How can a hunter-devotee justify that he is simply doing the profession ordained by past karma – can a terrorist argue the same way?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so if some does the Bhagavatam say that about the butcher who is also having spiritual knowledge that he is engaged in that profession because of his past karma can terrorists also say that it’s because of their past karma they are in a situation where they are getting terrorism yes anybody can use the past as an excuse for their choices in the present at the same time we are responsible for the consequences of our actions so even if the Bhagavatam says that there was a butcher who would butcher or a hunter or whatever who had spiritual knowledge and was wise that doesn’t mean that that person was so wise that they could use spiritual knowledge also that doesn’t mean that they are free from karma that particular action will bring certain reactions and they are going to come to them so in general the Bhagavatam often conveys the glory of bhakti by extreme examples just like Uttarasura is a demon now as a demon he is fighting against the gods and he is normally even if we go to a temple of the devatas, we will be respectful we will not push the deity of devatas or offend it and now in any way we will disrespect it Uttarasura was actually attacking to kill the gods and yet he is considered to be a great devotee and before he was about to die he was speaking great words of wisdom which conveyed his greatness and his death is exemplary so somebody is fighting against the gods trampling the gods not exactly the gods but the servants but he is also threatening the gods so that means that the point over here is not that that action of attacking the gods is alright the point is even if somebody has that kind of body and mind because of which or body mind situation because of which they will act according to the demonic nature to some extent but when Uttarasura sees the Dadhichi’s weapon which is given by Narayan and you understand that now there is no chance for me to survive so then immediately he remembers the lord and he turns towards the lord and absorbs himself so the stress here is not that Uttarasura acted in a demonic way but that even somebody who is acting in a demonic way could be redeemed by the power of Bhakti so Bhakti is so inclusive that even somebody in that situation can be a devotee similarly even a person who is engaged in the profession of hunting or killing animals butchering animals, that person can also be a devotee so that doesn’t mean that we should so a butcher can be a devotee that doesn’t mean a devotee should be a butcher so now if we consider somebody is a drug baron or alcohol baron or whatever and that person wants to do some devotion say build a temple or contribute to building a temple now should they be banned from doing that no we can’t ban them from doing that if they come to us we need to caution them instruct them encourage them to try to change their profession as much as possible but we can’t forbid them from practicing from engaging in seva and sometimes some people’s karma might be black and white a combination of black and white by some past black karma they are in the butcher’s profession by some past good karma they might also have some spiritual knowledge so if somebody justifies I think slaughtering animals although it’s bad, it’s sinful still there’s a difference between killing animals and slaughtering human beings like terrorists do there’s definitely a difference in degree and a big difference if somebody says by my circumstances I had no option except to be a terrorist well ok but then by that action your circumstances are going to become worse in future because that karma is going to be involved it’s not that just because you are a devotee that doesn’t mean you will automatically be freed from karma so the karmic the point here is not that a devotee can a wrongdoer or a person involved in an unwanted profession can’t have spiritual knowledge but those in spiritual knowledge they should not knowingly engage in those professions if somebody does that then ultimately Krishna knows everyone’s heart and we usually don’t so if they are going to suffer because of that then they are going to suffer I mean if Krishna knows that they are doing it just to justify what they are doing then they will have to suffer the consequences