Revenge of History 1

Swami Vivekananda, during his stay in Boston participated in a dinner party organized in his honor. There he narrated a fascinating prophecy. He told a small audience that if they did not believe in God, they would have to believe in revenge of history because history is full of many such instances (of retribution). Empires which thrived by ruling ruthlessly were mercilessly overthrown. People who committed great atrocities were dumped. Mighty empires faded into oblivion. While narrating the atrocities caused by British rulers and officials on Indians, he was agitated and said that whatever Europe had done, they would meet the consequences. As we sow, so we would reap. The revenge will come from China. Thousands and thousands of Chinese will overrun Europe. Audience was naturally disturbed and few of them asked, “When will it happen, Swami? In our lifetime?” Swamiji said, , “Oh it will not even take thousand years!” That was indeed heartening to hear.

We have no ways of knowing whether Swamiji said everything in jest or he was serious. But one thing is certain. He knew what he was saying about the revenge of history. There are many a wrongs which are committed and which gets avenged, not immediately, but certainly over a span of thousand years. Many of the rulers and emperors committed many atrocities and they were repaid. You would perhaps ask that there are many instances where atrocities went unpunished. For instance the Spaniards destroyed the Incas, Europeans colonized many parts of the world and carried out many atrocities on the native population in the name of civilizing them, Timur destroyed many lives as part of his conquests, Alexander butchered many as part of his expansion, Rome was one the one hand symbol of engineering marvel and on the other hand epitome of barbarism and beastliness, Genghis was a ruthless barbarian. Invaders from outside wrecked havoc on many countries and so on. The answer would still be yes. There is a greater Universal law, law of individual karma. That which is true at micro level is also true at a macro level. At different levels laws cannot be different (although physicists will beg to differ, because laws at subatomic level are different from the physical laws at a larger level, the response would be that the differences are only apparent and exists only because physics is still looking for that elusive grand unity of all forces).

If a law holds good at an individual level it is bound to hold good at a higher level. Therefore individual laws of Karma are also valid for nation states. So if a nation or its leadership deliberately destroys another nation or brings miseries to its population, it is creating future miseries for itself. If a nation or a force from a certain nation, or an individual from a nation state has brought destruction on an innocent race or nation, the nations are bound to pay in future.

What about the above examples?