01/03/2022
🏳️
In June 2019 Dr. Claudia Welch and I taught in Ukraine, a country whose history is extraordinarily complex. Divided into two halves by the Dnieper, Europe’s 4th longest river, it has been ruled by the Kievan Rus (for which both Belarus and Russia are named), the Golden Horde, Lithuania and Poland, the Crimean Khanate, and the Russian Empire, with periods of independence in between.
The last one hundred years has been a particularly challenging period. In 1919 Ukraine underwent complete anarchy, with six different armies operating on its territory. Kyiv changed hands five times in less than a year. Then in 1932 and 1933 the country was engulfed by the Holodomor, a famine that left between 3.3 to 10 million dead (it may have been engineered by Joseph Stalin). During World War Two Kyiv was destroyed twice, first by the Germans and then by the Soviets. During the N**i occupation 1.5 million Jews were murdered, and in the city of Kyiv itself as many as 150,000 people were slaughtered in the Babi Yar ravine (where in 1961 a mudslide killed another 1500 – 2000). And then in 1986 came Chernobyl, which sits less than 100 km north of Kyiv.
But somehow Ukraine, and Kyiv, have endured. After the fighting began Claudia & I contacted our friend there, and early this morning we received a message from them, stating “We are safe and strong because of unprecedented support of many countries! And our people are amazing and brave! We pray for Peace and hope to meet you soon!”
On this auspicious day of Mahasivaratri I pray that Lord Shankara, “He Who Brings Tranquility,” will swiftly bring peace back to Ukraine. Om namah sivaya!
(Photo by the Photo Ambassador of Ukraine, )
