Why did Parashurama destroy kshatriyas and not their greed?

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Transcript

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fruits we should destroy the plant not the fruits so now Parshuram he destroyed the Kshatriyas but in their Kshatriya misbehavior that was coming from their last anger greed so why did Parshuram not destroy that there are degrees of lust anger greed see lust is at one level a natural human emotion as long as you are in the embodied condition the attraction between male and female is natural greed in terms of wanting and possessing things that is also natural human emotion and we see that anger anger is also it is not that all anger is always undesirable there are degrees of anger so for example in the Bhagavad Gita itself if you consider Krishna talks in third chapter he uses the word karma and he says that karma is our enemy and he gives various analysis and strategies about how to control and conquer it but in that same Bhagavad Gita talks later in the seventh chapter in the eleventh one the dharma vruddha bhuteshu kama usmi bharata shiva he says i am kama that is not contrary to principles of dharma so there kama refers to that sexual desire which is in harmony with the principles of dharma so it is not that all lust is bad Krishna using the same word kama he is using it in a negative sense where it is unrestrained and adharmic earlier and then later on he is using it in a sense where it is dharmic similarly Krishna talks about greed in the negative sense when he talks about the demoniac mentality in the 16th chapter he says that those who think that this much i have conquered and that i will conquer and i will destroy all those enemies who are going to come in my way talks about this so he talks about greed as demoniac possessiveness but in the same Bhagavad Gita in 11.33 also tells Arjuna so he says that therefore Arjuna rise and win a flourishing kingdom all your enemies are destroyed by my arrangement and arise and enjoy a flourishing kingdom so later on Krishna is saying the 16th chapter that wanting a big kingdom and destroying one’s enemies is demoniac but Krishna is telling Arjuna get this kingdom and I have destroyed your enemies so what is going on here see the point is that in this world God does not act directly so that means that people in this world have to act in godliness it’s not that God does descend periodically in this world but the whole principle of dharma is to make to help people live in godly ways so we are not the ultimate controllers but it is not that Krishna is going to come and control things at a practical level here it is we who have to make things orderly in a way in which things can be dharmic so we may say we don’t have a possessive mentality but somebody has to possess things and it is better that those who are godly possess things rather than those who are ungodly so any kind of ambition that is there if you want to look at it negatively you can call it greed but that ambition if it is in the pursuit of dharma that is not bad so lust anger greed when we talk about it you know Krishna he tells Arjuna at the just before he is going to fight with Karna towards the last war Krishna actually reminds Arjuna of all the all the grievous ways in which the Kauravas have insulted the Pandavas and then he tells Arjuna now you remember this is the time for you to correct all those wrongs and fight so what does that mean he is wanting to bring out the intensity in Arjuna at that time that’s about this so in that sense anger is also not always bad so there are degrees of lust anger greed and when it is within the perimeter of dharma so somebody has a desire to possess a lot one possesses a lot and uses that a lot in the spirit of service now gives it in charity uses it for noble causes then that possessiveness is not necessarily bad because somebody else has to possess so it is better that those who are dharmic possess things rather than other dharmic possess things so the it is so those who are there are people who are ready to regulate their lust anger greed according to the principles of dharma and there are others who give in to their lust anger greed and who give up the practice of dharma because of lust greed and when those whose lust anger greed becomes so dominating that they give up everything else in 16.23 Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that there are the ungodly who give up Shastra because they want to act according to Kaam alone then they are undesirable so when people’s lust anger greed becomes so excessive that they completely reject dharma and they become we have to become agents to channel to regulate and channel lust anger greed but when we become agents for lust anger greed itself then that becomes counterproductive so when so when that happens then such people have to be destroyed it is not that you know if the if we say that lord should destroy lust anger greed and lust anger greed are the seeds but what we call as lust anger and greed these are ultimately misdirections of desire and desire is a natural state of consciousness to be conscious means to be desirous we cannot live without desires Prabhupada says in a lecture that we are not meant to kill desires we are meant to cure desires so whatever desires we have Prabhupada says we have Kaam we have desire so he says how do you spiritualize Kaam he says whatever we desire we desire it for Krishna we desire oh this is so beautiful maybe this can be offered to Krishna this dress is so nice maybe we can make a dress like this for Krishna this this necklace is so beautiful oh I can offer this necklace to Krishna this decorating style is so good oh we can decorate the Krishna like this so we had the Chandan Yatra festival where Krishna was decorated in some beautiful ways so what is happening we have the tendency to look at beautiful things we have the tendency to draw and depict beautiful things we use them in Krishna’s service so ultimately desire cannot be annihilated so there is desire that is spiritualized and while it is being spiritualized it cannot be it is not that desire is completely eradicated at the material level but when it is at the material level it is regulated so that means there are there are three parts to the power of desire one is the direct spiritualization of desire where it is directly used in devotional service by directly connection with Krishna the second is the desire for material things is regulated within the precincts of Dharma and then third is unregulated desire Kaamam Ashitya Dushpooram in 16.10 Krishna talks about the ungodly the demoniac as those who instead of taking shelter of Narayan instead of taking shelter of Narayan they take shelter of Kaama and what kind of Kaama Dushpooram insatiable so when that happens such people are antisocial and they have to be destroyed so it’s not that so the way to destroy the the seeds of the tree of lust anger greed that it is the seeds have to be destroyed not by the annihilation of desire but by the purification of desire and the regulation of desire by the purification by redirecting it towards Krishna and by the regulation while we are functioning in the material world regulation according principles of Dharma and those who the Kshatriyas are meant to regulate and those Kshatriyas who don’t regulate those who violate those Kshatriyas need to be destroyed. 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