New Delhi, May 8, 2025 (ANI): While speaking on ‘Operation Sindoor,’ Author and Advaita teacher Acharya Prashant said that often the right response can be in the form of inflicting damage on someone who is not ready to understand any other language. He further said, “There are times when the right response can be in the form of inflicting damage on someone who is not ready to understand any other language...How come a country on the brink of bankruptcy like Pakistan can afford to fight a war in these circumstances, such an expensive war. India is far too big to be engaged in war from the perspective of a smaller country like Pakistan. They are doing it because they are not really a democracy. They have never really been a democracy. The army benefits when Pakistan gets destroyed...”
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00:00There are times when the right response can be in the form of inflicting damage on some person who is not ready, just not ready to understand any other language.
00:14How come a country on the brink of bankruptcy like Pakistan affording to fight a war in these circumstances, such an expensive war?
00:23India is far too big to be engaged in war. The army benefits when Pakistan gets destroyed.
00:30The more Pakistan gets destroyed, the more enemy says, see, make us more powerful.
00:35The army says, make us more powerful because here you see, the enemy has such nefarious intentions and the enemy is bombing us.
00:41The enemy wants to invade our land, occupy us, rule us. So you make us more powerful.
00:46The reality is that these two conflicts, other conflicts as well, but especially these two.
00:52are actually founded on religion.
00:56There are times when the right response can be in the form of inflicting damage on some person who is not ready, just not ready to understand any other language.
01:09The prime example of this is the Mahabharata and the corresponding discourse of the Bhagavad Gita.
01:17Shri Krishna himself tried in all ways possible to have reconciliation and peace with Duryodhana.
01:24He even went to the extent of saying that you offer us just five villages for the five Pandavas and we will be satisfied with that.
01:31Do Niaya agar to aadha do, uch mein bhi ghar koi badha ho, tude do keval 5 gram rakho apni dharti tamam.
01:37So, Rydhan was not ready even for that much and then this war was imposed on the Pandavas and they said, right, this is the war that you want us to fight, we didn't want to fight.
01:49We know you are our brethren, you are our half brothers, we don't want to fight you but if this is what you want then we will have to fight.
01:56So, it is not as if war is necessarily forbidden, what is forbidden is unconsciousness, what is forbidden is an ego driven response, what is forbidden is blood lust, I would just want to kill all of the enemy side, I want to see blood flowing, I want to see them totally destroyed.
02:18That is forbidden because, not just because of morality but because when you have that emotional ego driven blood lust riding your head, then you totally forget what you are doing to yourself, totally forget that.
02:34For example, let me initiate with a few numbers, one fighter jet, one fighter jet costs upwards of rupees 2500 crores, a country, a country engaged in war loses one jet and is pegged down by 2500 crores, one battle tank, a modern battle tank costs rupees 100 crores,
03:01one day of full blown conventional war costs 30000 to 50000 crores and this includes just the cost of the ammunition, the logistics, the fuel, the infrastructural damage and the disruption of normal economic activity in the country, only these things.
03:19I am yet not counting or putting a number to the economic cost of fatalities or to the loss of human lives.
03:26It is a humongous number, it is a big number, it is a big number even for India but when you think of a country like Pakistan whose economy is 9 or 10 times smaller than that of India, this number is extremely big.
03:40Now that becomes mind boggling, how come a country on the brink of bankruptcy like Pakistan affording to fight a war in these circumstances, such an expensive war.
03:52India is far too big to be engaged in war from the perspective of a smaller country like Pakistan.
03:59They are doing it because they are not really a democracy, they have never really been a democracy, even today they do have a democratic setup but it is the army that calls the shots, right?
04:09And the army benefits when Pakistan gets destroyed.
04:13You see, what is the reason behind their existence?
04:18What is their very logic to exist?
04:21They say we have an enemy there and we exist as somebody separate from the enemy.
04:26We have broken away from India, that is the two nation theory.
04:30So the more Pakistan gets destroyed, the more enemy says, see, make us more powerful.
04:35The army says make us more powerful because here you see, the enemy has such nefarious intentions and the enemy is bombing us, the enemy wants to invade our land, occupy us, rule us.
04:46So you make us more powerful, right?
04:49We are not really fighting Pakistan, we have to understand.
04:52We are fighting the Pakistani army.
04:54We are fighting the Pakistani army and the Pakistani army is not a well-wisher of the Pakistani nature, nation.
05:01Forget about them having any kind of right intentions towards any other country including India.
05:08They do not have right intentions even towards Pakistan, otherwise they would not have engaged in this war.
05:15So you are dealing with that kind of a state.
05:18They know they cannot grow beyond a point.
05:21Probably they have given up on themselves, they do not even want to grow beyond a point.
05:25But India does not want to be confined to just this region, right?
05:30We have global ambitions, you want to be a global power and global power not just in military sense or hegemonic sense.
05:37You want to be a global power in the sense that you are a research hub, your quality of life is wonderful, you are up there on HDI.
05:46People want to look at you, emulate you, you are the centre of creativity and innovation.
05:50That is what India wants to be.
05:51Pakistan does not even want to be that.
05:53So the very objectives are different.
05:55They want to pull us down to their level and we must resist that.
06:00We must be very very cautious against that.
06:02So while definitely even from the point of view of spirituality there is a movement to start a war, there must also be a movement to simply unilaterally stop a war.
06:13Now that appears very difficult because when you say unilateral, then obviously you are giving the enemy some kind of advantage.
06:20But you have to also remember that the enemy and their backers, they are gloating if they drag India into this.
06:29Think of China.
06:30Think of China.
06:31A conventional war if it sets you back by 10 or 20 years.
06:35Today we are saying we want to accelerate in terms of GDP in all other terms, in terms of becoming a manufacturing hub, in terms of increasing your exports.
06:47Today we are saying that we want to match China in the next 20 years, let's say.
06:52Forget about matching China.
06:54What China is doing through Pakistan is that it wants to put you back by another 20 years and thereby increase the difference between itself and India.
07:04We must not allow that to happen.
07:07So while it is impractical and also not spiritual to not to respond to the call of war when the time comes, when all sincere measures towards peace fail, yes, then you have to fight.
07:22Yes, you have to, but you must also be very, very careful.
07:25You must watch out that your reaction must not become egoistic, that your reaction must not become ego driven, that you do not allow the enemy to rule your head because that's where the real warfare happens.
07:38Right?
07:39They want to get into your head.
07:40They want to make you mad and they want to turn it into a spectacle.
07:45On your TV screen or on social media you are watching, there are rockets raining and there is just so much fire.
07:52It looks almost like a video game and entertainment.
07:55And the public forgets that all this is happening through its own money, through the taxpayers' money.
08:01And that amount, that amount, imagine one fighter jet costs rupees 2500 crores.
08:06That amount should have gone into nation building ideally.
08:11And that is what will make you beyond any kind of war.
08:15Today nobody will go to attack America.
08:18There is so much deterrence.
08:20Why?
08:21Not just, not just because they have nuclear bombs, but because fundamentally they are very, very economically advanced, technologically advanced and academically advanced.
08:31That is what makes a nation invincible.
08:33We want great research institutions.
08:35We want a great economy.
08:36We want to be ahead in technology.
08:38Huh?
08:39And that's when you really can say that nobody is going to come and inflict a war on us.
08:45Pakistan, China and many other such forces, they do not want India to reach that, that spot.
08:51So they will keep you engaged in, in, in this low kind of abrasive warfare.
08:58Hmm?
08:59Which prevents you from achieving your potential.
09:01Right?
09:02So we have to, we have to realize at some point that continuing to fight is not in our best interests.
09:09We must know that the enemy has now been punished and now through political and international and diplomatic measures, we can slowly allow the temperatures to subside and let things cool down.
09:24So if, for example, if, for example, in the public domain, you are finding only hawks, you are not finding composed, level-headed discussions, then there is a reason to be alerted.
09:41Hmm?
09:42If you find, because in a democracy, you see, the, the government has to follow the people.
09:48Huh?
09:49The opinion of the people that in some sense starts becoming binding on the government as well.
09:54So if the people are being instigated all the time, then that's like a red alert.
09:59Hmm?
10:00Please see what we are seeing on, on TV channels and social media.
10:04Right?
10:05People are turning rabid.
10:07Huh?
10:08It's, it's a bloodlust ruling their head.
10:11Huh?
10:12Then, then you should know that we are losing our sense of perspective and that we might be
10:17now surrendering our thinking faculty to the real enemy.
10:24Hmm?
10:25He does not want you to think.
10:27He wants you to be your own enemy.
10:32A fellow, a nation that cannot peacefully think, decide, have Vivek, discretion becomes its own enemy.
10:41We must not allow that to happen.
10:43See, practically what's going to happen is that when Pakistan starts to find that the cost of war is unbearable.
10:58Probably it will be forced.
11:00Hmm?
11:01Because there will be no other option.
11:03You don't have the money to pay for the war.
11:06And it will be forced to probably scale the whole thing down.
11:09That is one thing.
11:10There will be diplomatic efforts.
11:11There will be international pressures in a, in a, in a connected global system.
11:16It's not just two countries that fight.
11:19It's the entire world that suffers and everybody is a stakeholder.
11:22There are supply lines that, global supply lines that pass through India.
11:26And if there is a war, they will be disrupted.
11:28And that would mean that the entire world is going to suffer.
11:31India has become an important part of world economy also.
11:34So, there will be international diplomatic pressure.
11:36And in some sense, you will have a temporary kind of, you could call it a ceasefire or peace, whatever,
11:44till the whole thing erupts the next time.
11:47Hmm?
11:48That is one kind of peace.
11:49But real peace, it would sound a little impractical as I speak of it right now.
11:55But that's the only real solution.
11:57Even if it sounds impractical.
11:58See, the whole thing is happening in the name of religion.
12:01Please understand.
12:02Huh?
12:03The whole thing starts with, with the two nation theory or the feeling behind, hmm?
12:10Or the misinterpretation behind the two nation theory.
12:14Right?
12:15We exist, Pakistan says, we exist in animosity to India.
12:20We exist because we cannot live with the Hindus.
12:25That's the only reason we exist.
12:27Otherwise, India was one.
12:28So, as long as there is this misinterpretation, this distorted version of religion ruling.
12:35And to be fair, not only on that side of the border, even on this side of the border.
12:39As long as this distortion remains, stable peace, permanent peace will be very difficult to achieve.
12:48It may appear that the central thing is the, is the, is the Kashmir issue.
12:53Or you could name a few other pending issues between the two countries.
12:59Between Israel and Palestine, you could say, well, the, the, the problem is, is, is, is Gaza.
13:06Or the problem is Hamas.
13:09But that's, that's not the reality.
13:11The reality is that these two conflicts, other conflicts as well, but especially these two, are actually founded on religion.
13:20So, unless the essence of religion is clearly brought out, stable peace will be very difficult to achieve.
13:32And that's, that's where wisdom literature comes in.
13:36That's where spirituality comes in.
13:39So, a, a, a person, a nation that really understands why he exists, why the nation exists, will be far less prone to war mongering.
13:52Those who do not know who they are, they are the ones mostly, greatly interested in war.
13:59Hmm?
14:00They are also the ones who wage war against the whole planet in the form of, let's say, climate change.
14:04I do not know who I am.
14:05So, I have to do something to feel as if I'm meaningful.
14:08So, what do I do?
14:09Think of the Pakistani army.
14:10What do I do?
14:11Nothing else to do.
14:12You know, pinch that one, poke that one, hurt that one.
14:16Huh?
14:17Shoot that one down.
14:19And that makes you feel relevant.
14:20Think of it.
14:21Who was talking of Pakistan till 10 days back?
14:24Or let's say 15 days back, before Pahlgaam?
14:26Nobody.
14:27Pakistan was becoming more and more irrelevant.
14:30Even in the Indian consciousness, nobody was talking of Pakistan.
14:34Now you are talking of Pakistan.
14:36In some sense, they have succeeded.
14:38They wanted a piece of your mind and they got it.
14:41And that's a very big thing to ask for, no?
14:43When I don't know who I am, then I exist in somebody else's eyes.
14:46I want his attention.
14:47Pakistan got your attention.
14:49Huh?
14:50Be it a person or a nation.
14:51When you don't have the right inner purpose to live for,
14:54then you become someone who clamors for other's attention in such barbaric and violent ways even.
15:01So unless we, first of all, move within ourselves and discover a right purpose to live for,
15:08we will find that we will be involved in all kinds of battles,
15:13personal, social, international, unfortunately.
15:18Thank you, sir.