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Impact of Ahimsa on Human Affairs
them or stealing from them to supply the army, deceit and lies, called military ruses, the habits of the military profession are the absence of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauch, drunkenness'. And St. Augustine has it, what does one condemn in war? Is it the fact that it kills men who all must some day die? Faint-hearted men may blame war for this, but not religious men. What one condemns in war is the desire to harm, implacable hate, the fury of reprisals, the passion for domination'. In fact, as Dr. S. Radhakrishnan observed, "Civilised nations are slowly beginning to recognize war as an obsolete method of obtaining decisions. The slaughter involved in modern warfare is so much out of proportion to the ends that the arguments and sentiments which have been used in the past to justify wars are no more tenable". This may be said to be a victory of Ahimsa in human affairs, even in the political field.
In short, the only hope for the existence, welfare and salvation of mankind lies in a recognition of Ahimsa as a potent and active force in the world of man, in his political, economic, social, cultural and religious spheres of activity. There is no dearth of evidence in the pages of Indian history, too, to prove that Ahimsa has often played its role as an effective political force, no doubt, in varying degrees.
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