I noticed that a good number of Hindus were upset by the way Clinton and Obama were depicted (above) in The Times of India (TOI), about a couple of months ago. To me, looks like TOI did not mean to insult Lord Krishna and Radha Rani here. But, if I were TOI, I would feel sorry for hurting the feelings of the devotees, and I would express the same on print.
However, to me, the key in determining guilt vs. innocence in a general sense is, the intent. Let us see if I can express what I mean, by cooking up a couple of hypothetical scenarios.
Case A: I was standing next to a person on a railway platform. As the train approached close to the platform, I saw this person stumbling, and realized that he was about to fall on the tracks to his death. With a rush of adrenaline, to save him, I held his hand and pulled him away from the tracks with all my energy. He fell on the platform away from the train, but he hit his head on a concrete step, and died on the spot. I committed a murder!
Case B: Due to my hatred, I took law into my hands, and tried to kill an official (who I thought was corrupt) by throwing him off of a moving train into a river, in a remote jungle. He survived the fall miraculously, and managed to swim to the shore. In addition to his survival, he found a historic buried treasure chest on the river bank. With this windfall (resulting from free fall!), he lived a luxurious life for the rest of his life. So, my act resulted in the happiness of a person for 50 years.
Now, would I acquire negative karma in Case A and positive karma in Case B? I think not! The energy controlling this universe knows a lot better.
If we look at this in legal context, at least in the US (the land of South Park) where the first amendment to the US Constitution is treated with reverence, TOI will be well protected from opposition.
So, say, for being a devotee (leaning towards fanaticism) of Lord Krishna, if I assume wrongly that TOI is a villain, create a huge uproar, cause the newspaper to shut down its operation, and cause 10,000 employees to lose their lively hood, how would my actions affect my karma? I think, while I would earn some brownie points for my love for the Lord, I probably would inherit a significantly more negative karma for the hatred (towards TOI) in my heart.
Hindu's are known for tolerance, and I think we would be better off by not going crazy on this case. The TOI guys were trying to be creative and it backfired - that's all. If we happen to know that someone is denigrating our values purposefully, then we can address that issue differently (starting with peaceful means, of course).
4 comments:
Excellent post and images, Gopa; still chuckling over those "use-and-throw" cases.
Have found the "intent" idea very useful to explain snafus in situations where the intent is good, but the execution is poor.
Gnoted a portion here.
Thanks Raama. I loved the democrat-duo image - kudos to TOI.
unfortunately, roadway to hell is paved with good intentions!
Namaskar dear Shree Gopa
I recently happened to read your response on your blog to the Clinton and Obama image in TOI.
Since I am a Hindu concerned by the denigration of Hindu sacred concepts in this picture, I request your audience for the below points. Through them, it is my humble attempt to explain why it is important for us to do something about some denigration which comes across like a crude and rude depiction.
Is it not our responsibility to help educate society about the sacred concepts and dispel misconceptions as propagated by such crudeness on Hinduism? Here the so-called humor is about something held sacred in our Holy Scriptures
Does any of our Scriptures sanction joking about the sacred? Today, what little faith and following Hindus have in Hinduism is a result of our ancestors teaching us by example its importance through revering the various Hindu Holy practices and concepts. If we not only turn a blind eye towards such denigration of Hindu sacred concepts, but also encourage each other to laugh along, what ideals will it set for our future generations? Can we expect our future generations, growing up under an increasingly materialistic, non-Hindu influence, to hold those Hindu concepts sacred in that case? The biggest danger I see of condoning this issue, especially when our opinion was sought after from a Hindu, is the precedent it sets for far more denigrating pictures or movies on Hinduism in future, as being ‘ok by Hindus’.
Before a person can be expected to stand up for the cause of Hinduism, he will need to have sufficient pride and feeling for the cause, which will come only after some education about the cause. As representatives from Hindu organizations, is it not our responsibility to help educate our Hindu community about the sacred concepts and dispel misconceptions as propagated by such picture in widely distributed news paper.
Amazing to learn that one can "loved the image". What was so inspiring about it dear Gopa?
Although the Hindu dharma is known to be tolerant, we should not also make it known to be coward too. Wonder why TOI chose to publish such a crude picture?
Analyzing your case studies
Case A:
Think it is not correct to consider yourself as a murderer in this case, it was his time that he had to go. You attempted to pull him away from death but he died anyway. Your effort was admirable from a your view point, however he was destined to die that moment. Thus you will neither acquire negative or positive karma. You were negligible there in that situation.
Case B: Again after studying your case B,"historic buried treasure" means money I take it. Luxurious life with money, yes but one cannot claim that he/she was happy for 50 years. Money can buy things but not happiness or health or bliss.
you neither accumulated negative or positive karma by fetching him treasure.
As you correctly said that the energy controlling this universe knows a lot better. Do we know what energy we are referring to?
Lord Krushna and his principals are way above than human created legal context aren't they?
Makes me wonder when one Hindu speaks about denigration, immediately several Hindu roar that its being fanaticism. Let alone other religions.
Dear Shree Gopa its not about going crazy over a picture published by a newspaper, its about your faith and my faith and faith or our children's and generations to come.
I thank you for your time and patient audience, and hope that these points will help develop a mutual understanding between your blog and those who have taken the time to protest the denigration for this picture.
Sincerely,
Nilesh Shirodkar
|| Dharmo rakshati rakshitaha ||
Nilesh Shirodkar:
"Since I am a Hindu concerned by the denigration of Hindu sacred concepts in this picture, I request your audience for the below points. Through them, it is my humble attempt to explain why it is important for us to do something about some denigration which comes across like a crude and rude depiction."
One question - Do you think that picture offended god? or did it offend your beliefs? If so, are your beliefs so weak and petty?
I was not offended, and I do not take the scriptures seriously.
What good are the scriptures when 85% of the population in India is below poverty line and makes less than $2.50 per day? What good is all that "knowledge"?
I am thankful for having a decent life in a country that treats its immigrants with respect, than to a religion that did nothing to inspire honesty.
No scripture will sanction humor at its expense, that would rather dumb, but that doesn't mean anything. After all, god didn't write those scriptures, humans did.
As for pride in Hinduism, the religion in the name of which Sati (http://adaniel.tripod.com/sati.htm) was performed, well, thank you very much, but I chose not to be proud of it.
I am thinking one of these days I should start my own religion and write my own scriptures.
In the words of Judge Dredd - "I am the law!"
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