Political Theory in ArutkuRaL -3

DrK.Loganathan,Thursday, July 15, 1999


The Forms of War: the Wars of Greed

Politics is impossible without war and in fact it is the warring nature of man that has brought about politics with a LEADER who provides the essential security without which a nation cannot sustain itself and prosper economically.  There must be safety and security for the life and wealth people earn and establish possessive relationships over them. A leader who fails to provide this security and trust will soon lose the confidence of the people and will be pulled down from leadership position.  The failure to provide the economic security may also be because of corruption and selfishness in which the ORIGINAL PROMISE of economic security for the common people is  undermined. The selfish leader who misuses the POWER of LEADERSHIP to hoard wealth for himself fails in providing the economic security of the people through a process of DEPRIVATION  of what rightfully belongs to the common man.

It is economic imbalances  and the inherent GREED of man for economic wealth that leads to wars of the bloody  types in which one group of people are killed or subjugated or into slaves and their wealth confiscated.  The various sorts of colonization that we see in History , massacres of the powerless,   the plundering raids in which a country is devastated and all the wealth stolen are examples of this war. One tribe also wages war with the neighboring tribes to possess their women and through that  bring about the dealth of that tribe itself so that there is no competition. Racial hatred, economic greed , religious bigotry , personal arrogance and so forth cannot but result  in bloody wars of various kinds.

 inaveRiyin mathaveRiyin eethamilpiRa veRiyin
 muuLum poorellaam muutappoor

­É¦ÅȢ¢ý  Á¾¦ÅȢ¢ý ²¾Á¢øÀ¢È ¦ÅȢ¢ý
ãÙõ §À¡¦ÃøÄ¡õ ã¼ô§À¡÷

 vilangku uLLaththin viiN pooRellaam
 PuNNumiz kuruthi   pUrithuNNa

Å¢ÇíÌ ¯ûÇò¾¢ý Å£ñ §À¡¦ÃøÄ¡õ
 ÒñÏÁ¢ú ÌÕ¾¢ ââÐñ½

 
The Forms of War: The Wars of Justice

Over and above the above wars of greed and hatred , there are wars waged , equally bloody perhaps but not because of greed and hatred for  the sake of JUSTICE and RIGHT. These are the aRappoor, the wars that are waged to safeguard  JUSTICE and they are against forces within and outside that introduce injustice into the social fabric undermining the very foundation of sociality and polity.  The society in which there is no place for JUSTICE ceases to have that element that makes possible social intercourses of all kinds including the economic transactions.  If  businessmen have no JUSTICE in their dealings, mutual distrust  comes to prevail and slowly suspicion and hatred  develops leading to  the desire to destroy each other. Political leadership that cares not for JUSTICE eventually earns the hatred of the multitude and are thrown out either peacefully or vilolently.
 

aRappOrin meyvadivam arutpOr aanRorcey
 thiRappOr thiing kaRRathu

 «Èô§À¡Ã¢ý ¦ÁöÅÊÅõ «Õð§À¡÷ ¬ý§È¡÷¦ºö
  ¾¢Èô§À¡÷ ¾£í ¸üÈÐ

vanjsakam pOkki  vaaymaiyeep pakarum
 nenjsakaththaar nuRuththum pOr

Åﺸõ §À¡ì¸¢ Å¡ö¨Á§Âô ¦ÀÕìÌõ
¦¿ïº¸ò¾¡÷ ¿¢ÕòÐõ §À¡÷

 uLLath thuRuthiyin  uNmaiyeeth thozuthu
 anbin aakum aRappOr

¯ûÇò ÐÚ¾¢Â¢ý ¯ñ¨Á§Âò ¦¾¡ØÐ
 «ýÀ¢ É¡Ìõ «Èô§À¡÷

The primary motivation for the wars of JUSTICE is the happiness and prosperity of the ordinary man and they can be waged only by the TRUTHFUL and HONEST and lives with genuine LOVE for humanity. A man fights against injustice only because he is moved by a genuine LOVE for the people. A society of selfish individuals  with total INDIFFERENCE for the plights for the downtrodden and needy will never see wars of justice. Such a community of people will naturally decline and either become slaves to another group or indulge in mutual self destruction.

Forms of War: the War of Enlightenment

The best form of war and perhaps the highest form is that of ArutpOr, the war of enlightenment. The enemy is not people or even the INJUSTICE that pervades but rather the  METAPHYSICAL IGNORANCE that is root cause of decline of man towards injustice and corruption and later into the banal bestiality. It is PEDAGOGIC in nature and has as its goal the  CULTURE and EDUCATION of man so that he exists  a life of philosophic UNDERSTANDING that secures social cohesion through mutual understanding

anbin arutpOr aaNavam azikka
avampOkki amaithi vaLarkka

«ýÀ¢ý «Õð§À¡÷ ¬½Åõ «Æ¢ì¸
 «Åõ§À¡ì¸¢ «¨Á¾¢ ÅÇ÷ì¸

It is motivated  not simply by love for the ordinary man, he who suffers social injustice of whatever kind but rather a UNIVERSAL LOVE that seeks to uplift man into higher level of civilization, to make him EVOLVE into a higher kind of species in which there is the complete destruction of EGO ,  understanding itself full of PREJUDICES of various kinds. What is desired in such wars are the PURIFICATION of the soul itself so that nothing mean and meager would emerge in the bosom of man.

There is NO KILLING but only the transformation of the individuals into the enlightened who would not entertain anything low and unbecoming.

 koRcinthai konRu arutsinthaik koNdu
 vaRsinthai pOkum valaththa

¦¸¡üº¢ó¨¾ ¦¸¡ýÚ «Õðº¢ó¨¾ ¦¸¡ñÎ
 Åüº¢ó¨¾ §À¡Ìõ ÅÇò¾

What they seek to do is to draw the attention of man towards the INNER CONSCIENCE that always provides the right sense of direction for their praxis, all the practical existence of ordinary life.  Where man is made to listen to the  inner voice , he is guarded against anything EVIL and IGNOBLE and will never do anything UNETHICAL
 
nenjcan thuLaiththu nedunjcevikaL vaLarththu
 thunjcumud kuralinthoni vaLarkkum

¦¿ïºõ ШÇòÐ ¦¿Î了޸û ÅÇ÷òÐ
ÐïÓðÓð ÌÃø¦¾¡É¢ ÅÇ÷ìÌõ



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