I'd like to preface by saying that I'm not making a judgement call about Hindus with this post, It's merely an inquiry.
In my "Terrorism Seminar" we discussed motivations for terrorism from both Christian and Muslim perspectives. We as a group determined that there could be certain verses from scriptures that justified terrorist-like attacks. I brought up the question of whether or not the Bhagavad-Gita could do the same. I think that someone could misconstrue Krishna's instruction to Arjuna to fight and kill people that were his family, teachers, etc.
Do you think that this could be applied to justify terrorism? How can we as a people keep this bastardization of sacred scripture from happening?
If one reads the Gita out of context, it is very probable that terrors can be committed. However, it is not justified because it was read out of context. We as people have to do what Kant says. We must free ourselves from self-incurred minority. We must be intellectually free and think for ourselves. The Bhagavad Gita states, "raise your self by yourself." You should not let others think for you think for your self. This does not mean you can't hear what others have to say, but you have to be objective.
ReplyDeleteHindus have indeed committed atrocities against Muslims, Sikhs, and others, though typically such events have appeared to be acts of mob rage rather than calculated murders, bombings, etc. Certainly there are fanatics among the various Hindu Nationalist parties (RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena, etc.) who have gone out of their way to foment such violence. What I have not seen is any developed ideology appealing to sacred texts in support of such behavior. This doesn't mean no one has done it, but I am not familiar with it. A capacity to commit horrible crimes seems endemic to humans; a cynical willingness to misconstrue spiritual wisdom to justify it may well be more prevalent in some traditions than others.
ReplyDeletePLEASE TURN OFF WORD VERIFICATION!!