FALL OF BERLIN WALL MARKS END OF COLD WAR

NOVEMBER 9 MARKS THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

Washington (VOA) - The fall of the Berlin wall has had a profound impact on US-Russian relations; it changed the entire map of the world and marked the end of the Cold War. By the time Ronald Reagan became president in 1980, the military and economic vulnerability of East Germany and of the whole Soviet bloc was becoming evident. Robert Legvold from Columbia University says a key factor was Gorbachev's decision that he would not use force to suppress reformist aspirations in Eastern Europe.

British historian Frederick Taylor agrees "Gorbachev, the new reformer leader in the USSR was not prepared to use the Red Army to violently suppress dissidents, protests and pressure for reform inside East Germany. He says: "In that historic day, most people in East Berlin were watching West German TV and West German TV said 'the wall is down, the wall is open.' And before the end of that bulletin people - East Berliners - had started arriving at various checkpoints. Very quickly thousands of East Germans gathered and the crush at these border crossings was intolerable. The guards had no orders but finally, they said:"throw open the gates." By the end of the night, all the other border crossings were opened and East Berliners were swarming into West Berlin and West Berliners, were swarming into East Berlin. For the first time in nearly 30 years, East Germans could get out into a fellow communist country - that is Hungary - and walk into a capitalist country - Austria - and from there go wherever they liked. The fall of the Berlin Wall accelerated the demise of Communist Party rule throughout Eastern Europe. "It was a cascade. Everything was sort of building at about the same time and the only thing that suggests a chain is the sequence: first Poland, then East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary and ultimately Bulgaria and Romania." Legvold says.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

A madman, leaving his own sweet home, wanders in the street and thinks that it is imperative for him to collect pieces of paper or cloth, as if that were his 'business'. It is absurd. His brain is focused in such a direction that he thinks, "It is my duty to collect these pieces of paper and pebbles." In this way he is going on, but what is the real, innate wealth of his heart? If he could only remember his home: his father, mother, other family members - his sweet, sweet home. But due to his madness, his consciousness is forcibly focused on some malengagement. Similarly, the position of so many persons - including philosophers, scientists, political leaders, and many more - is that their consciousness is focused toward the external direction, and there they are all busy 'collecting'. Some are collecting more pebbles, some more pieces of cloth or pieces of paper, but in this way they are going on.

Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja:
“The Golden Staircase” - Chapter One: Madness And Malengagement.
Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - www.bvml.org/SBRSM