Kuwait Diary 27 Mar'03: The Costs of War -- "dharma-nashtE"

[Guest guest]

Dear friends in Kuwait,

 

We here in Kuwait are now well into the 7th day of the War that has

descended upon neigbouring Iraq. No one really knows how much longer

this will go on. Some say it might take 6 weeks; others fear it will

take 6 months. And those who said, in the beginning, that it would

take only 6 short days are now strangely silent...

 

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As the War lengthens in duration, everyone is slowly turning to face

the looming question: What will be the "costs of this war"? What is

the price of a 6-week war? And what is the price of a 6-month war?

 

The exercise of "damage assessment" has now begun in real earnest all

over the world. Every country and every individual around the world,

like it or not, has no choice now but to sit down to ascertain and

prepare for meeting the costs and consequences of "Operation Iraqi

Freedom". This is inescapable.

 

Economists are warning us of the following costs:

 

* global economic slow-down, if not a mega-recession

* widespread joblessness; low consumer and investor confidence

* higher prices of oil and gasoline

* more terrorism and political instability

 

Now, these 'costs' above are purely economic. They are probably the

most obvious and easy to calculate. Unfortunately, War has other

not-so-obvious price-tags that none really knows how to assess. Who

can calculate, for example, the amount of carcinogens and noxious

elements that have been injected into the environment around us as a

result of the huge amount of military ordnance dropped in Iraq in the

past 7 days? Who can assess the damage on ecology caused by the

torching of oil-fields a few days ago in the Fau peninsula of Iraq?

Who can price the damage to marine life in the Arabian Gulf caused by

explosive mines we know have been laid on the ocean-floor?

 

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Even more incalculably damaging than economic or environmental costs

of War are to human life are those that we may call "cultural" or

"human" costs. What are these "human" or "cultural" costs? There are

clearly 4 such costs of War and Arjuna recounted them very eloquently

for us in the opening chapter of the Bhagavath-Gita:

 

 

kulakshaye praNashyanti kuladharmaaH sanaatanaaH .

dharme nashhTe kula.n kR^its{}namadharmo.abhibhavatyuta .. 1\.40..

 

adharmaabhibhavaatkR^ishhNa pradushhyanti kulastriyaH .

striishhu dushhTaasu vaarshhNeya jaayate varNasaN^karaH .. 1\.41..

 

saN^karo narakaayaiva kulagh{}naanaaM kulasya cha .

patanti pitaro hyeshhaaM lup{}tapiNDodakakriyaaH .. 1\.42..

 

doshhairetaiH kulagh{}naanaaM varNasaN^karakaarakaiH .

utsaadyante jaatidharmaaH kuladharmaashcha shaashvataaH .. 1\.43..

 

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When Arjuna was consumed by the horror of war on the eve of battle at

Kurukshetra it was not the prospect of world-wide recession or the

fall of the Dow Jones index that weighed heavily upon his mind. His

horror was occasioned by 4 profoundly human or cultural costs which

he listed in the above 4 'shlOka-s' as:

 

(1) "dharma-nashtE" -- the loss of social order and equilibrium

(2) "pranashyanti kula-dharma: sanAtana" -- the destruction of

age-old cultural fabric

(3) "varna-samkara" -- the disintegration of traditional communes

(4) "patanti pitaro hyeshhaaM lup{}tapiNDodakakriyaaH" -- the

cessation of ritual offering to the ancestral dead

 

When we reflect seriously upon what is presently going on within Iraq

we are struck by the amazing accuracy and deep understanding with

which Arjuna made his assessment of the true and real "costs of war"

--- costs truly more overwhelming and more permanent in consequences

than any that economists remind us of.

 

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Take the first of Arjuna's costs of war, "dharma-nashtE". The first

casualty -- "nashta" -- of War is "dharma".

 

"dharma" refers to "world order" or "social order". It refers to

institutions and symbols which keep and maintain Order in this world.

The United Nations Organization (UN) has been the greatest single

institution of world order for well over 50 years now in this world.

It was set up after a devastating World War and precisely to enforce

and maintain a global system of order -- a global code of "dharma"

for all nations to swear and abide by.

 

The UN (and the "dharma" that it symbolized and institutionalized all

these many years) has become the first casualty of this War. The UN

has lost its credibility and neither the victors nor the vanquished

of this war is going to respect it anymore. This is indeed a great

"dharma-nashta" for all the world. Who can can even attempt an

assessment of this grave and grievous loss in terms of dollars, GDP

or stock-index?

 

*************************

 

Take next the cost of war Arjuna calls "pranashyanti kula-dharma:

sanAtana" -- the destruction of cultural fabric.

 

The Sanskrit expression "kula-dharma: sanAtana" in its widest sense

refers to "ancient traditions and cultural mores of a society". A war

destroys ("pranashyanti") this "kula-dharam sanAtana".

 

The nation of Iraq belongs to a civilization that is almost as

ancient and rich as the Egyptian, the Indian and Chinese

civilizations. Three great cultures of the past were born and

flourished in Iraq -- the Sumerian, the Babylonian and the Assyrian.

The 'papyrus' was a product of this civilization. The cuneiform

method of writing was founded in this civilization. There are over

3000 sites of great cultural value that dot the vast lands that lie

between the rivers Tigirs and Euphrates. Ancient relics and artefacts

and other priceless legacy of human history lie in these lands. And

the people of Iraq are the bearers of this rich and ancient

civilization...

 

This war will destroy such ancient "kula-dharma sanAtana". And it its

place we will only see supplanted the culture of the victors --

symbolized by Pepsi-cola, McDonald's burghers and MTV.

 

************************

 

Next on Arjuna's list of the costs of war is "varna-samkara:" -- the

disintegration of traditional communes and the advent of unwanted

progeny.

 

In every country and society there are different classes and communes

of peoples. In the garden of God a thousand different varieties of

flowers bloom. It is in the nature of God's world that many 'varna-s'

must sprout and flourish. None can wish to stamp out the infinite and

dazzling variety or diversity that is part and parcel of God's scheme

of things in this world.

 

In this vast mosaic of God's world, people too for ages and ages,

have been born and have come to live in a great and complex variety

--there are tribes, clans, ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious and

sectarian groups and communes. Each commune has a right to live under

the sun according to its own ways, faith and hope. To interfere with

this right, and to seek to impose homogenuity upon this world of God

where sheer heterogenuity and variety is His Will and Pleasure, to

seek to impose one's own "American way of life" on the rest of the

world, is surely interference with God's design.

 

And yet this War will seek to do precisely that... It will interfere

with the different 'varna-s' in and around Iraq, causing their

immediate dissolution and ultimate disintegration. There are Kurds in

the north of Iraq, Turks in the North-west, Shias in the south and

Sunnis in Central Iraq... besides a score of smaller tribes and clans

scattered everywhere in the region whose respective "kula-dharma",

whose ethnic cohesion and cultural identity, will surely be in danger

of dissolution after this War.

 

The would-be victors in this War say they will bring "peace",

"democracy" and "prosperity" to the people of Iraq -- (a Russin

diplomat recently asked what kind of "peace and democracy" it would

be that was delivered to the Iraqi people upon the wings of a

Tomahawk missile!). Perhaps, yes, but who will bring back to them

their ancient "sanAtana kula-dharma" once it is lost? And who can

prevent their "varna-sankara:"?

 

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The last one in Arjuna's list of the "costs of war" is the most

terrible one indeed and it is contained in the ominous line:

 

"patanti pitaro hyeshhaaM lup{}tapiNDodakakriyaaH"

 

The Sanskrit word "lupta" means "aborted", "interrupted",

"disrupted". The word "pinda" means ritual offering to the ancestral

dead.

 

War brings a rude and immediate end to the gift of customary offering

of love which the Living in all societies offer to the Dead.

 

It is not only the Hindus who are ardent ancestor worshippers in this

world. Even if their religion did not enjoin ritual worship of

ancestors, we see that many peoples of the world do look up to their

ancestors with pride, gratitude and humility. It is in the nature of

Man to offer obeisance to his forbears, both near and distant. The

Hindus perform annual "shrAdda" ceremony to their ancestors and offer

"pinda" as a mark of respect. But the Christians too visit the graves

of their fathers and place flowers upon the graves in memoriam. The

Chinese and Japanese too are great ancestor worshippers not to

mention the Latin American peoples such as Mexicans and Peruvians.

Even in America one observes 'Father's Day' or 'Thanksgiving', is it

not? What are all these ritualistic gestures for if not to symbolize

Man's loving worship of his forebears?

 

Every man -- be he Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist or Jew --

every man knows deep within his heart that he is nothing but a small,

humble link in that long and interminable chain of life called Time:

that his limited time on earth is but a connecting bridge between the

Past of his ancestors and the Future of his progeny.

 

The Gita warns us that War -- a war in which the sons of fathers are

killed -- will surely destroy that precious and sacred link between

Man and Ancestry: that irreparable destruction which the scripture

describes as

 

"patanti pitaro hyeshhaaM lup{}tapiNDodakakriyaaH"

 

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Let not these terrible 'Costs of War' the Bhagavath-Gita has

recounted to us fall upon the poor, innocent peoples of our

neighbour, Iraq! May God grant them strength and courage to overcome

this war, this tragedy that visits them.

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

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