Chaitanya Jyothi Museum Opening, 2000

RAMANAM
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.  Amen.

Countrymen,

ORBIS NON SUFFICIT
SOLUS DEUS SUFFICIT

Heraclitus:

War is the Father of all things.

Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle.  Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.

The irony of life is that war (conflict) is the only way to make it happen.  If you want life (peace) you must fight for it (war).  Life has to be earned.  It is not a right.  Once life appears it has rights.  But making it appear is labor-intensive and disputatious, unavoidably.

The purpose of war is to remove from an enemy their willingness to aggress, their desire for hegemony.  The objective of war is to accomplish that purpose at least cost to oneself and one’s enemy.  But this purpose of war, and its objective, ironically, are anti-life!  This is why saints and sages never make conclusions.

Basil Henry Liddell-Hart:

The profoundest truth of war is that the issue of battle is usually decided in the minds of the opposing commanders, not in the bodies of their men.

Homer:

The Speech of Sarpedon to Glaucus
Translated by Alexander Pope

Why boast we, Glaucus! our extended Reign,
Where Xanthus’ Streams enrich the Lycian Plain,
Our num’rous Herds that range the fruitful Field,
And Hills where Vines their purple Harvest yield,
Our foaming Bowls with purer Nectar crown’d,
Our Feasts enhanc’d with Music’s sprightly Sound?
Why on those Shores are we with Joy survey’d,
Admir’d as Heroes, and as Gods obey’d?
Unless great Acts superior Merit prove,
And vindicate the bount’ous Pow’rs above.
‘Tis ours, the Dignity they give, to grace;
The first in Valour, as the first in Place.
That when with wond’ring Eyes our martial Bands
Behold our Deeds transcending our Commands,
Such, they may cry, deserve the sov’reign State,
Whom those that envy, dare not imitate!
Could all our Care elude the gloomy Grave,
Which claims no less the fearful than the brave,
For Lust of Fame I should not vainly dare
In fighting Fields, nor urge thy Soul to War.
But since, alas! ignoble Age must come,
Disease, and Death’s inexorable Doom;
The Life which others pay, let us bestow,
And give to Fame what we to Nature owe;
Brave tho’ we fall, and honour’d if we live,
Or let us Glory gain, or Glory give!

Marine LTG John Archer Lejeune:

The key to combat effectiveness is unity — an esprit that characterizes itself in complete, irrevocable, mutual trust.  Now my infantry trusts my artillery and engineers, and my artillery and engineers know this so they will go through hell itself before they let down the infantry.  My infantry believe that with such support they are invincible — and they are.

This is called leaning on the artillery [and on the engineers].

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man:

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much;
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus’d;
Still by himself, abus’d or disabus’d;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl’d;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.

Go, wondrous creature! mount where science guides,
Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old time, and regulate the sun;
Go, soar with Plato to th’ empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his followers trod,
And quitting sense call imitating God;
As Eastern priests in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule—
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!

This is what is at issue:

WHY?

The leverage available for war-making:

Air – Finance
Water – Transportation
Food – Industry

Without air, one dies in three minutes.  Without water, one dies in three days.  Without food, one dies in three weeks.  This is the Rule of Threes.  It is the same in war.  Without finance, an armed force collapses almost immediately.  Without transportation, an armed force collapses within days, a few days at most.  Without resupply, an armed force collapses when rations and munitions are gone, and fear of that extremity can induce collapse in advance of its actuality.

The high-value geo-strategic targets in war, highest to lowest:

Waterways
Roadways
Seaways
Railways
Airways
Energy/Data Pathways

In other words, communications.

Βασιλεία του Θεού
Kingdom of God

AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA