but against God and indeed life itself. Human life is a gift from God for us
to achieve life’s perfection and go back to him. No one has the right to
maliciously destroy that gift, especially in God’s name.
But in truth life itself cannot be destroyed. We are eternal spiritual souls
inhabiting material temporary bodies. We are not destroyed when the body is
killed. The Bhagavad-gita says, "For the soul there is neither birth nor
death at any time. He has not, does not, and will not come into being. He is
unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body
is slain."
Death simply means a change of body, not the end. We must therefore strive
during life to elevate ourselves, aiming to return to the Lord by following
his guidance. Suicide and wanton killing are directly opposed to this sacred
mission of life. They are acts condemned by every authorised scripture, not
least the Vedas which stress the importance of never harming any living
being, including oneself.
Vedic wisdom directs us only to kill the ignorant and sinful mentality which
is the actual cause of our suffering. Such a selfish mindset leads us to
foolish behaviour that results in painful consequences in both this life and
the next. Hatred and aggression are clear examples of such ignorance. As
well as causing misery to all, they feed back into the mentality from which
they are born, driving us to further and further acts of madness.
And we lose all sight of the truth, of why we are suffering in the first
place. When we blame others for our distress, acting vengefully and
viciously towards them, we abdicate our responsibility to look within our
own hearts. This is the real holy war, tackling our own inner demons such as
lust, anger, hate and envy - all of which stem from the misconception of
thinking we are material products. In illusion we forget that we are eternal
beings, all equal parts of the Supreme, living for only a short while in the
earthly body. Thinking ourselves to actually be that body we identify with
labels such as black, white, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, man, woman and so
many other things. But these are all false. None of them apply to the soul.
This misconception is our actual enemy, impelling us to see others as our
competitors and foes, when in fact the problem lies inside us. If we defeat
this adversary we will never come to any harm, as we will then reach the
true spiritual self, beyond the endless vicissitudes of this world.
But overcoming the powerful enemy of illusion is not easy. We need the
Lord’s help. Only through his grace, by the light of divine knowledge
revealed by him, can we become free from the ignorance that urges us toward
destructive acts. We must call out to him with sincere feeling, praying
always for his mercy. Then he will act from within to make us pure hearted
and peaceful, gradually bringing us to the level of complete self and God
realisation. Those approaching God in this way naturally become godly,
exhibiting his divine qualities of compassion, forgiveness, understanding
and love.
Let us therefore take full shelter of the Lord, always beseeching his
kindness, and trying at least to purge our own hearts of all impurity. And,
in the mood of hating the sin but not the sinner, let us also pray for those
who would do us harm, for surely they are helpless victims of the same
demons assailing us all.
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