Letters from Vienna #108
The Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita, according to Paramahansa Yogananda[1], is about the battle between our base instincts and our divine reason within the battlefield of the physical realm. By means of introspection one examines the struggle between the forces of discipline and those of dissoluteness and between the ability of the mind to differentiate and the bidding of the senses:
“The blind king Dhritarashtra (the blind mind) enquired through the honest Sanjaya (impartial introspection): “When my offspring, the Kurus (the wicked impulsive mental and sense tendencies), and the sons of the virtuous Pandu (the pure discriminative tendencies) gathered together on the dharmakshetra (holy plain) of Kurukshetra (the bodily field of activity), eager to do battle for supremacy, what was the outcome?”
“The earnest enquiry by the blind King Dhritarashtra, seeking an unbiased report from the impartial Sanjaya as to how fared the battle between the Kurus and the Pandavas (sons of Pandu) at Kurukshetra, is metaphorically the question to be asked by the spiritual aspirant as he reviews daily the events of his own righteous battle from which he seeks the victory of Self-realization.
Through honest introspection he analyzes the deeds and assesses the strengths of the opposing armies of his good and bad tendencies: self-control versus sense indulgence, discriminative intelligence opposed by mental sense inclinations, spiritual resolve in meditation contested by mental resistance and physical restlessness, and divine soul-consciousness against the ignorance and magnetic attraction of the lower ego-nature.”
“The battlefield of these contending forces is Kurukshetra (Kuru, from the Sanskrit root kṛi, “work, material action”; and kṣetra, “field”). This “field of action” is the human body with its physical, mental, and soul faculties, the field on which all activities of one’s life take place. It is referred to in this Gita stanza as Dharmakshetra (dharma, i.e., righteousness, virtue, holiness; thus, holy plain or field), for on this field the righteous battle is waged between the virtues of the soul’s discriminative intelligence (sons of Pandu) and the ignoble, uncontrolled activities of the blind mind (the Kurus, or offspring of the blind King Dhritarashtra).”
“Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra refers also, respectively, to religious and spiritual duties and activities (those of the yogi in meditation) as contrasted with mundane responsibilities and activities. Thus, in this deeper metaphysical interpretation, Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra signifies the inner bodily field on which the spiritual action of yoga meditation takes place for the attainment of Self-realization: the plain of the cerebrospinal axis and its seven subtle centers of life and divine consciousness.”
“Competing on this field are two opposing forces or magnetic poles: discriminative intelligence (buddhi) and the sense-conscious mind (manas). Buddhi, the pure discriminating intellect, is allegorically represented as Pandu, husband of Kunti (the mother of Arjuna and the other Pandava princes who uphold the righteous principles of nivritti, renunciation of worldliness). The name Pandu derives from pand, “white”—a metaphorical implication of the clarity of a pure discriminating intellect. Manas is allegorically represented as the blind King Dhritarashtra, sire of the one hundred Kurus, or sensory impressions and inclinations, which are all bent toward pravritti, worldly enjoyment. Buddhi draws its right discernment from the superconsciousness of the soul manifesting in the causal seats of consciousness in the spiritual cerebrospinal centers. Manas, the sense mind, the subtle magnetic pole turned outward toward the world of matter, is in the pons Varolii, which physiologically is ever busy with sensory coordination. Thus, buddhi intelligence draws the consciousness toward truth or the eternal realities, soul consciousness or Self-realization. Manas or sense mind repels the consciousness from truth and engages it in the external sensory activities of the body, and thus with the world of delusive relativities, maya.”
“The name Dhritarashtra derives from dhṛta, “held, supported, drawn tight (reins),” and rāṣṭra, “kingdom,” from rāj, “to rule.” By implication, we have the symbolic meaning, dhṛtam rāṣṭraṁ yena, “who upholds the kingdom (of the senses),” or “who rules by holding tightly the reins (of the senses).””
“The mind (manas, or sense consciousness) gives coordination to the senses as the reins keep together the several horses of a chariot. The body is the chariot; the soul is the owner of the chariot; intelligence is the charioteer; the senses are the horses. The mind is said to be blind because it cannot see without the help of the senses and intelligence. The reins of a chariot receive and relay the impulses from the steeds and the guidance of the charioteer. Similarly, the blind mind on its own neither cognizes nor exerts guidance, but merely receives the impressions from the senses and relays the conclusions and instructions of the intelligence. If the intelligence is governed by buddhi, the pure discriminative power, the senses are controlled; if the intelligence is ruled by material desires, the senses are wild and unruly.”[2]
The Bhagavad Gita also functions as a tale of war and woe:
“There the son of Pritha saw standing fathers and grandfathers, as well as teachers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, fathers-in-law, and even allies in both armies. When the son of Kunti had seen them, all these relatives arrayed, he was overcome with the greatest compassion, deeply saddened, and said this: “When I see my family willing and ready to fight, Krishna, my limbs falter, my mouth goes dry. There is a trembling in my body and my hairs bristle.”” [3]
“I see inauspicious portents, Keshava, and I see nothing good achieved by killing my family in battle.”[4]
Bruderkrieg
All war (the same could be said of all violence) is a form of (un)civil war because all its manifold manifestations are directed against oneself; they are all merely modes of self-destruction. Consequently, there’s nothing “heroic” about the business; all, whether victorious or not, are its victims while what, at first glance, might seem like courage is in reality blindness.
The German term Bruderkrieg (a war between brothers) is perhaps more apt than “civil war”, which is defined as a war within a people, between citizens of a country or a war between two closely related peoples. Even wars between nation-states and military alliances are forms of civil war. There’s little real difference between us and those minor differences which do exist are of little import. Real, fundamental, differences between “peoples”, “cultures”, “nations” and “states” are wholly illusory, which doesn’t mean, of course, that a murderous “one-world” tyranny is, in itself, desirable. It merely means that war is inherently foolish, self-destructive, evil and to be avoided at all costs.
Thus, the war between Croatian or Bosnian speakers of Serbo-Croatian or Serbian speakers of Serbo-Croation was an obscenity and a crime against humanity (see letters #94 & #95) and the so-called “War of the Roses”, which Shakespeare documented so ably, was just as vicious as any war within a Mafia clan (from which it hardly differed).
The ongoing war in the Ukraine is just the same. The vast majority of Ukrainians can speak Russian and a large portion identify as Russians. Yet, many, since 2014, have been persuaded to fight and kill their fellow Ukrainians on account of the fact that they’re Russian and many currently fight, in what is, to all intents and purposes a NATO proxy war, against Russia itself (while roughly four million Ukrainians, paradoxically, seek refuge in “Mother Russia”).
The war in the Ukraine is essential a war of identity[5], in which, since 2014, those in the West, especially Galicia (see letter #106), have sought to impose their concept of Ukraine on the rest of their fellow citizens, with disastrous consequences. Indeed, Mark Sleboda argues that many Western Ukrainians define their very identity in terms of antipathy toward Russia.
War is Hell
War now, as it always was, is hell.
“A Ukrainian soldier fighting in the eastern town of Soledar told CNN that the situation is “critical” and the death toll is now so high that “no one counts the dead”.”
“He described a dynamic battlefield where buildings change hands daily and units can’t keep track of the escalating death toll. “No one will tell you how many dead and wounded there are. Because no one knows for sure. Not a single person,” he said. “Not at the headquarters. Not anywhere. Positions are being taken and re-taken constantly. What was our house today, becomes Wagner’s the next day.””[6]
This war, just as all wars beforehand, has attracted its fair share of men in search of meaning or adventure. Some even think it glamorous.
“A recent interview by British YouTuber Nikolas Lloyd” Dimitri Lascaris relates “sheds an even harsher light on the sordid reality of this war and the foreigners serving in it. Lloyd conducted a three-part interview of a British soldier who had just concluded seven months of service in Ukraine’s International Legion.”
“In the interview, the soldier identifies himself as “Joseph MacDonald”. MacDonald begins the interview by explaining that he travelled to Poland from the U.K. shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in late February of last year. From Warsaw, he was bused across the Ukraine-Poland border, along with other volunteers, to the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security. MacDonald arrived at the Center shortly before the Russian missile strike of March 3, 2022. He estimates that over 100 Ukrainian officer recruits were killed in that strike. Unlike Mogelson, who reports that no foreigners died in the attack, MacDonald asserts that “a few” recruits for the International Legion were in fact killed.”
“MacDonald blames the foreigners’ deaths on poor security measures: If you are going to hide a bunch of chaps who are foreign and who have come to fight for your country, don’t put them at the “International Cooperation Centre”, that’s all I’ve got to say. If you were playing pin-the-missile-on-the-donkey, and I was Vladimir Putin, it would be a good bet, right next to the Polish border, called the ‘International Cooperation Centre’, large base, definitely capable of dealing with all of these people coming in, let’s blow that one up, eh?”
“MacDonald reveals that, in the aftermath of the strike, “there was an awful lot of looting going on. Like a lot of looting”. He explains: A lot of people who came to volunteer for the Ukrainians were also kleptomaniacs or just total [indiscernible] who’d gone there with the intention of plunder… That is a problem that the Legion kept having for several months…. It was a no-vetting, sign-up-we’ll-take-anyone free-for-all at the start, and it drew in a lot of undesirable types.”
“MacDonald then refers to the infamous Georgian Legion, some of whose members were at the International Cooperation Center at the time of the Russian missile strike. (Members of the Georgian Legion are suspected of having executed a dozen Russian soldiers after they had surrendered.) According to MacDonald, in the aftermath of Russia’s strike on the International Cooperation Center, he and a British fellow soldier came across Georgian Legion members who were looting an armoury. The looters reacted menacingly when the other British soldier tried meekly to stop their looting. MacDonald describes the Georgian Legion as “not the most uniform and regimented group of guys”, “quite ‘piratey’” and a “pack of hyenas on a carcass”.”
“MacDonald confirms that, after the missile strike, a “great desertion” happened: 600-700 of the 1,000 or so foreign volunteers left the International Legion. Some left Ukraine altogether, but others went to other Ukrainian militias, believing or hoping that, in those militias, they would find opportunities to shoot Russians with impunity, which MacDonald describes as “sweet spots”. But the reality, according to MacDonald, is that “there is no sweet spot like that – if you are fighting the Russians, you are getting horribly shelled…. No one gets the Call of Duty experience. The artillery strike is on all the time.””
“At one point, MacDonald comments on the Canadian soldiers with whom he served. He commends the “really great guys from First Nations and the French side”, but then adds “sadly, the rest of them proved a bit on the cowardly side. That’s the only way to say it.” According to MacDonald, these soldiers – even those who had served up to ten years in the Canadian military – could not endure shelling that was of medium intensity (let alone high-intensity shelling). He observes that a soldier who served in Afghanistan “didn’t like it when the enemy had bigger guns than him, so he went home.” MacDonald refers to these soldiers as “goldilocks soldiers”.”
“While praising U.S. soldiers from U.S. special forces, MacDonald asserts that many of the U.S. soldiers he encountered were “spoiled”, adding “it’s very easy to be the best army in the world when you can get an F-16 to go and blow up a mortar team on a hillside… I haven’t seen a fighter plane this whole bloody war. They’re all over Kyiv, keeping the President safe.” Artillery, mortars, tanks and rockets do “all the killing on the battleground… Your rifle, if that accounts for 1% of the dead in this war, I’d be surprised.””
“MacDonald comments extensively on the three Ukrainian commanders under whom he served. MacDonald found the first of them to be “excellent”, but that commander’s replacement was “very obtuse” and “inept”: he “seemed to think that picking a nice house for him and all his drivers to stay in was much more important than picking a house where you had radio comms to your actually deployed units in the field.””
“While posted in a trench in Ukraine, MacDonald contracted lime disease. “They weren’t feeding us very well at the time”, he states. “Pretty much everyone had Covid or some kind of common or garden flu.” After finding a large tick in his nose, MacDonald became very ill. He went to a hospital in the central Ukrainian city of Rivna. There, the doctor who treated him “was not to Western standards” and “looked like he smoked about 80 a day and had a bottle of vodka every night” while “using some very 1950s implements”. Ultimately, MacDonald found it necessary to return to the U.K. to receive proper medical treatment.”
“At one point, MacDonald’s company was transferred from one city to another. His company’s convoy included two trucks containing advanced military rifles, machine guns and javelins — “a whole company’s worth of Western weapons”. According to MacDonald, the two trucks “just disappeared” as the convoy was in transit.”
“After explaining that foreign volunteers were treated much more favourably by Ukrainian commanders than Ukrainian rank-and-file soldiers were treated, MacDonald describes a Russian strike on a Ukrainian military base. He explains that, whereas the soldiers of the International Legion were permitted to spread out their tents so as to reduce the risk of mass casualties in a missile attack, Ukrainian soldiers at a nearby military base were forced to keep their tents close to each other. The Russians dropped a thermobaric bomb on the tents at that base and killed about 135 Ukrainian soldiers. They apparently were all young officer recruits.”[7]
Given that this letter is getting too long I shall continue with this theme in a subsequent one…
[1] God Talks With Arjuna – The Bhagavad Gita
[2] pp.55-56 Ibid
[3] Verse 29 The Bhagavad Gita, translated by Lars Martin Fosse
[4] Verse 31 Ibid
[6] https://egyptindependent.com/in-eastern-ukraines-embattled-soledar-no-one-counts-the-dead-soldier-tells-cnn/
[7] https://dimitrilascaris.org/2023/01/02/western-soldiers-reveal-the-sordid-reality-of-the-ukraine-war/