SPARTA -A GREEK CITY STATE WHOSE SYSTEMS SHOCK US.

Sparta was then considered the foremost military power in Greece. Unlike in all other Greek cities which are very civilized, the Spartans had a very peculiar societal structure that we would find extremely shocking today. 

Their society is firstly geared for war than anything else. War was worshiped by them and it was a warrior society. 

The goal of the Spartan system unlike any other Greek city is producing a perfect state protected by perfect warriors. 

In Sparta money is outlawed and equality was enforced. 

In Sparta women enjoyed complete sexual freedom unheard of in any ancient society. 

The Spartans did nothing else but fight, with the slaves doing all the other types of work. They had not one but 2 kings. 

In the battlefield the Spartans sought death like a lover. Never turning back and without the slightest of hesitation. 

For them sacrificing themselves for the country and their family is their noble duty and the highest honor.

Every Spartan free citizen has to compulsorily be a soldier. 

According to Greek historian Plutarch Spartans began developing soldiers shortly after child birth. 

The well built and sturdy children were allowed to live while those were unhealthy or deformed were left at the foot of a mountain to die by the tribal elders. This is however, not valid for women children. Only the males had to face this selection. 

At 7 years of age the boys were taken over by the state from the parents where they were organized into companies that lived, studied and trained together into what is known as the “Agoge” where they took training for 12 years. 

Among them, the most courageous person who is of good judgment was made the Captain of the company. All the other boys in the company obeyed him unquestioningly. 

The boys only received elementary education to read and write, and some training in song and dance.

 To toughen them up Spartan boys always went barefoot, rarely bathed and never used any applications on their body so that their skin became hard and dry. 

For clothing, they were given a cloak which they wore for the entire year to make them learn to endure heat and cold. They made their own beds with plants on which they slept. 

As they grew, the boys had to exercise more and more and were periodically inspected for physical fitness in nude. Those who were not sufficiently fit were flogged. 

In addition to foot races and wrestling, they indulged in a brutal contest where two teams used every method including biting and gouging to drive them away from a designated island. 

To make them tougher the Spartan boys were given a meager diet. The hunger was intended to goad them into stealing food in order to train the boys to make them more resourceful in getting supplies and make better fighting men during war. 

 To make sure they would become cunning, those boys who were left alone if not caught but were flogged if caught. 

Whipping was considered by the boys as a test of courage and stoicism and boys looked forward to public display of their skills in enduring that. Some children even died on account of flogging. 

The Spartans learnt complete obedience to their commander and the society with no questions asked. 

Spartan troops drilled relentlessly till they attained perfection in the maneuvers they undertook. Therefore these troops were not just tough, they were meticulous in executing orders which is a great asset in any war. They are therefore highly effective in war. 

In war the Greeks used the system of phalanx in which the soldiers( known as Hoplites) fought in close formation and locked their shields with their spears projecting in the front. These phalanxes were impregnable for the enemy anf they created havoc in the enemy ranks. The Hoplites in the phalanxes wore 12 foot spears, swords and shields. The weakness in the Phalanx is if one soldier backed out or side stepped it becomes easily vulnerable for attack because its movement is slow to hold the close formation. 

Shockingly Sparta made male homo sexuality compulsory because it formed a close bonding between the members of the Phalanx which is the main Greek fighting force and ensured that bonding between soldiers would prevent them from deserting the phalanx and weakening it. 

So whatever system Sparta employed, it was with an intent to be perfect in war. 

For quite some time till the mid 4th century BC Sparta was invincible with these systems. 

But the Spartans had a great weakness. So meticulously do they drill that they execute war plans perfectly without deviation. However, in doing so they have lost their flexibility in war if something unforseen happened. They had no alternate plan to counter it. 

So finally another Greek state "Thebes" managed to defeat Sparta by employing unusual manoeuvres in war for which the Spartans had no answer. 

It is surprising as to how Sparta developed its strange systems when all around it other Greek states practiced liberal systems with Democracy. As per legend, a person called Lycurgus was credited to be the originator of this system in Sparta but there is no historical support for this claim.

JUDAISM.

 Judaism is the world’s first Monotheistic religion and dates to around 2000 BC. The Jews believe there is only one God who had made a Covenant- a special agreement with them. They believe that their God communicates to believers through prophets and rewards good deeds while punishing evil ones.

The Jews worship in a Synagogue and their priests are known as Rabbis. The 6 pointed Star of David is the symbol of Judaism.

ABRAHAM’s son ISAAC and his grandson JACOB were central figures in ancient Jewish history. JACOB took the name ISRAEL and his descendants were known as the Israelites.

1000 years after Abraham, MOSES led the Israelites out of Egypt.

Around 1000 BC King DAVID ruled the Jewish people and his son SOLOMON built the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The kingdom fell in 931 BC and the Jews split into 2 groups; ISRAEL in the North, and JUDA in the South. In 587 BC, the Babylonians conquered the area and sent many Jews into exile. They also destroyed the first temple built by Solomon.

A second Jewish temple was built by them again in 516 BC but was again destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Presently there are 14 million Jews worldwide but most of them are in the US and Israel. A person is considered Jewish if his mother (and not his father) is Jewish.

The Jewish sacred books are called the ‘TANAKH” or the “Hebrew Bible”. It includes the same books as the Old Testament in the Christian bible, but they are placed in a different order.

The “TORAH” is the first 5 books of the TANAKH and is also known as the PENTATEUCH. This outlines the laws for the Jews to follow.

As per the Torah, God first revealed himself to ABRAHAM who was a Hebrew and he is considered the founder of Judaism.

Around 200 AD, scholars compiled the “MISHNAH” a text that explains the Jewish code of law that was till then orally communicated.

The “TALMUD”, a collection of teachings on Jewish law came in the 3^rd century AD. It contains the “MISHNAH” and a commentary on the Mishnah known as “GEMARA”.

Judaism also has many commentaries including those of MOSES MAIMONIDES who is more liberal, HASDAI CRESCAS who is traditional and IBN EZRA. All the three of them are from Spain.  

SHABBAT is considered as a day of rest and prayer by the Jews. It begins at sunset on Friday and lasts until sundown on Saturday.

BAR MITZVAH is the Jewish ceremony performed when a boy becomes 13 years of age. It is considered religious adulthood.

BRIT MILAH is the circumcision ceremony. This is performed on the 8^th day of the baby’s birth. It is customary to hold this ceremony at the Synagogue and no anesthetic is to be used.   

GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY PROPOUNDED BY EINSTEIN IN 1915.

Till Einstein arrived on the scene Newton’s theory of gravitation has been taken as Gospel truth. But Einstein had this habit of shocking us humans by propounding theories that went right over our heads. They cannot be rejected because he had provided mathematical proof for them but to accept them, our mind rebels. Yet, science that provides mathematical proof had to be accepted and we have no choice on that.

I have already written 3 short notes on Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity propounded by him in 1905; the General Theory of Relativity is a later development that came about in 1915.

His General theory said there is no such thing as gravity and in the presence of bodies light curves itself. He said that this curvature of light appears to us as Gravity. He called that area where light curves in space as Space Time Continuum.

Okay, Einstein had his mathematical proof for the theory but there are not many who could understand his mathematical deduction at his time. So Einstein tried to explain this theory by giving real life examples, so that ordinary people could understand it.

Einstein said supposing you are sitting in a room all of whose doors are tightly closed. Suddenly the room is taken into space far from the earth and from any other body and then left there. Your room would then be falling (or better say moving) at a uniform speed. Suppose you leave an object in your hand, it merely stays there without hitting the ground because that too is travelling at the same speed. Then if you jump, you would find yourself floating in the air. That means there is nothing called up or down in that room now.

Now suppose the room had a rocket engine and you start the engine and accelerate the room, then the so called gravitational attraction comes back. Whichever side the engine is there, that side becomes the floor for all the objects in the room. The opposite side of the room that has the engine becomes the ceiling. If you then give the room the same acceleration as we have on earth due to gravity, then you would feel perfectly the same as on earth.

Now, the room does not have any gravity, yet by merely accelerating it equivalent to earth’s acceleration, we feel the same way as we feel on earth and have the same weight.

Now let us take the path of light in your travelling room. Suppose the room is dark and a small ray of light entered into the room from one side window. As the room is travelling, by the time the light reaches the opposite wall, the light also has to traverse some distance which would take some time. During that time, the room would have moved at least a fraction if it is travelling with ordinary speeds or much more if it is traveling near to the speed of light. That means, the ray of light that entered the room would not hit the opposite side of the room in a straight-line. But light always travels in a straight line, therefore in that room the curved line is the straight line.

In that room, the space has become curved, not just space but the space time continuum got curved. In the entire Universe the space time continuum is curved. In large bodies like the Sun and stars this curving of light can be clearly seen from the light received from other stars. Not only did Einstein merely state that, he calculated the curvature of light near the Sun and stated it is 1.75 seconds of arc. He challenged the scientists to measure and check his deduction.

But how to measure the curvature of light from the stars when the stars themselves are invisible when the sun shines? The Sun becomes dark during a solar eclipse and that is the time to measure the curvature. The scientists then waited for a full solar eclipse to occur and it finally came about in 1919. Scientists then travelled to West Africa and Brazil where there was a complete solar eclipse and indeed found that light curved as Einstein has propounded and has curved 1.63 seconds which is slightly less than Einstein’s mathematical deduction. Thus Einstein has become a mathematical prophet.

From this curvature, it automatically follows that around every large object light curves. This happens in the case of all the stars in the Universe. Collectively the enormous number of stars is making the space curve on itself. That is why the Universe is finite but boundless.

Okay thought some scientists, from this can we deduct the extent of the Universe? They thought light curves around every large body, so if they can calculate the mass of the Universe then they would know the extent of curvature.

The Astronomer Edwin Hubble of Mount Wilson laboratory observed the Heavens for some time and calculated the density of the universe to be 10^-30 gms/cc. Using this value he calculated the radius of the Universe to be 3500 crore light years. Many scientists however, expressed skepticism about the validity of this calculation on the extent of the Universe.

But nothing is final in science. Newton talked about Gravity but Einstein came in and made it redundant. That is why in science and specifically in Astronomy where there are too many imponderables, there is always scope for improvement, and new discoveries may displace the old ones again.

At the time Einstein propounded his theories we did not know that Universe is expanding and that came about later. Einstein made his calculations assuming a static universe and his deduction supported that.

When it was discovered that the Universe is expanding, some scientists have checked Einstein’s mathematical model and found a minor mistake that made him believe in a static universe. In turn after rectifying that mistake they found that the Universe can in fact never be static and has to go on expanding.

Again it was Edwin Hubble himself scanning the Universe through the Mt Wilson 100 inch telescope who discovered that the Universe is expanding. Galaxies are running away from each other. The farther the galaxy, the faster it would run away from us. Hubble analyzed through spectroscope the radiation from the galaxies and arrived at this result. 

Hubble then discovered a law for the proportionate recession of galaxies. This is called the “Hubble’s Law” and as per that if a galaxy “B” is twice as farther away from us than galaxy “A” then “B” would run away twice as faster from us than “A”. If it is 3 times as far then it would recede at 3 times the velocity.

But in this law comes a paradox. Suppose a galaxy that is 400 crore light years away is moving away from us at a speed of 110,000 Km/Sec, then as per Hubbles law as galaxy 1200 crore light years from us should recede at a speed of 3,30,000 Km/Sec or over the speed of light. Now as per our laws no object can travel faster than light, so where lies the problem? The only answer we can currently give to that is we do not know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                  

RAM JANMABHOOMI DISPUTE.

 The birthplace of Lord Rama is known as Ramjanmabhoomi and is believed to have been where the Babri Masjid stood in Ayodhya. However, this is just a matter of faith and no historical evidence is available to back that claim.  The Archeological Survey of India has stated that as per its findings, prior to the building of the Masjid a non Islamic structure existed there on which the Babri Masjid was built. 

The Babri Masjid was built in about 1528 AD by one of Babar’s generals Mir Baqi. For 400 years, the site was used both by Hindus and Muslims. The claim that a temple stood at the site of Babri Masjid prior to its construction was first stated by one official of the Faizabad court in 1822. 

Based on that statement the Nirmohi Akhara laid claim to the site and religious violence was first recorded at the site in 1855.  In 1859 AD, the British administration set up a railing to separate the outer courtyard of the mosque to avoid disputes.

This went on till 1949 when the idols of Rama were placed inside the mosque allegedly by the volunteers of the Hindu Mahasabha. This led to suits being filed by both the parties and the site was declared as disputed and the gates of the Masjid were locked.        

In the 1980’s the VHP started it campaign for construction of temple at the site with the BJP being its political voice. In 1986 a district judge ruled that the gates be reopened and Hindus be permitted to offer worship there. This decision was then endorsed by Rajiv Gandhi because he wanted to win back the confidence of the Hindus after the Shah Bano fiasco. Nevertheless, Congress lost the 1989 elections and the National Front Government under V P Singh came to power with the rejuvenated BJP which increased its seat tally from 2 in 1984 to 88 in 1989.   

In 1990 LK Advani took a Ratha Yatra across North India for gathering support of the Ram Temple. Advani was arrested in Bihar before he could reach Ayodhya. However, many Karsevaks managed to reach Ayodhya and they attacked the mosque. The para military forces stopped them and in the pitched battles many Karsevaks lay dead. The BJP with drew its support to the V P Singh government on the issue and the government fell. In the 1991 Parliamentary elections BJP further improved its tally to 120.

On 6^th December 1992, the RSS, BJP and the VHP organized a rally of  about 150,000 karsevaks at the disputed structure. There were speeches by LK Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others. As time went by the gathering became restless and started raising slogans. A police cordon was placed around the masjid anticipating the attack but the force was just not adequate enough to stop the karsevaks. Ultimately by noon the karsevaks broke the police cordon and the police fled.

The karsevaks fell on the structure with axes and hammers and within a few hours, the entire structure was leveled to the ground.

The destruction of Babri Masjid brought out severe condemnation from the Muslims from all over the country. There was communal rioting in which about 2000 people died. Of this, the Shiv Sena led rioting  in Bombay alone claimed 900 people. This in turn ultimately led to the reprisal in the way of Bombay blasts in 1993.

The justice Liberhans Commission set up for enquiry into the incident took over 16 years and ultimately concluded and submitted the report to the government in 2009. As per the commission the events of December 6 were planned and not spontaneous.

Surprisingly from 2009 till 2014 despite the Congress government being in power nothing happened. In 2015, the SC admitted a petition stating that with the BJP in power, the issue would not be pursued by the CBI because the names of LK Advani and Rajnath Singh were mentioned in the report. In April 2017, a special CBI court framed charges against Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar and others. In September 2020 the special court acquitted all the 32 accused stating that demolition was not pre planned and there is no evidence for that.

After the day of the Babri Masjid demolition, in Pakistan 30 temples were destroyed. There was also violence against the Hindus in Pakistan.

In Bangladesh too people attacked Hindus and burned down temples, shops and houses all over the country. 10 people were killed and 11 temples destroyed.

 

ISRAEL

 In about 2000 BC, a small and unimportant tribe of Semitic shepherds lived in the land of Ur on the mouth of Euphrates and then migrated to different parts of Babylonia. They were driven away west by the King and searched around for a place to settle. These are the Hebrews or the Jews. After roaming for a long time finally they were given shelter in Egypt. They lived there for 500 years. When the Hyksos overran Egypt they helped the invaders and so were left undisturbed by them. When the Hyksos were defeated by the Egyptians, the Jews were hated and were made into slaves under the guard of the army.

Then Moses led them out of their slavery of their Egyptian masters. Moses evaded the Egyptian army sent against them and led them on to the plain at the foot of Mount Sinai. There he preached them the greatness of the god Jehova, and Jehova became the Supreme God of the Jews. The Jews followed Moses and he finally brought them to the land of Philistines known as Palestine. It is a pleasant and prosperous area. But the mainland Palestine was already inhabited by Canaanites which is another Semitic race. The Jews forced themselves into the valleys and constructed cities and a mighty temple in a town named Jerusalem. Moses already died after the mountains of Palestine are sighted. Moses led them into a new life and made them the world’s first nation to worship a single God. That happened sometime in 1400 BC.

The Jews formed 2 kingdoms in Palestine. The kingdom of Israel in the North and the kingdom of Judea in the South. Israel was conquered by the Assyrian Empire in around 700 BC and Judea by the Babylonian empire in around 600 BC. Jews were initially exiled to Babylon, when Babylon was defeated by Persia in 540 BC, many Jews returned to Jerusalem and built a 2^nd temple there. When Alexander conquered the Persian Empire around 330 BC, the Jewish areas were passed on to his empire. There were Roman Jewish wars between 66-136 and ultimately the Romans conquered Jewish areas in 136 AD. The Romans expelled most of the Jews from the area beginning the migration of Jews. After this, the Jews became a minority in most areas except in Galilee. Jewish settlements declined with time and finally in most areas Jews made up of just 10-15% of the population. The Persian Empire conquered the area in 614 AD. Finally the Muslim forces conquered the area from Persia in 638 AD.

One can see that in these travails, the Jews were never left at peace and were fugitives most of the time. No other people suffered like them. One is immediately led to the question why this had happened in the case of Jews. One can only pity them. Left without any physical moorings perhaps it is only natural that they yearned to have a country of other own. But their ancient land which they left in 140 AD after the Roman conquest was already peopled by Palestines who lived there for some 1800 years by then. Persecuted all over Europe and desperate to have a homeland, when the Jews migrated into that area, it is but natural that there would be strife. Ultimately they managed to establish themselves in that area by the might of their arms and the backing of the US.

AUROBINDO GHOSE

 Aurobindo was born in the year 1872 at Calcutta. His father was doctor who later went on to become the Civil Surgeon of Khulna. His father was attracted to the Brahmo Samaj movement. His maternal grandfather Rajnarayan Bose was a very influential figure in the Brahmo Samaj.

His father believed the British culuture to be superior and so Aurobindo and his 2 male siblings were sent to Loreto House Boarding School in Darjeeling. The school was run by Irish nuns.

Aurobindo’s father wanted his sons to enter the Civil Service and for this purpose the family moved to England in 1879. The 3 brothers were placed in the care of a minister of the Congregational church. Slowly Aurobindo started disliking the British Government in India.

The minister immigrated to Australia and the boys were placed in care of his mother at London. Aurobindo was great at picking up languages and by the turn of the century(i.e when he was just 28) he knew 12 langauges. English, French and Bengali to speak, read and write. Latin, Greek and Sanskrit to read and write. Gujarati, Marathi and Hindi to speak and read and Italian, Spanish and German to read.

The old lady’s religious structural inculcations has made Aurobindo to dislike religion. Initially, he thought himself to be an atheist but later he became an agnostic.

In 1889 his other brothers were out of the race for the ICS and Aurobindo was left alone. Now Aurobindos father did not have money to finance him so Aurobindo studied hard for a scholarship. Ultimately he got it with a recommendation from an Englishman.

Aurobindo passed the ICS written examination ranked 11^th out of 250 competitors. However, he had no interest in ICS and he purposefully acme late for the horst riding practical to disqualify himself.

At that time the Maharaja of Baroda was travelling in England and James Cotton who was known to Aurobindos father recommended him and got him placed in Baroda state service. He left England and arrived in Feb 1893. Unfortunately his father was misinformed before his arrival that the ship carrying Aurobindo was sunk and he died. His father died upon hearing that news.   

Aurobindo joined the Baroda state service in 1893 and worked there till 1897. He later became Vice Principal of Baroda College.

At Baroda, Aurobindo started taking interest in the Independence struggle clandestinely as he was then employed in the state service. He later established resistance groups in the Presidency. He moved to Calcutta in 1906 and married Mrinalini who was then 14 years old, he himself was 28 then.

He was influenced by study of revolutions in England, France, the US and Italy. In public he favored non cooperation and passive resistance, but he was prepared for armed rebellion if that failed.

In the Congress he sided with Bala Gangadhar Tilak. He was arrested in 1908 in connection with the Alipore bomb case. The arrests were made after the attempt of Khudiram Bose and Praful Chaki on the life of the Magistrate at Muzaffarpur.

In the jail, the approver and crown witness was shot dead by a couple of accused nationalists in the jail. Due to this the proof against Aurobindo disappeared but others were convicted in the case. After undergoing the prison sentence awarded in the trial, Aurobindo journeyed into spirituality and philosophy.

The British ahd another warrant on Aurobindo in 1910, but by the time the police could reach him, he reached Pondicherry which is a French possession. The warrant was therefore cancelled.

At Pondicherry after 4 years of secluded yoga, he started a monthly philosophical magazine called Arya. All his books that came later have their origins in this monthly which was later discontinued in 1921.

Initially, he had no followers, but later their numbers grew and the Aurobindo Ashram was established in 1926.  He died in 1950.

Aurobinodo’s closest collaborator, the French national Mirra Alfassa came to be known as the mother. She managed the Aurobindo Ashram. She studied occultism and went to Pondicherry in 2014. The following aspects of occultism appear to be common to all human societies—divination, magic, witchcraft, and alchemy.

Aurobindo says that Brahman manifests as empirical reality through “LILA” or divine play. He argues that the world can evolve and become new world with new species far above the human species in the same way as humans have evolved from other species to be the pinnacle.

He argued that the end goal of spiritual practice is not liberation from the world into Samadhi alone but would also be that of descent of the Divine into the world in order to transform it into a divine existence. He says, this descent, the descent of the Purusha, the Divine soul submitting itself to force and matter so that it may inform and redeem others.

FRIEDRICH WILHELM NIETZCHE.

This gentleman’s philosophy justified Hitler and Mussolini. He was considered the official philosopher by the Nazis. Hitler went to Nietzsche’s house in Weimar and paid his respects to him. But Nietzsche despite his explosive philosophy never showed any discrimination to Jews himself. As a person he was weak in health and could not have hurt an ant. Perhaps in the act of compensating against his disability and weakness, he has swung to the other extreme and espoused a philosophy that is diametrically opposite to what he has practiced.   

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born in Prussia in 1844. He was born on the birthday of the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm and therefore his father named him after the King. Surprisingly, in later times that King became mad and so also did Nietzsche’s father and finally Nietzsche himself who spent the last 10 years of his life into and out of mental asylums.                                                                     

One day in the night while climbing the stairs at home his father stumbled and fell hitting his head on the floor which injured his brain. A year after that he died. Nietzche was just 7 years old then.

Nietzche’s father was a missionary. On his father’s side and mother’s side for generations his ancestors had been church employees and missionaries. After his father’s death Nietzsche and his sister were brought up by 4 ladies who held a strong belief in god. One was his mother, two aunts and his grandmother. However much they tried to inculcate Christianity in him Nietzsche grew up as an atheist.

Nietzsche had a weak body and was always unhealthy. He used to be weak and feminine and most of the time he played with his sister and avoided boys. From this guy came a philosophy that shook Europe. He made the character in his first book say “God is dead”. This is something that infuriated the worshipers and entire Europe at that time.

He came in and made whatever belief the contemporary society had, stand on right on its head in his philosophy. His writings touched chords in the hearts of people even if they happened to be the wrong ones. He was not a philosopher in the conventional sense, yet with his power of poetry, with its meanderings and great force he propounded his philosophy. It made the Europe of his time stunned in disbelief and angry too. They thought who is this guy? What nonsense is he talking and what is his conceit?

His writings are the best of poetry filled with a shade of madness and they have led Europe on a trail of destruction. He was the official philosopher for the Nazis despite the fact that he was dead by the time they came in.

He studied poetry, science, Greek and Latin. Later he studied at Bonn University. There as a masculine activity he acquired the habit of drinking. He used to tell erotic poetry and used to visit prostitutes and acquired Syphilis as well. Finally he got fed up of that life and bade goodbye to it. Due to bad health, he lost interest in sex. He developed an aversion towards religion during those days.

He then joined in Leipzig University to study linguistics. He was always pining for physical strength and felt that he was not able to enjoy life.

At that time he came across Schopenhauer’s “The World as Will and Idea”. He liked the pessimism of Schopenhauer and it suited him. Schopenhauer said the will to live is the universal principle. But that principle is the root cause of suffering (just what our Buddha said). Schopenhauer then said that will to live should be transferred to be the will to die. But Nietzche differed with that and said that will to live should drive man forward.

Despite stating that his health was not good and his vision was not proper the authorities forcibly recruited him into the army. One day while riding a horse he fell down and injured himself badly on the chest.  The army then released him.

By that time itself the University official’s acme to know about his brilliance and before he could complete his doctorate, he was appointed as a professor at Basil University in Switzerland. He was hardly 25 years old then.

Now what did Nietzsche say that propelled the Nazis later?

Schopenhauer said that the will to live dictates the world. No said Nietzsche, the will is to obtain power, will to power or will to overpower. Obtention of power is the root principle. I am sure our politicians would love Nietzsche.

Yes, life is full of sorrow, but sorrow has an important role in life. Experiencing sorrow is a must for humans. From sorrow arise great qualities, the will to live and the will to overpower.

Taking the Greek tragedies Nietzsche has a written a theoretical work. In the Greek tragedies, the heroes’ are severely punished by Gods, but they do not submit and bear the punishment. For Nietzsche man too is the same, he has to fight with the Gods, rebel and obtain freedom. Because of sorrows man becomes stronger. His will becomes stronger. He has to obtain power from battle and rebellion. A person who adjusts with circumstances and loves pleasure is a fool and a slave.

Nietzsche was always all alone. But while working for Basil University he had one friend and that is Richard Wagner, the great composer. Wagner too was strongly influenced by Schopenhauer which perhaps is the reason they became friends.

Nietzsche was forever ailing and suffered from headaches. He resigned from the University and went from hospital to hospital, yet he could not find solace anywhere. In 1879 his ailment became very troublesome and he thought he would die. He was then just 35 years old. But nothing of the sort happened and his health improved. He roamed around and stayed at Rome for some time. There he met a beautiful Finnish woman and his fan named Andreas Salomi. He loved her and wanted to marry her, but she was just not interested and finally she married a young guy who knows nothing about philosophy. Kant was psychologically depressed and thought that a woman should never be believed. He also wrote aphorisms severely criticizing women. 

Finally he quarreled with Wagner because Wagner was travelling from atheism to theism, and so lost his only friend. Gradually his ideas turned against Christianity and its values. Then he wrote his epic work “Thus Spake Zarathustra” in 1883. Nietzsche wrote many works later, but this is the most popular and it had a tremendous influence. That was not a philosophical work but an epic. Nietzsche penned with a great poetic flair and beauty and it is considered as one of the greatest works of the 19^th century. This contains the essence of all his philosophy.