<html>

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<title>IX</title>
</head>

<body>

<div align="center">
	<table border="0" cellpadding="6" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="100%">
		<tr>
			<td>

<p align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><b>IX</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<b>TWO GREAT WARS</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
&nbsp;</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">We 
have been through two great World Wars in the course of our life in Pondicherry. 
This was quite an experience.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
The two Wars were identical in their inner nature and import. From our point of 
view, they were both of them a battle of the gods and the titans. On one side 
were the instruments of the gods, on the other of the titans. It is a curious 
thing, if not altogether strange, that Germany and, to some extent, Russia 
should have sided with the titans and England and France and America fought on 
the side of the gods.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
This is something that happens always in the history of man, this battle of the 
gods and the titans. Whenever there is a New Creation in the offing, and man is 
to be carried a step forward in his evolution, there comes up ranged against him 
the forces of Evil who do not want him to rise to a higher level of 
consciousness, towards the godhead. They want to hold man bound down in their 
grip.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
Such a moment of crisis came to man in the time of Sri Krishna. The Kurukshetra 
War is known as a war of righteousness, <i>dharma-yuddha;</i> it was a war of the gods 
and the titans. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra Sri Krishna gave his message 
that was to initiate the New Age that was coming. In exactly the same way, Sri 
Aurobindo began to proclaim his message with the opening of the guns in the 
first World War. The War began in August 1914; on the 15th August of the same 
year came out the first number of his Review, the <i>Arya.</i> Another point of note: 
the <i>Arya </i>continued almost as long as the War lasted. The &quot;official end&quot; of the 
War came towards the close of May, 1921; the <i>Arya </i>ceased in January of the same 
year. The Mother had arrived in the meantime to make Pondicherry her home.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
The War left India practically untouched and without any major upheaval. It came 
and blew over like a stray wind, even as the raids of the Emden did on the 
Indian seas. Our memories of the War are still associated with that</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font size="2">Page-70</font></p>
<hr>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
strange 
episode. The German cruiser passed by the shores of Pondicherry without doing 
any damage here, though Madras city received a few shell-shots. But I distinctly 
remember how many of the local residents, that is, those who lived on the 
Pondicherry sea-face, fled pell-mell towards the west, in the direction of the 
present Lake Estate. They packed themselves into rows of &quot;push-push&quot; carts—we 
had no rickshaws in those days—and looked for safety among the ravines of the 
Red Hills, or perhaps was it to hide themselves in the waters of the Lake, like Mainaka of the Indian legend?</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
India had been under the protection of England, so it was Europe that had to 
bear the burnt of the attack. We escaped with just a mild touch, though it did 
produce a few ripples here and there. First and foremost of these was the birth 
of the Bengali army—not a professional army of paid soldiers serving under the 
Government, but a corps of national volunteers. With the sole exception of the 
Punjabis and the Gurkhas, Indian troops were not in those days considered as on 
a par with European soldiers in the matter of fighting capacity. And Bengalis of 
course were treated with special contempt. They had of late shown some courage 
or skill in the art of secret assassination, but in the opinion of many that was 
a &quot;dastardly crime&quot;. But a trained and disciplined army was quite another 
matter. Now, a band of young men from Chandernagore taking the opportunity 
provided by the War formed themselves into a corps of Volunteers, some fifteen 
of them. They were French citizens and were therefore to join the War on the 
side of the French and the British. They arrived in Pondicherry on their way to 
France, a band of young men beaming with courage and intelligence. Our Haradhan 
was among their number. The picture of young Haradhan, a tall erect figure of a 
man, calm and audacious, still lingers in my mind. He used to narrate to us on 
his return from the War many stories of his experiences. Once he had even been 
shipwrecked by a torpedo and had to swim for his life to a life-boat off the 
coast of Tunisia. Haradhan has recorded his experience of the War in a book </p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font size="2">Page-71</font></p>
<hr>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
let entitled &quot;The New Ways of Warfare&quot;, modelled on Barin&#39;s &quot;Principles of 
Modern Warfare&quot; that we used to read in our early days.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
Some of the War scenes of Pondicherry come to mind. Here there was no question 
of volunteers. France has compulsory military training and Frenchmen on 
attaining the age of eighteen have to join the armed forces and undergo military 
training for a full period of one or two years. The Renoncants of Pondicherry, 
that is, those Indians who had secured their full citizenship rights by 
renouncing their personal status under the Indian law, were also subject to this 
obligation of compulsory military service. There was in consequence a great 
agitation among our local friends and associates. They had to leave in large 
numbers to join the French forces. Among them was our most intimate friend, 
David, the noted goalie of our celebrated football team. He had only just been 
married. I remember how regularly his wife used to offer worship to Mariamma 
(Virgin Mary) praying for his safety and well-being, during the period of nearly 
three years that he had to be away: they were of course Christians. The 
plaintive tones of her hymns still ring in my ears. David returned after the War 
was over, perhaps with the rank of Brigadier. I still remember the welcome he 
was accorded on his return. He later became the Mayor of Pondicherry. I also 
recall the story of our Benjamin. His mother burst into sobs as she learnt he 
was to leave our shores. There were so many mothers and sisters who had to shed 
bitter tears as they saw off at the pier the boatloads of men. Benjamin however 
did not have to go. He became a &quot;reforme&quot;, that is, disqualified in the medical 
test.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
Within the country itself, Indian patriots with terrorist leanings tried to use 
in their own way this opportunity to bring England down to her knees. One such 
group, &quot;the Gadar party&quot;, as it tried to land arms and ammunition obtained by 
ship from America, was caught red-handed. Another was led by &quot;Tiger&quot; Jyotin, our 
Tejen&#39;s father as you all know, who waged open war with the police at Buri-balam</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font size="2">Page-72</font></p>
<hr>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
&nbsp;in Orissa and died fighting with all his followers. We have a cinema film of the 
dramatic episode here. A third consisting of our &#39;refugee&#39; patriots assassinated 
the tyrannical Magistrate, Ashe, through a conspiracy hatched in Pondicherry 
itself.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
Whether or not such sporadic acts and activities had any real utility may be 
open to question. But a great and noble movement does not keep within the bounds 
of &quot;expediency&quot;; it proceeds along the lines of its inner urge and law. These 
patriots and revolutionaries had shown how much could be achieved by ,a nation 
of slaves, even in that epoch and under those circumstances, by a band of slaves 
and prisoners bound hand and foot by their chains; they had worked to the utmost 
of what was possible then and according to their capacity. The World War had 
brought them an opportunity; they thought they might be able to shake England 
off the seat of her power. They had taken it as self-evident that England&#39;s 
difficulty was going to be our opportunity.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
From a larger point of view, the first Great War can be taken as ushering a 
<i>finale</i> to the French Revolution. The Revolution had rolled to the dust the heads 
of a single monarch and his queen. But the end of this War saw the disappearance 
of practically all the crowned heads of Europe. Those that remained like the 
monarchy in England were left as puppets without power. This was an external 
symbol whose real significance lay in the awakening of the masses and their 
coming to power. This meant that not only wealth and affluence but also 
education and culture were no longer to be the privileges of the few; they must 
be made available to all. Money and position must be within everybody&#39;s reach, 
all must get a chance to show their merit. To use our own terminology, the 
higher Light and Consciousness that are descending on earth and helping man 
forward in his march to the heights were now to find their fulfillment: they 
would be firmly established and become a living force in the general level of 
mankind.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
That is why in the second place the message brought by</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font size="2">Page-73</font></p><hr>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
&nbsp;the War was that of 
freedom and autonomy for all, for the individual as well as for the collectivity 
or nation. Colonialism was to cease to exist; even the smallest nations were to 
win their freedom. This new era of progress was begun by the First World War.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">A 
third boon was to lay the foundations of an International Society. This no doubt 
implied that the different countries and peoples of the world were to attain 
their freedom and autonomy. But in order that the smaller units might be left in 
security and there might be a check on unjust dealings among the nations, there 
had to come into being a Society of Nations where the representatives of all the 
nations could meet. This is what came to be known as the League of Nations. The 
unity of the human race was to be founded on a complex harmony of the diverse 
groups of men.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
The ideal now was to create a race of men endowed with the highest gifts of 
education and training—what in the view of the sages and mystics would be a race 
of god-men— the transformation of man from the animal-state to that of the gods. 
But that was precisely what stirred the opposing Forces to action. They were to 
keep man distracted, lure him from the good path into evil ways, change him, not 
into a god but a demon, a titan, a ghoul. (Goethe once had presented this 
picture.) That is how man got his notion of the super-race, and the notion took 
concrete shape among a particular people and some particular individuals. That 
is what lay behind the rise of Hitler and his Nazis in Germany. Stalin and his 
Bolsheviks appeared as their counterparts in Russia. Mussolini was their 
henchman, a &quot;satellite&quot; in modern parlance. Our Puranic scriptures tell of the 
ancient Shumbha and Nishumbha, Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, Shishupala and 
Raktadanta, dual power of Evil defying the Divine Power. Something similar 
seemed to be happening again.</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
Here was precisely what lay behind the origins of the second Great War: the 
descent of Evil incarnate to bar the descent of the Divine Power</p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font size="2">Page-73</font></p>

<hr>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="right"><b><font size="2"><a href="-00_Contents">
			<span style="text-decoration: none">HOME</span></a></font></b></p>

			<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
	</table>
</div>

</body>

</html>
