Lord Krishna holds the soothing flute on one hand & the sharp edged sudarshan chakra on the other.
It's worthwhile to investigate the interpretation of that.
After the hard battle of Kalinga, all that Ashoka got was the claim to title of being called victorious but not the experience of success.
The result was decisive, one in which his enemy was not just defeated but destroyed.
However, there were huge casualties on his side, too.
Seeing the scale of destruction of property & decay of carcasses on the battlefield, in profound grief, he exclaimed, "If this is victory, what is defeat?"
He realized the full cycle of Karma within his lifetime.
From the low of being the least favorite child, where his father did not consider him to be a worthy successor to the throne, to achieving the high of presiding over one of the largest empire, where he was conferred the the title of Samarat. And then, after the battle of Kalinga, he reached the mental state of having repugnancy to all that's powerfully subjugating.
In that moment of overwhelming weakness, he began to compensate himself by giving it all away.
The Kshatriya betrayed himself as he elevated his conscience to that of a Brahmin at one end but lowered his guard & wisdom at the other & thus abdicated his principled duty to protect his subjects.
Setting the tone, his armies followed suit.
The shrinking of his laid empire was inevitable. Akand Bharat started to crumble & reverberations of same can be felt even today with Pakistan making a claim on Kashmir.
Only the naive dream up Utopian constructs & make ideological claims that if you don't want to attack anyone, nobody will want to attack you.
Sure, you may be a vegetarian, but the jungle is not.
That peace can only be maintained at the edge of a sword is the reasoned conclusion of the matured.
And so it is a pious Sikh that carries a visible Kirpan, is symbolic to just that.
The Great Epics of Hinduism may be reduced to mythology by the non-believers or the "political liberals," but it might serve them to at the least take the message from each.
Ram held no ill-willed intentions against Ravana nor did the Pandavas for the Kauravas. The other side just didn't reciprocate the same courtesy.
Interestingly, the Jains that shun to hold even an innocent potato peeler or an onion shredder due to their core belief in ahimsa, yet believe in a bow & arrow welding Ghantakarna simultaneously.
That, because the Ghantakarna Mahavira found it his duty to protect the harmless, who were being incessantly & unnecessarily harmed.
The Cold War between America & the USSR not turning hot waz due to the protective barrier of nuclear deterrence between both camps.
It is a testimony of a fact that strength respects strength.
India's history is one of the oldest in the world and its civilization ancient. Through time immemorial, there's not been even one incident where the people of thiz land have attacked the other on the basis of differing religion.
However, throughout history, they have been attacked.
Children, there's merit in "getting it" - only if you sweat in peace, you won't have a war in which you will bleed.
And so, our brave men in uniform stand vigilant at the borders of Pakistan, China, and Bangladesh.
In the final reckoning, the term Hindutva haz been bastardized. It is not an ideology against anyone.
It is a sociopolitical & sociocultural defensive protective moat against any tangible invasion & nothing more.
There's wisdom in getting it that all Indians are civilizationally Hindus, irrespective of their religion.
Let's all also remain alert.
Bolo Mai Bhi Chowkidar 🇮🇳
