Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Is ahimsa my parmo dharma?

Recently one of my friends sent me a link to a blog that his friend writes. The post that he wanted me to read was on the recent riots in Tibet. The blogger had said that ahimsa was the most important thing and that violence can never be justified. His comments were meant as much for the Chinese authorities as for the Tibetans. That set me thinking did I believe in his philosophy considering that I am from the land of Gandhi? The answer that came to my mind was 'NO'. I do not believe in the concept that Gandhi promoted. Yes, the shastras say that we should not commit acts of violence but they also say that when the situation becomes unbearable we should act with ruthlessness. Remember the Mahabharata, the Pandavas tried to avoid war at all costs saying that they will stop the war if Duryodhana gave them 5 villages. But when the evil one did not even accept this the only outcome was war. When Arjun was questioning himself that should he fight the war in which the other side was full of his loved ones, Lord Krishna told him that he should harden his heart and kill because that was the only way in which evil was going to be defeated. The same should apply to the situation in Tibet. The Chinese have taken away the independence of the Tibetan people and in my books their cannot be any crime worse than that. they have systematically tried to destroy the Tibetan culture, settling more Han Chinese in the occupied land so that the in time the Tibetans themselves may become a minority in their own country. And when these oppressed people resort to violence should they be condemned. NO they should not be because it is righteous anger. The Dalai Lama makes me sick to my stomach when he says that the Tibetans should not resort to violence. That he wants autonomy within the Chinese state. Dream on, the Communist Party will never accede to this demand. Can't he see what the Chinese are doing in Xinjiang, where they are oppressing the ethnic Uighurs because they also want independence.The Tibetans need a new political leader to take on the Chinese, a person who will not cringe when ruthlessness is required. Then and then only will the Tibetans get their motherland back. I'll end with a conversation from the movie Munich, its a paraphrase, Eric Bana asks a palestinian terrorist why he is against Israel and he says simply, the Jews have a homeland but when I go back I do not. No land to call home, no land to call it my country. This is the feeling when you are enslaved and to break the shackles any means are justified.