Yesterday’s post about Ukraine made me sound like being on the Russian side of the conflict. This makes sense if one looks at it through the prism of mass media but I don’t want to see it like that at all. I mean it’s a valid perspective and one can, indeed, take sides, but this perspective is unsatisfactory and is not in the spirit of “unity in diversity”.
First of all, Kiev is the mother of all Russian cities – proof. It’s the cradle of Russian civilization and I don’t see it as some history from a thousand years ago. People are children of their land and this land is still there, producing the same kind of people who form the core of Russian identity. Of course they have got many more layers around this core now but it still exists.
What’s notable is that it became the first capital of “Rus” when it was ruled by the kings from Novgorod, which is a thousand kilometers to the north, and the path there lies through Belarus as well. It’s one giant landmass with the same land producing the same people and the same culture, just it’s a bit colder in the north. In this way Kiev gives rise to the same identity that over time has gotten split into several instances, ie Russian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian.
What this means is that there is no natural animosity, no clash of values, no clash of cultures between them. They speak more or less the same language, wear more or less the same clothes, and sing more or less the same songs to the same melodies. They have the same conceptions of beauty, bravery, honestly, and other moral values, and yet they are all different – unity in diversity.
Therefore the current conflict shouldn’t be seen as a war between Russia and Ukraine – these people do not see each other as enemies, do not see each other as foreigners, and they eat the same food, too. Russians understand this, Belorussians understand this, Ukrainians know this, but sometimes people get other ideas in their heads and try to forge a new identity, which is what’s been happening in Ukraine since its independence in 1991. But even when they get angry they get angry in the same way and have the same conceptions of what a fair fight is, what should be its limits, and what an appropriate punishment should be.
In pseudo-scientific jargon – this identity is the same vibration propagating through the same kind of material, just in some places it’s thicker or thinner and that’s it. So, rather than talking about war I see it as harmonizing the frequencies so that all three nations sing in unison, which will be better for everyone involved.
The peak of Ukraine as a nation came during Soviet times when, together with Russians, they built biggest airplanes in the world, they built rocket engines, they built aircraft carriers and strategic bombers, and they grew the most food in the entire USSR, and they also had everything in between. There is a lot to be said in favor of unity here, and Ukrainians always had their distinct identity, too – they always produced their special vibe. Not quite rural but laid back, soft and melodious, and they were always full of life. Looking reserved and a bit understated but Ukraine, as a nation, is just full of juice of life. People there are meant to create, produce, move forward, and Live with a capital L. They never run out of energy – I guess long winters don’t sap it as it happens with Russians.
So another way to look at the current conflict is reuniting male and female, with Russia playing a male role at this point in history. Ukraine as a motherland is ready to produce but it has been unsuccessfully looking for a new husband for the past thirty years. Her flings with the US and Europe did not produce progeny. Her people have been used and abused, her women were exploited, her men forced to work menial jobs, like cleaning up after proverbial Polish plumbers, and in the end, when Russians came to bring her back to the family, she was left alone.
It won’t be a happy reunion at first but a few years down the road the two peoples will live in sync again and will enjoy peace and prosperity, and they have very strong foundations for it, being practically untouched by the moral decay of the West.
At the moment it surely looks like a rosy picture, what with several million Ukrainians gearing for a prolonged fight with Russian aggressors as urban guerrillas, if necessary – at this point the government there is giving out assault rifles to anyone who asks. So far these newly armed civilians have been mostly looting the shops and shooting at each other, suspecting everyone as Russian spies, but eventually they’ll figure out where actual Russians are, so I have no idea how Russia is going to keep peace in Ukraine, but in the big scheme of things it’s just a blip on the radar and it won’t affect the natural course of history – these two nations are meant to work together [with Belarus], and other Slav nations along with them.
Why? Simply because they still share the same moral base, which is quite distinct from the liberal West. They are destined to be together for the same reason people at Trump rallies wore pro-Russian t-shirts – even they find they have more in common with Russians then with liberal Americans.
At the end of the day family, hard work, loyalty, and humility always win – it’s the law of nature, and it’s agnostic to people’s political positions. It works the same for liberals, too – as long as they work hard and raise children they’ll be okay as well.
Coming back to Ukraine – it is indeed the motherland of Russian civilization, and mothers should always be protected from self-destructive habits and lifestyles. I’m sure there are thousands of devotees in ISKCON who disagree with such patriarchal views and consider it outdated, but this is what wins in the end – women should be protected. This is the key to their prosperity and to the prosperity of the entire society. I’m not going to waste time and re-argue this point. And I’m not going to argue why current Ukraine, with its European aspirations but Slavic homophobia is an example of varna-sankara. These are all details and nations, like people, can get quite mad sometimes, but I want to look beyond these bubbles on the surface of history.
Oh, and making a female image into an icon of independence, as in the picture above, is just nonsense. Sakti cannot exist on its own, it always needs a purusa. The monument doesn’t need to be re-imagined, if anyone asked me – it illuminates Ukraine’s identity very well already, but the name needs rethinking.
Here is another Kiev’s landmark, and much more impressive in my opinion, but because it was built after Soviet victory in WWII they don’t like it very much, thought of removing it, but settled on simply scrubbing USSR coat of arms from her shield.
back2krishna 