How could Samba abduct Lakshmana against her will?

Transcript

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how could Samba kidnap Lakshmana against her will answer here not everything in scripture is normative or prescriptive some of it may be simply descriptive normative means this is how this is right and this is wrong these are the norms prescriptive means this is how everyone should do and descriptive means this is how it was done so Samba at one level because he is the son of Krishna and being associated with Krishna in this intimate relationship is associate of Krishna whose actions are orchestrated by a higher plan at the same time Samba alone is not not everything that so that is from the transcendental perspective but from the contextual perspective if we look it is not that Samba is always considered to be a the right person who acts rightly he is considered to often be something like a spoiled son who does wrong things at times Vallabhacharya in his commentary to the chapter where the sons of Krishna are playing and they get they find a lizard in a well and they come and give the news to Krishna they say he says Vallabhacharya in his commentary says that he is anarthasuchak he often gives he gives inauspicious tidings indicating that he is his actions are not always laudable so at that time Krishna strongly speaks about how one should never offend brahmanas Nrga has unintentionally offended a brahmana and because of that the result was that he became cursed and got a lizard’s body in this case Krishna’s sons were Krishna spoke this primarily to his sons and foremost among his sons was at that time Samba he had brought the news and he was hearing so Krishna it could be said that Krishna was speaking primarily to Samba and Samba later despite hearing this will go and taunt mock the sages by putting on a dress like that of a female of a pregnant female and asking and playing a game where they ask will this woman’s child be a male or a female such a question is extremely dangerous to ask to make fun of great sages like this normally great sages have renounced the world and they are people whom we go to to learn transcendental knowledge but to there is a place for making fun but not in a forum where serious enquiry and serious education is to be expected and that’s it is his mocking of the Brahmanas that causes them to be cursed and thus they end up that causes them to curse the Yadu dynasty entirely and thus Samba’s actions eventually bring about the destruction of the Yadu dynasty so even in this case it is not that Samba’s actions are right his abducting a girl from the Swayamvar is improper it is not that just because he is Krishna’s associate that doesn’t mean everything that he does is perfect everything that he does may serve a divine purpose but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that is the standard of how we should act just like even Dhritarashtra’s attachment serves a purpose Dhritarashtra’s envy serves a purpose in we could say furthering the Lord’s plan to establish Dharma to expose what is Dharma and then to eliminate to expose what is Adharma and then to eliminate the Adharma but just because something serves Krishna’s plan doesn’t mean that is the standard way of serving in his plan Samba’s actions are not considered to be appropriate for normally the Swayamvar has a particular code to it and especially that means that the girl and her parents especially father brother and others they set up a criteria and usually this criteria is if not regrettably is tilted in favor of the particular prince whom they want their daughter to marry and Samba’s not meeting the Swayamvar criteria and Samba’s just abducting Lakshmana at that time against her will is definitely a wrong thing to do and after that when Balram goes and tries to protect him now that is interesting that Krishna himself does not go there it is Balram who goes there and just as Balram’s favors whom Balram favors is not necessarily that is indicative of his kindness but that is not indicative of necessarily of that character’s rightness just as Balram even treated even taught mace fighting to Duryodhana and Duryodhana by his Duryodhana received Balram’s mercy in that sense that doesn’t mean Duryodhana was virtuous so Balram’s actions don’t necessarily mean that the whole Yadu dynasty or Krishna necessarily supported what Samba did and of course because he is a member of the dynasty and because he is a young member of the dynasty and because he has been arrested by the by the Kauravas therefore it’s natural for them to want to for Balram to want to rescue his nephew normally even in our dealings if a child or a young man does something wrong and say gets in trouble with the law then the parents will go and bail out the child when they bail out the child that doesn’t mean that they they support what the child has done it is natural because of their natural affection for the child for that they bail him out so during the conversations which Balram has with with the Kauravas his thrust is not that what Samba did was right it is that he is a member of the Yadu dynasty and you should release him so right or wrong what action has now happened and when multiple Kuru warriors together attack Samba and unfairly defeated him and imprisoned him as if he were a common criminal and were not ready to listen to reason and come to a some kind of settlement that’s when Balram got angry so overall Samba’s actions are definitely not prescriptive of that is not in any way to be used as justification for anyone else to act in that way they are in no way exemplary or prescriptive nor are they normative they are not the way things were normally done at that time it was not the right course of action to do now if we say that his actions are wrong aren’t we offending an intimate associate of the lord that’s why it is best not to judge the moral probity of characters who were directly involved in the lord’s pastimes at a very intimate level but from the point of view of our actions this is not what should be done and Samba’s actions ultimately which led to the destruction of the Kuru dynasty they also can be understood from the perspective of serving a higher purpose so if there is a small if there are two big armies who are marching towards each other to fight against each other and then eventually in some small backwater town the two armies meet so there are hundreds and thousands of soldiers of the defending army and similarly in the nearby vicinity there are hundreds and thousands of soldiers of the opposing army and when they confront each other there can be a fierce battle and the whole dynamic whole mood whole way of functioning of that sleepy backwater town may change which becomes puzzling with activity even with violence but once the war is over say the war purpose is done then the presence of that heavy encampment in that small town is unnecessary and it can also be counterproductive then that has to be then all those they may not do something wrong specifically but the soldiers have to be told to leave from there similarly during a great confrontation between good and evil between the divine forces the suras and the demonic forces the asuras the earth becomes like the backwater town where both these forces settle in mass to have a confrontation and at the end after the adharmic are removed from the situations or from their positions and dharma is restored then even the forces that are defending the forces of dharma also need to be removed and the forces of dharma are like the yadus and Krishna Krishna arranges to have them removed from the earth by an apparently destructive self-destructive conflict and that is triggered by by Sambha’s actions overall what Sambha does also serves a divine purpose and in that sense we shouldn’t judge it as directly wrong we have to have a deferential attitude at the same time we also have to have a discerning attitude just because something serves the lord’s purpose doesn’t mean that is the standard way to serve the lord’s purpose Sambha’s actions of abducting Lakshmana against this will can be also understood in this category of something which he did of his own will not that just because he is Krishna’s son and he does it it becomes right Thank you