The Moral High Ground- I

When Devas and Rakshasas fight, the smartest trick Rakshasas use, is to trap Devas in their own morality. The path connecting the two points in time, looks rosy, heavenly, righteous, even ecstatic, because the kind of kick and high, that you get out of creating a very holy pious and moral self image, is incomparable to any other narcotic substance. Fortunately or unfortunately, our civilization has set for itself, such a high standards of moral behavior, that we can be easily trapped by any enemy, whether it is an insider or an outsider. So much so that even the most wicked of our civilizational enemies, can give us guilt trip with their words when we fight them using their techniques, and we will start to rethink our strategy to fight them, will get self conscious and will walk right into their trap when we are about to slay them and then they will rise up again, filled with confidence and treachery. And we? We backtrack hoping that the Rakshasas have a change of heart. Our own trait of forgiveness, is an invisible chain that ties our one hand behind our back while we fight them. When our security apparatus cracks down on the enemies of our state with iron hand and beat them with same cruelty as they operate with, all the silent secret allies of the starts to cry like a new widow on our television news media day in and day out, to give the forces, a lesson on humanity, human rights, human lives, and how we should win the hearts of our enemies and so on. For the first time in last 700 years, when the Hindus reclaimed one of their numerous temples that was destroyed by a death cult, their was an entire gang of rudalis who were telling hindus, how they should have stayed patient, and should have allowed that blot on our face to stay. We are guilt tripped when we give refuge to the natural sons and daughters of this civilization who have fled persecution from the occupied territories of this mother land. We are guilt tripped when we decide to weed out the parasites from this landmass, whatever remains of the civilization, that we call Bharat. Devas, since bound by their self righteous attitude, are mentally imprisoned and bound to maintain a set of moral code in their fight, and the moment they go astray, the rakshasas pull out their smart trick. But will that help?

One of the most important apprehensions in the mind of devas, against using the treacherous methods of rakshasas against them, is the question that says, "how they will be judged?" By who? By everyone. Themselves, their loved ones, the society, the history. In the middle of this inner Krishna-Arjuna conversation that goes on in their hearts, they forget, that it's the victors who will write history and will justify themselves morally. If this society itself vanishes, who will they be a hero to for being righteous and compassionate? For the fear of being judged by the society, they willingly put the same society in danger, by not ruthlessly wiping out its enemies. And when they lose, the history calls them cowards and weaklings, not righteous, contrary to what they aspired to be seen as. The most fundamental difference between the devas and the rakshasas is seen here. One of the most fundamental questions that the two sides at war, should be asked, is, "What is your end goal with respect to your enemy?" For the devas, the answer is, change of heart. Devas want their enemies to get rid of their lives full of sin. But in this process, they keep the "get rid of their lives" as the last option and "getting rid of their sins" as the primary goal. They want rakshasas to have a change of heart, and killing them out of mercy is their (Devas') last resort, to help them ( Rakshasas) get rid of their sufferings, because of their sinful lives. On the contrary, the Rakshasas perpetually dream of a total annihilation of their enemies, i.e. devas. They will stop at nothing, except the end of devas, but the devas will stop with the end of sin in the hearts of Rakshasas. This again gives rakshasas, the power to use an illusion of change of heart and treacherously backstab the devas. Devas get defeated by their naivety, born out of the same higher moral ground, and leave their protectorates, unprotected. 

The illusion of having higher moral standards, starts with self obsession and ends at self destruction.
So what are Devas supposed to do? We will find out in the next part.