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taxes which they have to pay as the price of peace, and the cost of living is going up daily. Yet the surface politicians who are responsible for this kind of government fail to see that they can never establish internal and external peace and harmony by the rule of Dread, and blindly follow the course chalked out by themselves for the management of the world. If Love had been the guiding principle of political life, there would have been no such dread anywhere, and nations would have lived side by side, and co-operated with one another as friends; for Love is the power which binds together and effectively destroys fear. Where Love reigns there is no room for distrust. Religion points out that a king should fight in defence of his people and empire, using only righteous means and weapons which do not inflict harm on non-combatants; and the ancient Records (Purânas) are full of accounts of glories won on the battle-field by chiefs and warriors of old. But it does not countenance the mad policy of world-conquest, or the plunging of nations into war for the personal gratification of kings. The whole doctrine is based on the principle of Love, which is described as the real basis of true greatness and permanency.
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
Since love gives rise to confidence and amity, and hatred to fear and a sense of revenge, it follows that peace and harmony, internal and external alike, are to be had only under the rule of Love. In the reign of the ideal King, Sri Ramchandra, there was no such thing as fear, and the epoch was noted for internal and external peace and happiness for his subjects. The account of
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