US Gov should pursue Vedic injunctions

03-21-2003, 11:48 AM

US administration should pursue Vedic injunctions

BY RAMESH SHARMA

Buddha said, "He who fills his lamp with water will not dispel the
darkness, and he who tries to light a fire with a rotten wood will
fail." This is what is happening with Bush and the Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussain. Trying to punish Saddam Hussain the Bush way is just
like filling the lamp with water. In a similar vein, the manner in
which the Bush administration is trying to proceed with its policy of
disarmament can indubitably be likened to an attempt at lighting a
fire with rotten wood.

No doubt contemporary world is fraught with widespread tensions and
conflicts. Relations among the nation states are touching the lowest
ebb. There is hardly any region in the world today that is free from
internecine standoffs. The legacy of the great wars that marked the
twentieth century is threatening to bedevil our existence.
Proliferation of weapons, both conventional and nuclear, has added to
the escalating woes.

The way apocalyptic politics has been unfolding itself seems to have
warranted an urgent intercession on the part of spiritual realm.
Spiritualism, in the present context, needs to be redefined against
the perspective of twenty-first century realities. It should not be
confined to the four walls of Mandir, Masjid, Church and Gumbas. In
essence, spiritualism is something that wields the potentiality of
bailing the world out of present smoldering impasse.

Lord Krishna had promised: "Whenever righteousness declines and
unrighteousness prevails, I manifest." In order to translate Lord
Krishna's declaration into a reality, it is the duty of spiritual
world to rise, awake and revolt against the all-pervasive anomalies
and distortions that have already threatened to jeopardize our
civilization. Spiritualism cannot remain aloof when it comes to
combating atrocities that are insidiously eating into the fabric of
human existence.

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain is alleged of having used lethal gases
against his own people. Western governments and the media have
projected him as the most opprobrious incarnation of Hitler who is
virtually a nonpareil in the realm of cruelty and ruthlessness.
Besides, the Iraqi leader is also accused of having embarked on a
nuclear pursuit that, the present US leadership believes, can be
extremely detrimental to their interests. America is apprehensive
about the possibility of Saddam following in the footsteps of al
Qaeda that notched up an unprecedented record in the history of
terrorism by crashing airlines into major US targets.

President Bush's apprehensions are not unjustified. It is equally
discernible that Saddam needs to be disarmed. But the million dollar
question is: 'How to persuade Saddam to relinquish the obnoxious
pursuit?" Should the Bush-Blair combine be allowed to ride roughshod
over international norms and practices in the name of weeding out
Iraqi dictator? Should the international community reduce itself to
passive spectator when the Anglo-American forces make a blatant
mockery of the United Nations by making unilateral decision to go to
war? Isn't it imperative that the entire options get exhausted before
declaring war against any country?

Millions of people across the globe have been demonstrating against
war on Iraq. Perhaps it is not because they love Saddam. Certainly,
it is because they don't want to ensure that an odious precedence of
preemptive strike is established. Meantime, they have a strong
contempt for the emergence of an order wherein 'end justifies the
means'. Therefore, it is their tacit demand that even Saddam be given
ample opportunity to prove his bona fides, if he desires so. It is
true that while dealing with the UN inspection team Saddam is not
found to have been in a 'material breach'.

On the flip side, the United States should also rectify its foreign
policies underscored by supercilious overtones. The US administration
should cease to harbor any discrimination when it comes to treating
Israel and its Arabian neighbors, Palestinians being the prominent
one. The way the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East have been
pampered is also responsible for subjecting the US to endemic
reproach. American administration should not expect the United
Nations to play second fiddle to its eccentricities. Most important,
the US approach itself virtually premised on 'clashes of
civilization' should undergo perspicacious transformation to ensure
that the Islamic world begins to develop some sort of predisposition
towards cordial and fruitful coexistence with the
West. 'Sangachchhadhwam, Sambadadhwam!' (Let's walk together, let's
speak together). The US, however a hyperpower on earth, should not
veer from this Vedic injunction.

Swami Vivekananda said, "Do not care for doctrines, do not care for
dogmas, or sects, or churches or temples; they count for little
compared with the essence of existence in each man which is
spirituality and the more this is developed in a man, the more
powerful is he for good." Politics today has lost this vision. It has
been an instrument of tyranny and despotism. It is primarily
responsible for ongoing degeneration. Therefore, it has to be
rejuvenated by its solemn intermingling with spiritual values. The
synergy thus created will certainly pave the ground for enduring
peace and harmony in human society. Apparently, having been driven by
entrenched vengeance the US, instead of unleashing diatribes against
alleged 'axis of evils', should concentrate itself in giving a solemn
direction to international politics. Because, violence cannot be a
solution to violence. And war cannot be a precursor to peace and
stability. It has been amply demonstrated by what is happening in
Afghanistan that had almost been destroyed by US in the Aftermath of
September 11. The Iraqi leadership will also suffer a devastating
nemesis if it fails to comply with the will and aspirations of
international community and disarm itself as per resolution 1441 of
the United Nations Security Council.