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Good morning. During the second World War there was no conscription in Northern Ireland; yet, my father and his colleagues bravely and voluntarily signed up. But in the mid-70s, I met young Americans traumatised from their enforced military service in Vietnam; and many others who, for years, had lived in fear of the draft. Ukraine’s plight is such, that after much debate, it has lowered its age of conscription to twenty-five. I feel for the mental turmoil facing the young men affected. Hinduism has a long theological approach to war. On one hand, it extols the absolute virtue of ahimsa – or non-violence. On the other, it approves armed defence if faced with violence that cannot be pacified by other means. This has been called its “double-helix of dharma”; it’s an image of two spirals of seemingly contradictory principles forever related to each other; yet never resolved as one. The older Vedic texts try to balance them with tight criteria and strict protocols for when, how and by whom war should be waged. If rulers required their followers to fight then certain rules had to be adhered to. These entailed chivalrous battle between soldiers of equal weaponry. Ambush, deceit and harm to any civilian or even non-fighting militants were forbidden. Crucially it should involve only those personnel psychologically attuned and trained to withstand the challenges and horrors of warfare. Vedic texts warn that combat does not suit all personality types; war can leave permanent scars on one’s conscience. I think few young Ukrainians doubt their country’s desperate need and moral justification as they envisage being called up. But that alone doesn’t make them a soldier. Mykola Petrovshyi, a twenty-eight year-old social worker explained: “I love Ukraine, but I am not ready to kill. I am not born for this.” Ahimsa, is normally translated as the negation of violence. In his commentary to Bhagavad-gita, Swami Bhaktivedanta explains its positive mandate: Ahimsa means that people should be guided and nurtured to fulfil their human potential – spiritually and materially. Modern warfare is drawn-out, gruelling and often without end in sight. It affords soldiers time to question their actions and who they have become. It must therefore be a deep concern that a generation raised to value care and service to others may now be deployed to kill or be killed. The Ukrainian leadership, it seems, knows it must balance the defence of its country, the needs of its weary soldiers, as well as protect the moral conscience of its younger citizens.