Given that the idea of trans-moral can be misused can it ever be applied?
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Transcript
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felt that they were guided by Krishna and they acted with disregard to morality and later on they succumb to immorality so can that principle ever be applied yeah it’s it’s best to try to cultivate morality and also learn to teach morality but there may be exceptions where for example you know where say a devotee survival itself is at stake or a moment survival itself is at stake at that time on some occasion occasions you know we may have to what is called a selective disclosure of facts you may not necessarily tell the full truth you may have to tell something in a particular way so that is acceptable like Krishna says that sarvarambhai doshena dhume naagmiri bhavrata that all endeavors are covered by a fall just as fire is covered by smoke so in a sense we we have to we have to make sure that our service to Krishna goes on so for example I would say that say I come from India India there’s a lot of corruption in the government and many other places so it’s there everywhere I would say in America but India is well known it is there so suppose there’s a devotee working in a government office where there is a lot of corruption and then if that devotee decides you know I will myself not take any that’s that’s good and you should be moral but sometimes you know there’s a whole network and if one person stands out then that person becomes a threat for everyone and then that person may become framed and that person may get victimized and then that person has to defend oneself because you know because everybody else sees them as a threat and either that person is is you know is framed and is dismissed or transferred to some remote godforsaken place or one person can get in a lot of trouble because of that in such a situation you have to choose our battles so it is not that that that is a license for being corrupt oneself but the point is that if our trying to be moral in a in a situation where everybody is immoral that makes us a target and then it creates problems for us then just do the needful but that is where it’s just the way things are and we have to live that way but sometimes just to get things done with lesser effort and we just think that sometimes devotees think that you know that speaking counterfactually is a way of getting things done faster and then it becomes not out of necessity it just becomes becomes it’s done out of lethargy now I don’t want to take the trouble so for example when you’re distributing books instead of telling people you know what the book contains and how the book is going to benefit we tell them whatever they want to hear and we tell them whatever they want to hear and we mislead them we tell them you know somebody is into animal protection then this book is about animal protection they read the whole book and you may say there is nothing about animal protection and say no actually we say that all souls have water all animals have souls so therefore we also protect animals this is quite a stretch it’s not definitely about animal protection sometimes we make a creative connection and that is good but if we put morality aside simply to get things done faster and that that becomes like a shortcut so we think service to Krishna is what is important and then morality doesn’t matter if my moral is good it doesn’t matter we shouldn’t trivialize it it is important and a very careful very carefully with deep consideration maybe with consulting other devotees other equals other seniors after only an exceptional situation that should be done so in no situation should no situation should just put the brushing should morality brushing aside morality become a habit that doesn’t matter it may need to be done on occasions but has been very careful and it’s best to assume in this case Bhaktivinoda Thakura was very very clear in Chaitanya Shiksha Amrit which is that devotees have to be moral, devotees have to be honest, devotees have to be truthful so he himself was actually we read his biography he was such an honest person and sometimes he got into trouble because of his honesty so he was working in a business and he did many jobs throughout his life before he got a magistrate he was doing a business he was working in a business and he was he was so honest he got in trouble because of that and then he had to leave that job and later on when he was working as a high court magistrate also at that time there is some of his other colleagues you know they plotted against him and nothing happened to him or protected but later on when he retired and he took a full-time practicing of bhakti and sharing of bhakti and one of his colleagues he came and met him and when he saw how saintly you are he apologized I’m sorry I did that and Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote that I was surprised I was surprised that this person had so much vehemence against me. He forgave him but still there was that all that in the background so because of his honesty he was seen as a threat by others but still he perceived it as an honesty. He said that certainly there should never be any dismissive attitude towards morality.
Morality is extremely important but we don’t make like in the Christians say don’t make anything into God so we don’t make morality into God if it becomes a God then it becomes like a false God which can obstruct us in going towards Krishna but still morality is extremely important and only in exceptional situations can we after consulting others praying deeply we can act trans-morally. You like to you know have much more experience than me though you can add something he has to take that money and he anonymously leaves it to Krishna. He gives it to Krishna.
He doesn’t even put his name on the list so I gave him 10,000 rupees. So he gives it to Krishna. He says Krishna Krishna are the circumstances I have no choice I think I have no choice I don’t want this to be something I’m selfishly doing so at least I’m bringing the money here to help me avoid this situation etc.
In that sense of penance and also making sure there’s no selfish benefit from that immoral act. I mean aside from perhaps let’s say some like you know where the death works are coming to their you know somebody attacks you maybe you have to defend in a way that’s immoral and you save the person. Yeah.
Outside of that selfish benefit to say whatever benefit you may be but you may try to keep it. I don’t keep the fame. I don’t keep the money.
I don’t keep the power. I don’t keep the status. Just to make sure and just to leave it by death.
Yes very important and Australian penance is a perfect example of Yudhishthira Maharaj doing penance after that. Thank you very much. If those occasions where there was like when Krishna told Arjuna to shoot at Karna that wasn’t what they did all the time.
You know it didn’t become a standard way of doing it or and then therefore you can shoot everybody off the chariot. So when you do have those occasions that generally once all emergencies are saved. Right.
Yeah that’s true. That’s the becoming of that. Yeah when it becomes are you justified or when other people start doing what you’re doing.
But that the rest of the war that the next time somebody else hopped off the chariot. I mean that’s the big difference between the war in Kurukshetra and the way the jihadis attack. Jihadis the terrorists they have made it like a principle now.
Attacking unarmed people. Attacking defenseless people. Killing civilians.
So the nearest comparison because many times the Kurukshetra violence is compared with Islamic violence. Radical Islamic violence. So the closest that it comes to is Ashwatthama killing at night.
The Kurukshetra war nowhere it goes to attacking civilians even once. So Ashwatthama’s attack is totally condemned. Totally condemned.
Yeah right. Yeah. Thank you very much.