DNA Edit: In the dharma of war, are you Arjuna?

There is deep symbolism between the borders, that Laxman drew and Ravan crossed, and the kshatriya dharma, which invokes Kali, or the Shakti principle, in order to protect. Diwali the festival of lights, is thus an apt dedication by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the soldiers of India, because the soldier becomes a recurring symbol in Hindu mythology, from Maryada Purushottam Ram to the Kurukshetra wars to be fought, albeit reluctantly. If anything, the entire sum of Hindu mythology—that which remains in popular culture—can be taken to be a commentary on kshatriya dharma or effectively a treatise of war, just the circumstance of war differing from a physical to a metaphysical plane from time to time.

Which is why it becomes very easy for those who wish to distort texts to justify acts of war to do so. The most common method being to use verses taken out of context from the Bhagavad Gita.

This is erroneous on several fronts. Firstly, the Kurukshetra war is not a 'holy war' in the manner of a jihad. Nowhere does it call for the culling of those who are not of the same sect or who believe different things. If anything, even at its most base level as a story, it is a war between brothers, who come from the same family and practice the same rituals. Arjuna is a reluctant warrior who makes several attempts to get out of waging war even while already on the battlefield. Several attempts at diplomacy have been attempted and spurned prior to the war. As the text progresses, it lays out the duty of a king to his people and his kingdom. Operating at a different level, it lays out a path to inner spiritual salvation and the obstacles to that path. Unthinking war is not the work of Arjuna.

War then in India, has never been quite so simplistic as a Lao Tzu or a jihadi manifesto would have it be. It is never how to wage and win a war successfully—any barbarian can mutilate the body of an enemy soldier—India's soldiers do not need a manual on that. But it takes a unique bent of mind to rise above such acts and to retaliate out of a misguided sense of godly justification, but maturely in defence, with balance, and fairness. In this, the Indian Army has been one of the most non-reactionary non-knee jerk defence forces in the world. We do not act out of a desire to 'show them' , we do not wreak revenge', we are constantly evaluating whether our actions are just, and balanced, required for the defence of the people in our care, from refugees from Bangladesh to Tibet and Afghanistan, and fair. The largest nuclear-enabled force and military presence in the subcontinent does not stand on the border and burst crackers for the fun of the glow. But all inaction, waiting for the right moment, is guided by an inner principle when action is made necessary and evil may be pointedly destroyed, not its collateral, not its incidentals, but the root of evil itself. This is Diwali on the border with our boys in khakhi. Because they act with thought, we are able to celebrate the prevalence of light.
#Sandesh2Soldiers