India would be the modern temples of the same. There were partition wars where millions were killed… over religion. The author remembers how during his school days the representation of Hindu culture was symptomatized by the feelings that the foreigners ruled over us because they were superior to us in every possible way… by standards of beauty, intelligence, by standards of physical as well as psychological strength etc. The roads of India where unclean, and our poverty levels as well as educational serfdom, still seem to hide that the Hindu way of existing was quite advanced. We keep enduring the feelings that Indian women wearing saris are backward in contemplation as compared to those belonging to western cultures. A man wearing a dhoti would be rarely seen on a public thoroughfare in central or northern India. The outpourings of the sage, millennia ago seem to make no sense and no sensibility. Under the present government, Indians have excelled in sports, in economical standards, and in other ways which could be indicative of the fact that Hindus are taking their cultural impetuses seriously and being inspired about life. Other governments have also helped us feel enthused about our nationality and have fostered brotherhood among antagonistic communities. But the Vedic culture was being slowly forgotten and in fact the number of people proficient in knowing the Sanskrit language had reduced to an all time low….

To conclude the author would like to affirm that this treatise is not discouraging a government or a religion. All the personalities who have ruled over India were famous and capable personalities and some have even staked their lives…. Similarly Abrahamic religions are also beautifully expressing the encouragement of a Divine which fosters beautiful living, and righteous deeds. However, disorder creeps into the best of systems as it did in the past and that causes degeneration of an orderly establishment. Thus some housekeeping done by the national leaders while following the constitutional laws and the laws of humanity should not seem too appalling. What is appalling is that those of us who venerate the Vedic literatures seem to deserve having our ears clipped off on the charges of polytheism, idolatory, pantheism, monism, voidism etc. While dealing with these charges will have to consume another sitting, one can at least appreciate that before you clip the ears off, of a human being, give him a chance to present to you in his grandeur what measure of a heathen he actually is. Then the ears are yours .... to clip. But you must allow the supposed heathen to make a case because he says that the books he venerates seem to boasts of over four lakh verses and one who has studied the literature under an able guide can not but help see a beautiful synthesis which is not so observable to an outsider. An infinitely powerful being might just have multiple synthesizing features which takes some cumulative understanding to appreciate.