Should a devotee oppose crimes like rapes? Should he feel compassion for the criminal?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Question. How should a devotee respond if he happens to be present when some terrible crimes like rape are happening? Answer.
Should a devotee feel compassionate, not just for the victim, but also for the criminal because devotees are meant to be compassionate to all living beings? Answer. Whatever is happening in this world, it is our duty to act appropriately. Now, what will be appropriate action will vary depending on our individual nature and disposition.
In the Mahabharata, when Jaidra started abducting Draupadi, at that time, the Pandavas were out in the forest and only Dhaumya was the male who was there in the vicinity. And Dhaumya was a Brahmana and a Brahmana is not supposed to take up weapons. So, Jaidra dragged away Draupadi in a chariot and Dhaumya was running after him.
And he was shouting Vedic verses which reminded him of morality and karma and the consequences of a grievous misdeed. So, Dhaumya, he couldn’t use weapons, but that did not mean he stayed passively. You know, he tried his best to oppose and he tried to make sense.
So, now, somebody may say, a skeptic may say, what is the use of this? You know, if a person is so lusty as to abduct a woman, is such a person going to listen to some Brahmana speaking some scriptural advice? No, he may or may not listen, but Dhaumya had to do what he could and he did what he could. Now, of course, the Pandavas came back and when the Pandavas saw what had happened, they ran after him and they rescued Draupadi and they punished Jaidrath. So, now, the Pandavas used weapons because they were Kshatriyas.
Dhaumya was a Brahmana, so a Brahmana is not supposed to use Shastra, so he used Shastra. So, what this example demonstrates is that different people may have to use different ways in which to respond to injustice. So, especially if we are, now, because of seeing Bollywood movies, most people may think, oh, I will be a hero and I will rescue damsel in distress.
Now, if one has some, one has physical strength, one has the, if one is trained in some martial arts or something like that, or one has the capacity to defend, then surely one can intervene and try to defend if some terrible crime is happening. But one should not have fanciful ideas. In the real world, helping others does not mean that we have to necessarily become target to be wounded or killed.
We have to be realistic. So, if there are, we can try, certainly we should do something to help in the situation. We may try to immediately call the other people or whatever.
It is not that a devotee should passively watch crime happening, but one should not necessarily have to, one does not necessarily have to do some daredevilish heroics, imagining that one is a big hero. So, heroism in spiritual life is not necessarily the same as what is shown as heroism in the movies. In the movies, it is mostly based on drama with one person beating down 10, 15, 20 people.
It does not happen like that in real life. So, one should definitely do whatever one can and what one can will vary depending on one’s own nature and time, place, circumstance. But certainly a devotee should not passively just watch crimes.
And more importantly, in a sustainable sense, we should understand that actually there may be one or two crimes like this which we can intervene and stop, but if we practice Krishna Consciousness seriously and if we help in the vigorous practicing of Krishna Consciousness, people will be equipped to overcome lust in their own hearts and these kinds of crimes will decrease. Now, a skeptic may say, people who are going to commit this kind of crimes, they are not going to take to Krishna Consciousness. Yes, that may, that is not necessarily true.
Sometimes they may also take to Krishna Consciousness. But even if they don’t take to Krishna Consciousness, if we share Krishna Consciousness vigorously with others, then people’s higher nature will awaken and more and more people will oppose this kind of things happening. Now, recently in India and all these kind of terrible crimes, the Indian public is waking up and is strongly opposing these kind of crimes and that is a healthy sign.
So, public activism is important and that public activism happens when the public’s conscience is awakened and the practice of spirituality helps develop our higher nature and therefore kindles our conscience and it inspires not just us but people in general who understand spiritual values to become more active. And also, as in Krishna Consciousness, we are focusing primarily on developing a community of Brahmanas. But the Brahmanas, when they are present and they speak spiritual values, they can inspire a community of Kshatriyas also.
So, we by practicing Krishna Consciousness wholeheartedly are contributing to solving this kind of problems and we should recognize that contribution also. So, every day when we are chanting Hare Krishna and we are trying to cultivate remembrance of Krishna, we are contributing to the long-term solution of this kind of ghastly problems. And as far as feeling compassionate, certainly we should feel compassionate for the victim of such a crime.
Now, often there is this terrible tendency to blame the victim for whatever has happened. Devotee should never be a part of that and devotee should offer whatever sympathy, whatever help can be offered to the victim. And as far as being compassionate to the criminal is concerned, being compassionate to the criminal doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to forgive the crime of the person.
But it means that we just don’t see that person hatefully alone. The Pandavas, for what the Kauravas did to Drupadi, they punished them. Dushyasana was killed because Dushyasana was absolutely not ready to reform.
So, wasn’t the Pandavas not not compassionate to Dushyasana? No, they were. They gave him a chance. Now, Krishna himself went in a face messenger and said, we are ready to forget and forgive.
Similarly, Jayadrath also once tried to abduct Drupadi and Dushyasana forgave him, but then again he maintained his malevolence. So, the scriptures give examples of people who sometimes did something wrong and they were forgiven. And if they reformed, it is well and good.
If they did not, then they had to bear the consequences. So, for a devotee, compassion towards a criminal has to have two aspects to it. One is that that person is a soul who has been overcome by anarthas and that person should be given the opportunity to overcome the anarthas.
So, we can tell about Krishna consciousness if possible to that person. We can pray for that person’s spiritual well-being also. But at the same time, we also have to recognize that our compassion cannot be only for that person.
Our compassion has to be for others also. And presently that person is in such a situation, the anartha is dominating that person so much, that person is likely to do criminal activities. And we cannot let innocent people be further victimized by that person’s criminal activities.
Somebody might argue, you know, the people are not innocent. They have done their past karmas because they are suffering. That is not the vision which an administrator of this world should have.
Administrator of this world should have the vision that no person should have the facility to do wrongdoing, to do wrong. And if the person has done wrong, then the person needs to be punished so that that person learns a lesson and others also learn the lesson that they cannot get away with wrongdoings. So, how our compassion towards criminals will be expressed will vary according to time, place and circumstance.
We can always desire for their spiritual well-being and that they get the opportunity for spiritual redemption. But how that compassion will be expressed, whether they should be forgiven or whether they should be punished along with giving the opportunity for spiritual redemption, that has to be decided according to time, place and