Averting Nuclear Armageddon

Rameshwar Singh Jamwal
The world today stands at a precarious threshold with reports of renewed nuclear-testing and escalating geopolitical tensions and the spectre of a third world war looms large. Such a conflagration, potentially involving many billions of people, demands more than conventional diplomacy and deterrence. It calls for a shift in consciousness of those directing and managing the affairs in different countries; an inner transformation rooted in ancient Indian wisdom. Here we argue that the Indian philosophical framework of Sankhya and Yoga can provide a vital corrective: by understanding the inner dynamics of destructive impulses (what we term as the tamsic critical personality) and applying yogic techniques for transforming these forces, we may open a path away from global catastrophe. Modern conflict-whether between individuals, groups, or nations-originates not merely from external triggers but from internal psychological states. Ancient Indian philosophies, particularly Sankhya and Yoga, offer profound insights into these inner causal forces and provide actionable tools to redirect them. These philosophies describe how human behaviour and decision-making emerge from the interplay of three ‘Gunas’ or inherent qualities of nature: Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva. Understanding and applying this framework may be the key to preventing catastrophic conflict in the modern nuclear age.
The trilogy of books – Controlling the Mind of a Criminal – The Yogic Way, The Sixth Force in Nature, and Misgoverned Kashmir – converge on one essential insight: that collective conflict is not only a matter of external strategy but stems from inner conflict and inner imbalance. In Controlling the Mind of a Criminal, it is explored how yogic methods can re-channel deviant behaviour by addressing the underlying vrittis (mind?modifications) of the offender. In The Sixth Force in Nature, we placed this individual change in a broader cosmological and societal frame: we are embedded in forces beyond the four classical fundamentals, and we must understand the subtle “Sixth force” nature for strengthening consciousness for coherent evolution. And in ‘Misgoverned Kashmir ‘ we traced how governance, polity and regional conflict can only be remedied when we correct deep psycho-cultural distortions.
Today, as nuclear powers rekindle testing and rhetoric, it becomes urgent to deploy these insights at the global level. Why? Because war is not purely “out there” – it is in us. It is in the critical, destructive personality that thrives on fear, ignorance and inertia. The Sankhya theory of the three gunas offers a roadmap.
According to Sankhya, the totality of nature (Prakriti) manifests through three fundamental qualities: tamas (inertia, darkness, ignorance), rajas (activity, agitation, craving) and sattva (balance, clarity, harmony). Every person, every society, every nation carries all three, through the persons dominating and constituting that nation or society, though with different proportions. When tamas dominates, the mind is dull, inert, ignorant. When rajas dominates, the mind is restless, craving, aggressive. When sattva dominates, the mind is calm, clear, wise. Tamas manifests in the inertia of diplomacy, in fear-driven inaction, in resignation to escalation. Rajas springs up as aggressive posturing, arms races, competition for supremacy, destructive ambition. Neither leads to sustainable peace. What is required is to elevate the collective mindset toward sattva: clarity, self-restraint, harmony, recognition of shared being.
Now let us scale this from the individual to the global. The war machine, nuclear arsenals, diplomatic paralysis – these all reflect collective tamas and rajas. The challenge is to transform global consciousness into sattva-oriented behaviour. What would that look like in practical terms?

1. Collective reflection before action: Before launching new tests, deploying new weapons, or initiating military flows, states ought to pause – to practise a kind of inner “yogic pause”. In corporate or educational settings we have used the MBEP (Mass behavioral Engineering Program and Mind-Body-Emotion-Performance) concept to bring individuals into mindful stillness before high-stakes decision-making. Why not apply this at the level of national security? A five-minute collective pause, guided respiration and reflection on the greater good could shift the momentum from rajasic reaction to sattvic deliberation.
2. Diplomacy rooted in inner witnessing: A key point of yogic practice is developing the witness-axis: the awareness that observes the mind’s vrittis without being swept away by them. If diplomats and leaders cultivated this watcher-consciousness, they would be better able to see when their impulses are tamasic (“we must retaliate because we are stuck and fearful”) or rajasic (“we must strike because we are restless and crave dominance”), and pivot instead toward sattvic responses: clarity, harmony, solution-seeking.
3. Societal transformation through risk-education and yogic culture: In Misgoverned Kashmir we analysed how regional conflict persisted because local governance ignored the psycho-spiritual dimension of human behaviour. The same principle applies on the global stage. Nuclear war is not only geopolitical but psychological. Societies must educate their young not just in modern tools and technologies or geopolitics but in the psychology of conflict, the dynamics of the mind (vrittis), and the tools of yogic regulation (asana, pranayama, dhyana). A citizenry steeped in these insights is less likely to support tamsic lethargy or rajsic aggression and more likely to demand sattvic governance.
4. Arms reduction as inner discipline: Just as in yogic sadhana one gradually withdraws from relationships and attachments, so too in global security the massive arms build-up is an outer manifestation of inner imbalance. The sixth force I describe is the discipline to scale back destructive capacity and channel intent toward preservation of life. Nuclear testing and armament are the physical side; the psychological side is the tamasic inertia of fear plus the rajasic drive for dominance. Converting both into sattvic motivation (protecting life, harmony, mutual flourishing) is the deeper work. The stakes could not be higher. Billions of lives hang in the balance. A nuclear conflagration is the ultimate expression of tamas (destructive inertia) combined with rajas (aggressive motion) and minimal sattva (clarity and harmony). Unless we intervene at the level of the mind; of collective psyches, leadership cultures, media narratives and individual behavior; we remain condemned to repeating the cycle. The yogic path is neither naive nor passive. It is deeply active but oriented toward self-mastery. In Controlling the Mind of a Criminal – The Yogic Way we emphasised that even high-risk individuals can be reoriented if one addresses the vrittis at their root. Scale that to the global level and the principle holds: even a world locked in arms race can shift if the foundational vrittis shift. The vritti is simply the modification of the mind according to Patañjali’s Yoga?Sutra definition: “when the mind becomes transparent due to reduction of the vritis; the nature of its object gets reflected through it.” Let us be under no illusion that this will be easy. The powerful machinery of fear, aggression, inertia has deep roots. But ancient Indian philosophy reminds us that nothing in nature is static: even the gunas (Qualities) are inter-playable and modifiable. So when tamas dominates one might feel lazy, tired, sleepy, heavy, depressed. When rajas dominates, one might feel impatient, anxious, tense, fidgety. When sattva dominates one might feel light, calm, peaceful, aware.” The shift from rajas/tamas to sattva is a shift of quality, and once you have even a small tipping point the system can move. At present, we are facing global risk not only from weapons but from inner states of consciousness.
   Sankhya-Yoga provides a conceptual map and method: understand the three gunas, identify destructive vrittis, and practice tools of transformation (yoga, meditation, Indian philosophical thought).
   The trilogy contributes applied insights: from individual criminal mind-modification, to societal psycho-spiritual education, to governance reform.
   Applying these at the level of national security, diplomacy, culture, media and arms reduction offers a novel preventative path. The war we fear need not be inevitable. A shift in consciousness; collective, national and individual, can steer us away from destruction.
   Let India propose that international policymakers, security thinkers, educators and civil society leaders take seriously this dimension of inner change. While treaties, sanctions, inspections are vital, they alone cannot succeed, if the minds behind them are dominated by tamas and rajas. For true prevention of global nuclear war, we need the cultivation of sattva, clarity, restraint, harmony, within the corridors of power and hearts of citizens.
   In closing: the world today needs more than arms control and deterrence. It needs yogic and Sankhya Philosopy application for the world: a disciplined practice of reflection, restraint, inner clarity and collective aliveness. The same forces detailed in The Sixth Force in Nature; conscious will aligned with universal good must now be activated. If billions are to live, then let us each attend to the Gunas within us, to the vrittis of our mind, and to the yoga of our shared future. The shift from tamas/rajas to sattva is not mysticism, it is strategy for survival.
   Governments and defense analysts continue to offer solutions based on deterrence, technological superiority, and tactical alliances. Yet these efforts address only the external symptoms of a deeper global crisis: an inner crisis of consciousness.
   Lastly we must understand that weapons do not start wars. Minds do. Treaties do not maintain peace. Consciousness does. If tamas and rajas dominate global decision-making, conflict becomes inevitable. If sattva guides leadership, war becomes unnecessary. The nuclear button is external. The impulse to push it is internal. The real battlefield is human consciousness. Change the mind ? change behaviour ? change the world. And here India has a role to play; seize the initiative and strengthen its claim of being a ‘Vishav Guru’.
   (The author is a practicing Advocate of J&K High Court and President, Criminologists Society of J&K)