How should we respond to indiscriminate violence against other communities done in the name of religion as a response to distortion of respected images?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question. How do we see from a Krishna Conscious perspective the incidents of communal violence that have happened recently as a backlash to the distortion on Facebook of some highly respected Hindu people? Answer. Answer.
There are three different issues over here. First is the response to the symbols that are respected or sacred to a tradition. Second is the issue of communal violence.
And third is the essential teachings of a business tradition with respect to such issues. So, going one by one, it is natural to be distressed when those whom we revere are disrespected in any way. At the same time, response to such things has to be proportionate and appropriate.
There are few temptations in this world which can be as dangerously self-righteous as the temptation to punish others for perceived wrongs. So, that we are heard is undeniable. But, the way to respond to it is not by disproportionate venting of anger, especially against people who are not directly responsible for their crime, but to any victim who comes within one’s clutches.
In religious groups, not just in religious groups actually, in all kinds of social groups, there is a tendency to try to demonize the other. That means to try to ascribe the problems that one is facing to someone else. So, for example, we say that whenever anything goes wrong in Pakistan, the Pakistani media, the Pakistani government, or at least some people in Pakistan, whom did they try to point the finger to India, saying that oh, it is India fomenting separatist activities in Pakistan, or causing this or causing that.
Now, trying to target a scapegoat may be convenient, but it is never constructive. Problems in real life are far more subtle and complex than just demonizing a particular party or a particular enemy. So, the Vedic scriptures describe that there are three modes, Sattva, Rajoguna and Tamoguna.
These three modes shape the way people think and act. So, in ignorance, people act violently. So, violence and destruction are considered to be the solution to problems.
In passion, pleasure and possessions are considered to be the solution to all problems. In goodness, knowledge, deliberation, discussion, seeing of commonalities and building relationships around commonalities, that is considered to be in goodness. Now, in the Vedic tradition, the purpose of Dharma is to raise a person from a lower mode to a higher mode.
That means to raise people from the destructive mode of ignorance, Tamoguna, to the hyperactive mode of passion, to ultimately the contemplative mode of goodness. Now, these categories, although they may seem to be sectarian in the sense that they come from a particular sect, they come from particular religions, books. Of course, these categories are not just Hindu.
The three modes, the three gunas are talked about in Buddhism and Jainism also. So, three modes, although they may seem to be coming from a particular tradition, they are actually universal in terms of their application. The Vedic tradition doesn’t simplistically congratulate itself for being in goodness and castigate others for being in passion or ignorance.
You see, the Bhagavad Gita states that there are even activities like charity or fasting or tapasya. These activities which are normally considered to be good, they can also be in the mode of ignorance. They should be ideally in the mode of goodness, but they can be in the mode of ignorance.
So, when this sort of self-criticality is there in the tradition, what it implies is a recognition of the need for going beyond superficial appearances. So, if dharma is meant to raise people from the level of destruction, then how can one actually justify the destruction in the name of dharma, especially when the destruction is disproportionate and misdirected. So, disproportionate because certainly life cannot be taken for the desecration of, for the distortion of some images and misdirected imagining a whole community to be black and then finding some member from that community and making that person the butt of one’s attack, that is totally misdirected.
So, the solution to such problems is actually rising towards goodness. So, goodness is characterized by thinking before acting. Passion is characterized by thinking only about acting, not thinking deeply about issues, thinking only about acting.
And ignorance is power acting without thinking, acting recklessly. So, we today need to go inwards to understand actually the purpose of dharma and then serve that purpose instead of simplistically dividing the city or the state or the country or the world or for that matter even the universe into categories based on cultural markers categorized like Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh. If we want sustainable development in society, if we want tangible growth of the individual, then we need to see a more realistic basis of categorization.
So, by looking at the behavior, the conduct, the overall way of living of a person, by seeing that one can understand what is the disposition of the person. So, in general, when people are influenced excessively by the mode of ignorance, then they tend to be hyper-destructive, destructive. So, the path of the path of bhakti, which is taught in the various scriptures, focuses on seeing all people as members of one’s own family.
It is this vision that creates commonality. If we just see externals and look at a person wearing a beard and a skull cap and we attack that person and somebody else dresses in a different way and then we attack that person also. This sort of criticism is actually misconceived because it misrepresents the problem, the internal problem to be an external problem.
So, unless we as seekers learn to find the spiritual essence within us and to encourage our friends even if they belong to other traditions, we encourage them to find the truth within themselves. It is by this characteristic of mutual encouragement in the spiritual quest, not mutual competition, as if we are a MNC trying to get the required numbers through its advertising campaign. Actually, our goal is to not just impress people but to elevate people in their understanding.
And that can be done only when we are ourselves having a broad understanding. So, therefore, what we need to focus on is recognizing that whether it is this religion or that religion, as long as there are people who are affected by the lower modes, this sort of incidents will unfortunately occur. And such incidents are to stop whatever be the practice that people are having, whichever tradition, that tradition or practice should raise people from the lower modes to the higher modes.
From violence to peaceful, enlightened reconciliation. So, should a bhakti not talk? One of the great Acharyas in this tradition has said that if we go to a mosque or a church or a synagogue or a place where God is worshipped in a way different from the way we are familiar with, what should we do? Should we proclaim that this is a false God that has to be destroyed to establish the glory of the true God? Now, Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakur, who is the author of 100 books, prominent rational theologian, Vedic scholar, he is also an academic magistrate in the British government. So, he explains that the key lies in opening the heart for the conversation to the extent one has his simplistic notions of trying to humanize the other one will find destructive actions happening around us, and this destruction will happen also, in the dream also.
So, he says that if we go to a holy place where God is worshipped in a way different from ours, then we should go down respectfully over there, we should stay respectfully over there, meditating on how God is so merciful that he has manifested in a different way to receive worship from people with a different way of thinking. And by thinking about how God is so merciful to manifest in different ways, we can increase our attraction to God, our devotion to God in the form that we know. So, in this way, that we appreciate we focus not on the difference between the way we are worshipping God and others are worshipping God, we focus more on the glory of the object, glory of the object of our devotion, that one absolute truth manifesting in many ways to receive devotional worship from different people.
This is actually the ethos of tolerance that is at the heart of the Bhagavad Gita also. The Bhagavad Gita doesn’t say that my way is the only way, all other ways are the ways to the devil. Bhagavad Gita says quite opposite to that, mamma vartamanu vartante manusyaha partha sarvasyaha that all people are on my path.
So, every religious tradition has an inner essence and an outer part, esoteric and exoteric part. Esoteric is internal, exoteric is external. So, the esoteric part is the principle of loving and serving God.
The exoteric part is the way in which that love and service is expressed. So, for example, Hindus may fold their hands while praying to God. Muslims may hold their hands forward while offering namaz.
The Christians may move their hands in a particular way while offering mass. But the common principle is respecting and praying to God. So, we need this deeper vision.
And this deeper vision of the common essence of the various religions, that deeper vision comes from spiritual education. So, what we need is education which will be intra-religious and inter-religious. Intra-religious education means that each religious tradition has to educate its followers to be able to understand the essence of the tradition and to use the tradition to raise themselves.
So, it is only to raise themselves to higher levels of consciousness from the lower modes to the higher modes. From ignorance towards goodness. So, and inter-religious education, that means there are discussions and dialogues between representatives of different religions by which people understand that ultimately people who are of other religions are also people like us.
They are also human beings who want to live a meaningful life and find lasting fulfillment. So, when we see the commonality between us and people who are in some ways different from us, then that element of the unknown which is often exploited to create fear in the minds of people, to create hatred in the minds of people, that is removed. So, actually, indiscriminate, destructive violence is often a characteristic of a sick mind.
A mind that is affected by the mode of ignorance. And that sick mind has to be cured by the practice of religion. So, if we all can learn to understand and practice our religion more deeply, with a deeper understanding of it, then religion will contribute to creating peace internally and externally.
Because we will be able to see the commonality of our object of worship, God, whom we are worshipping in different ways, and we will be able to see the commonality of all of us. We are all human beings, we are all striving to live a meaningful and fulfilling life. And we are taking up different paths to it.
So, we see different religions as basically different forms of therapy. That just as there can be allopathy, ayurveda, all these different forms of therapy, it is not that these are destructive competitors where one wants to uproot and destroy the other. No, they are all different ways to help people to gain health.
Similarly, the goal is common, to help people to become healthy. And when we see that this is the common goal of the various religious traditions, and when we see that people, by genuinely understanding and practicing those traditions properly, are progressing towards that goal, then religion will contribute towards harmony, towards peace, peace internally and peace externally. So, to summarize, rather than simplistically blaming this tradition or that tradition of desecration of sacred images or destruction of innocent people, we need to recognize the deeper forces in action.
And those forces are the lower modes, the modes of tamogunais, of ignorance, which cause destruction. And these create a destructive mentality, whatever be the religious denomination that a person may be. So, just as irrational violence can happen because of differences in race, it can happen because of differences in color, differences in financial levels.
Similarly, when people are influenced by the lower modes, then destructive violence can happen in the name of religion also. So, the purpose of dharma is actually to, by various forms of practice, by connecting with God, to raise oneself from a lower mode to a higher mode, to ultimately come to God. And that makes one peaceful internally and helps one to contribute to peace externally.
And when we have enlightened understanding, when one is situated in the higher mode, then one learns to see the diversity of various religions as expression of the magnanimity of God. And this enables one by seeing the diversity of religions, not with a feeling of insecurity inside, but a feeling of increased gratitude and appreciation for one’s own tradition as well as others’ traditions. And in this way, one can actually move forward towards establishing harmony.
And lastly, we discussed about how religion is meant to be a cure for the sick minds that delight in indiscriminate destruction. And by having intra-religious and inter-religious education, so that people understand their traditions better internally and so that they share their traditions better, they share a deeper understanding of others’ traditions. You see that we all are having one common object of worship and we are all similar human beings out to live a meaningful and fulfilling life through our practice of religions.
Then we can have dialogue and we can have mutual understanding and then the atmosphere of fear of the unknown, which leads to demonization of the other and indiscriminate destruction of the other, that can be removed gradually.