How does the Vedic rule of “no reactions in killing aggressors” apply today?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Hare Krishna question how does the Vedic rule of killing and not getting any reactions apply in today’s society answer in the Vedic scriptures there are rules which are social and there are principles which are spiritual so sometimes the distinction may not be very clear but broadly this distinction is there so for example there might be things which are illegal according to the Vedic perspective as like for example killing animals especially cows, bee feeding but then it is widely spread in today’s society similarly some things which may be unacceptable in today’s society which may be practiced in the earlier society so for example in the past there was the practice of polygamy so especially or more specifically you could call it polygyny where the kings especially yathriyas had many wives now when Jila Prabhupada was asked there were some devotees in his con who had the idea that can we have many wives? Prabhupada said no legally it is not allowed now and moreover why should one get more entangled in life so the point is that although polygyny is considered to be something that was prevalent in the past primarily because in the past the male female ratio was tilted towards greater number of males so sorry towards greater number of females because of which some men had to marry more than one woman but the point is that that is one example of what is not applicable today so now if you look at the rule about atatainas certainly in today’s law killing for self defense is not considered to be culpable especially if it can be proven that the person would have killed the defendant and then in self defense the defendant kills someone then that is definitely not culpable so similarly it is true that in most occasions killing is not so among the atatainas the word is aggressive stretched bow so when a warrior comes with a stretched bow that means the warrior is about to shoot arrows that means not necessarily a warrior an aggressor has come with a stretched bow that means the aggressor is about to kill so when someone comes like this can one be saved can one kill such a person yes even in today’s sense if somebody that broad principle of killing for self defense is accepted at the same time whether we can take the law in our own hands and kill those who are aggressors apart from the time of self defense well that is not legal in today’s legal system and there is always this delicate balance which a devotee has to navigate between following the scriptural principles and following the principles which are given according to today’s legal system so in general if you look at the atatainas so we the principle that in killing an atataina one will not get karmic reactions that holds true but we have to know that the karmic reactions are not the only factor that we have to consider we also have to consider the current legal system and if something is considered culpable in the current legal system then we definitely need to have second thoughts about whether we are going whether we should do this inactivity or not inactivity so the key point is that in general devotees don’t take a law in their own hands this of course does not mean that we accept violence or exploitation passively actually Prabhupada did say that in Mayapur when it was threatened by by rioters and intolerant elements pacoits and others so then Prabhupada said that devotees should be equipped properly even if weapons are required and further now devotees may also use security agencies have security take whatever it is required so even in the Vedic times the idea of of an atataina being killed was primarily applicable to Kshatriyas it was not that every citizen would take a law in their hands and kill someone who had done something wrong certainly self-defense is one thing but apart from the time when the event is occurring if after that one wants to take revenge then taking revenge or ensuring the rule of justice is not the responsibility of the is not something which the common citizen can do by taking the law in one’s hands so in general devotees should live according to the law of the land as long as that law does not contradict the basic regulative principles of bhakti so for example even if in the country it is legal to eat meat devotees will not eat meat but when it is doing something which is mandatory so for example in some countries it may be illegal to practice any kind of religious activity say atheistic countries or the intolerant religious countries so in such situations what should a devotee do devotee continues on in the determined practice of bhakti but will do it discreetly so the point is that the scriptural principles can be spiritual or they can be social and the scriptural principles need to be followed always but even their following can be done according to time, place, circumstances discreetly if required and the social principles definitely need to be adjusted according to time, place, circumstances and the important thing is the devotees don’t let themselves get exploited but at the same time don’t take the law in their own hands when it is unwarranted thank you