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| From the Russian war on Ukraine |
Can war be ever justified? This is one question that
has disturbed me whenever I reflected on our epics, the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata. Both have a war as the central action of their plots. There
is much justification for the war too. Ironically, gods are involved in both
the wars. It is a god, Krishna, who rouses up the warrior spirit of the
reluctant Arjuna in the Mahabharata. Duty and Dharma are the justifications.
The Ramayana has the same themes.
Can’t even our gods avert wars?
My personal studies of religions –
both the scriptures and the practices by the devotees – convince me that gods
are no more potent than their devotees. What are gods ultimately but our own
alter egos minus the wicked shades? We create our gods in our own best images.
Wars become unavoidable then.
Wars become unavoidable when certain
individuals place themselves above our gods, the highest possible ideals that our
limited human imaginations could conjure up.
Ravana’s ego rises above the gods and
the harmony maintained by them. Ravana is a great person in his own right. He
is a scholar, musician, and an ardent devotee of Shiva. But his ego becomes his
stumbling block. His ego makes him place himself above everything else, even
above the gods (the supreme ideals that human imaginations could create). This
act of Ravana disturbs the cosmic harmony disproportionately. It is no ordinary
woman that Ravana abducts. Ravana’s act is an assault upon the sublime height
of human imagination; he abducted a goddess of ours.
Did Rama have options other than war
for bringing the cosmos back to its harmony? For reestablishing the reign of
dharma?
Rama did try to avert the war. He
gives multiple chances to Ravana to return Sita and repent his error. There are
others like Mandodari and Vibhishana too who try to put sense into Ravana’s too
many heads. Too many heads is his problem.
Interestingly, Ravana knows that he
is doing something gravely wrong. But in his egoistic conception of the world,
nothing is wrong as long as he desires it. He thinks he is entitled to get
whatever he likes. All moral codes and divine orders should be subservient to
his ego.
Most wars in human history are driven
by the egotistic sense of entitlement of some individuals. Such individuals
assume that they are born to be the Messiahs of their countries, or a race of
people, or a lost civilisation… Most wars can be averted if these so-called
leaders had better imaginations. If only they could imagine better gods!
If only we could understand that both
Rama and Ravana are within us. They are not separate entities. There is a
bit of Ravana inside Rama and vice-versa. And both Rama and Ravan reside in our
consciousness. Our mind is the battlefield of Lanka. The Kurukshetra is nowhere
else.
If only we could imagine a god who
could deal with the Kurukshetra within us. If only we could identity the Rama
and the Ravana who are waging a constant war within us. Maybe, with such
awareness, our gods will undergo a mutation. And our imagination will expand.
And some of the wars could be averted. Perhaps.
Every war marks the limits and limitations of human imagination. The only consolation is that most wars have given us good stories, even great epics.
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| Israel's war on Gaza |
Monday: The X Factor of
the Ramayana
Previous Posts in this series:
People strive for things. When others get in their way, wars break out. Sadly. There has to be a way to end them. But prideful people...
ReplyDeleteStriving is good until vices like ego and pride and greed overwhelm striving.
DeleteThis post really made me pause and reflect. I've always been fascinated by the grandeur of epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata, but I hadn't considered how deeply they intertwine with the concept of war. The idea that even our gods, embodiments of our highest ideals, are participants in war is both intriguing and unsettling. It makes me wonder about the narratives we've built around conflict and whether we've accepted war as an inevitable part of the human experience. The notion that Ravana's ego led to cosmic imbalance resonates with modern instances where individual hubris has caused widespread turmoil. It's a stark reminder of how personal failings can have far-reaching consequences. The metaphor of Rama and Ravana existing within us is powerful; it suggests that the real battleground is internal, and by recognizing this, perhaps we can prevent external conflicts. This piece has challenged me to think about the stories we tell and the values we uphold, and how they shape our world. Thank you for such a thought-provoking read.
ReplyDeleteToday's Ravanas all think they are the present-day Ramas! And there are too many of them in the world, so-called global leaders playing Saviour of their country, culture, etc.
DeleteThe tragedy is that none of these leaders stop to look within and see the Ravana kicking there and overpowering the inner Rama.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteYes, the real battles are within ourselves only! Ravana's ten heads are representative of one who has polymath abilities, but all is 'book knowledge', rather the product of test and try experience. All the intelligence in the world cannot equal an ounce of genuine wisdom. As you rightly convey, ego is the enemy... YAM xx
I've always interpreted Ravana's ten heads as symbolic. People seem to love literal meanings.
Delete" War is a, painful and tragic defeat for everyone. " Pope Francis quoted by the Cardinal, who delivered Pope Francis's Funeral Oration. " No war can be justified and there is no Just War." - Pipe Francis, yet again. And all our victories are phyric victories.
ReplyDeletePope Franci's autobiography has numerous pages devoted to the destructiveness and inhumanity of war. I wrote post on it too: https://matheikal.blogspot.com/2025/03/war-is-stupid-pope-francis.html
DeleteI'm getting increasinlgy convinced that only subhuman people enter politics and they cause most of the problems including wars.
Totally correct, the only consolation is just a few epics and nothing else! This narrative inspired by the spiritual epics is so true in today's times when man has almost denied to introspect and give in to distraction & ego wars.
ReplyDeleteThe tragedy of every religion is the same. It's just the reverse of what Tolstoy said about families. Happy religions are happy in their own way; unhappy ones are all alike in their unhappiness and tragedy.
Delete