What was the karma of the girl who got so brutally raped?

Transcript

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Question What was the karma of the girl who was so brutally gang raped And eventually died in Delhi? Answer The principle of karma is primarily for prognosis Not for post-mortem Explaining this Prognosis means Understanding what is likely to happen in the future And taking corrective measures That’s what we say disease prognosis What happens in the future Post-mortem means That after a person has died We try to determine what was the cause of the death So the principle of karma is meant primarily to enable us To choose our right actions right now So that we get good consequence in the future It is not meant for us to do too much of a post-mortem Of what all we might have done wrong in the past Or what all anyone might have done wrong in the past Why this focus on prognosis not post-mortem? Because In our day to day life We need to act and respond to people Based on the actions that they do in this life The idea of past karma Especially a past karma coming from a previous life Which is what is often called upon to explain Brutal things that happen In lives of people who Seem to be just like everyone else Not really bad or evil in any way Everybody is a mixture of good and bad And especially when people who are normal in that sense Not doing anything Anything perverse or anything When something happens like that Something brutal happens in their lives Then we may In order to be able to accept what has happened And to not let the feeling of resentment Eat up our own mental energy We can invoke the principle of karma And understand that something I must have done in the past Because of which I am getting this So because we are finite human beings We can’t know what all actions we did in the past And what reactions are coming from which actions In fact that would If we were given that power It would keep us in a perpetual Backtracking sort of mode Flashback sort of mode Where every single thing that happens to us If I am sitting on my chair And when I get up I bump my elbow against the desk Now why did that happen? I was just concentrating on doing some work And I got a phone call And I picked up the phone call And I found it was a wrong number And I just lost a precious thread of thought that I had I was driving on the street And somebody just cut across me with this vehicle And why did that happen to me? Once we start looking for explanations For everything that happens in life to us If at all we were to have that knowledge It would be extremely complex for us to process All that information from all the lives So in general Because of our finiteness It is the arrangement of nature That we are given memories of this life And within this life we try to find correlations Of what happens But beyond that in some cases Good things happen for which we don’t have explanations And bad things happen for which we don’t have explanations From this life perspective Then because we see cause and effect happening Cause and effect correlating more or less in this life So we infer that there must be some causal connection That extends beyond this life But the specifics of that If we got to know that And if we had to process the specifics Of every single thing that happened to us In terms of its causes Then we would have such a mental overload It would trouble us It would keep us in a perpetual flashback mode So that’s why we don’t have that And in general the scriptures also Are very cautious in terms of Not letting the idea of karma Detract from the this life dynamics So comparing some rough parallels When Draupadi was disrobed In the assembly at Kurukshetra There is no reference to anyone saying that All this happened to her because of her past life karma And there is no incident of anyone inquiring What was the karma that made this happen to me And the same applies to Sita also When she was abducted by Ravana Now we could say that these are devotees of the Lord Or this is the consort of the Lord And so the principles are different over there But the main point is that they are demonstrating They are participating in the Narlila of the Lord Where the Lord is acting more or less like an ordinary human being So in both cases The central, in fact the whole reaction is that This was a serious crime And it deserves to be punished In the strongest necessary way So in general when we Especially when we see some suffering Coming in the lives of others It would be extremely misleading And insensitive for us To start thinking of what karma this person might have done By which he or she has got this suffering The whole Vedic culture is based on A sense of duty which involves Acting justly and compassionately So when a victim of a crime comes to a king The king never pacifies that victim Or silences that victim By saying that whatever happened to you was your karma Just bear it passively No, the king takes cognizance and does the needful To punish the wrongdoer And to offer whatever compensation or benefit Or whatever rectification In terms of the damage that has been done That can be done for the victim So in such crimes Which are so brutal In general if we start thinking about people’s past karmas It will make us hard hearted So what we need to see is that As far as this light is concerned Actually Krishna has given us A free will and he has given us Abilities And Krishna in this world expects People, all of us Individually and collectively To act responsibly to manage this world In accordance with his guidelines that are given in the scriptures So when such terrible crimes happen That indicates that from a this life perspective Which is the primary perspective taken into consideration There has been a serious lapse Outrageous ineptitude In the law and administration systems Of the country Today So that is what we should focus on And we need to do whatever is Required to correct that So of course we can look for some deeper causes in terms of what Aggravates people’s Especially sexually violent tendencies And see if that can be corrected In terms of remedial measures But in general The principle of karma should be used not for post-mortem And certainly not for post-mortem of others If parents Beget a child Who somehow is Physically handicapped or is Mentally challenged Then the parents If they start thinking that the child is Somehow because of What karma has this child done because of this And if that thought starts coming in That can very well Sadly Make them unsympathetic towards the child So the Vedic culture And spiritual culture in general Is duty centered not destiny centered And by destiny I mean The accumulation of past karma Which makes certain things happen in our life So duty centered means that We need to stick to the path of duty Whatever happens And normally if we stick to the path of duty We do get results in life Students who study well do get marks Good marks in the exams Now of course while sticking to the path of duty Sometimes Things turn out in a way Which can’t be explained And at that time we Take into account the factor of destiny Just as Sometimes students may study just a little bit And that’s what comes in the exams and they get good marks And other students study a lot but unfortunately What they study doesn’t come in the exam and they get poor marks So here some role of destiny is involved Some good karma of the past Of the students who get good marks And some poor karma of the students who don’t get good marks despite studying But overall the Vedic culture is duty centered Not destiny centered And duty centered means that Everybody Should stick to the path of duty Knowing that such dutifulness will produce results And we use the principle of destiny Only on those occasions When we don’t see A correlation between duty and it’s Fractification So at that time we understand there are additional factors involved Also Otherwise I said it would not only be Insensitive but it could be Extremely Unintelligent If I eat Food inappropriately and I get Loose motions and I start thinking what was the karma From my past life and which past life was the karma that gave me This loose motions There is no need to go in the past life. This is what I did wrong and this is what is the consequence So in general We as devotees When we use the philosophy To understand what is happening In life and to help others make sense Of what is happening The ideology Should supplement Basic human sympathy and dignity That ideology should not Substitute or eradicate Basic human sympathy and dignity That means Even if certain people have done something wrong Because of which they are getting certain consequences Our responsibility now Is to see What is our duty in such a situation So otherwise If a baby gets a disease and the mother starts thinking That oh it’s the child’s karma That soul’s karma has given him the disease The mother stops caring for the child That would be a terrible even criminal dereliction of duty So similarly When such brutal crimes happen We shouldn’t invoke destiny As a factor over here See philosophy has its importance But philosophy also has a purpose And the purpose Is to enhance Our capacity To understand and live life fully In terms of Attaining our potentials For example, normally we think I am the body Now when I understand that I am the soul That doesn’t mean that I neglect the body But then I become free from the fear That I will die at the level of the body So it expands my understanding of life But just that I am the soul If that makes me think that I shouldn’t take care of my body at all And I start neglecting my body Or because I am the soul I start neglecting the body of others If somebody is sick and that person is suffering And I say well you are not your body So don’t act like an ignorant person This would be terribly insensitive Yes that person may not be the body, that person is the soul But when we are expected to Have relationships in this world We can’t separate the soul from the body And say I will love only the soul and not care for the body While the person is in this world, the body, the mind And the soul are here as an integral unit And all three need to be cared for That is how relationships will survive So the knowledge that I am not the body and the soul is philosophy And that is valuable but the philosophy Should expand our Appreciation and expression of Basic human sympathy and dignity So if a person is suffering at a bodily level If we had thought that people are thus their bodies We would naturally have helped them So then if we understand that they are souls Then we need to help them further by Not only taking care of their bodies but also giving them Spiritual knowledge by which they understand that they have a dimension to their life That is Going to stay on, that is indestructible And that will not be affected no matter what happens to the body So it should expand Our capacity for Sympathy and expression of And respect for the dignity of others So just as The philosophical point about the soul Same applies to the philosophical point about karma The principle of karma It is a philosophical truth Just as the fact that We are not our bodies, we are the souls is a philosophical truth But suppose somebody’s Relative has died and people are grieving And suppose at that time we go and Start Speaking philosophy insensitively All of you are sentimental fools Why are you so attached to the dead corpse Actually the real person is the soul and he is gone And don’t be so sentimental Now if we are having the purity and potency of Narada Muni By which we can enlighten Chitraketu Maharaj Then that is fine, Chitraketu Maharaj had that knowledge already He had only forgotten it But if we don’t have the purity and potency Then we need to be able to express The appropriate emotions At that particular time And when a person has passed away Expressing condolences, expressing our sorrow Expressing our appreciation for the departed soul And trying to help The bereaved family members To cope with the loss That is what should be done We have to be emotionally and physically available To help them if that is our duty at that particular time If they are our relatives or our friends And if The knowledge of the soul can help them to cope with it better Then that knowledge can be talked about But at other times That makes us hard hearted And that makes others Feel that we are uncaring Then we may have to defer The Explanation of the philosophy At a later time Same way with respect to this karma It is a philosophical principle But we see from the scriptural examples also That whenever any injustices happen Of any kind and specifically of this kind Where the chastity of a woman And even the life of a woman is threatened and violated Nobody Talks about karma at that particular time It is At that time what is our duty And how can we perform that duty And if at all The principle of karma can be used to enhance our understanding Of what our duty is And it can be used to enhance Our expression of sympathy And our attribution of dignity for other people Then it can be used So there have been many misrepresentations of the Vedic philosophy That have happened because of Insensitive presentation of these philosophical principles And that’s why The principle of karma is much maligned in the western countries As fatalism Fatalism means people just passively accept whatever has happened to them Because they think it is their karma No, that is a complete misunderstanding of the philosophy Because the Vedic philosophy is not destiny or karma centered It is duty centered And duty is Our sense of duty And our ability to continue with our duty Even in the face of reversals That can be enhanced at times by understanding the karma At that time we use it And sometimes Actually The understanding of karma If we get into a post-mortem mode It can detract us from our present duty And that’s why It is not an appropriate Or relevant question to discuss When we are coping with such monstrous tragedies Now this answer is In no way to express any disapproval Of the person who asked this question It is an honest question But it is just that Such a question can arise from Or can breed A fatalistic mentality Which would be the antithesis of the Vedic culture Of committed and intelligent and sensitive dutifulness That’s why this elaborate explanation