Can devotees kindly throw light on this topic? I think there is a great need for
deeper discussion on this and other topics based on guru, sadhu and sastras- I
seek the permission of KS to allow such discussions - I will accept if he
doesn't want to use this forum for such a purpose.

iys

Aravind.


Aravind Mohanram
Ph.D. Candidate
Dept. of Mat Sci and Engg.,
Penn State University,
University Park, PA 16801
www.personal.psu.edu/aum105




__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Well it is very clear that Prabhupada supported the death penalty in cases
of murder. While I don't have the specific references in front of me I know
I have personally read them . He stated that it helped the murderer also
because he pays for his crime in this life and not in the next.

jdbrewster

----- Original Message -----
From: "Aravind Mohanram" <psuaravind@...>
To: <achintya (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 7:12 AM
Subject: [achintya] Death Penatly/Capital Punishment: What is our stance?


>
> Can devotees kindly throw light on this topic? I think there is a great
need for deeper discussion on this and other topics based on guru, sadhu and
sastras- I seek the permission of KS to allow such discussions - I will
accept if he doesn't want to use this forum for such a purpose.
>
> iys
>
> Aravind.
>
>
> Aravind Mohanram
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Dept. of Mat Sci and Engg.,
> Penn State University,
> University Park, PA 16801
> www.personal.psu.edu/aum105
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> Achintya Homepage: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/achintya
>
> DISCLAIMER: All postings appearing on Achintya are the property of their
authors, and they may not be cross-posted to other forums without prior
approval by said authors. Views expressed in Achintya postings are those of
their authors only, and are not necessarily endorsed by the moderator or
spiritual leaders of the Gaudiiya school.
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Dear Prabhus,

Regarding the application of the death sentence as referenced in our
literature, try this for starters:
S.B. 1.7.37

TRANSLATION
A cruel and wretched person who maintains his existence at the cost of
others' lives deserves to be killed for his own well-being, otherwise he
will go down by his own actions.

PURPORT
A life for a life is just punishment for a person who cruelly and
shamelessly lives at the cost of another's life. Political morality is to
punish a person by a death sentence in order to save a cruel person from
going to hell. That a murderer is condemned to a death sentence by the state
is good for the culprit because in his next life he will not have to suffer
for his act of murder. Such a death sentence for the murderer is the lowest
possible punishment offered to him, and it is said in the småti-çästras that
men who are punished by the king on the principle of a life for a life are
purified of all their sins, so much so that they may be eligible for being
promoted to the planets of heaven. According to Manu, the great author of
civic codes and religious principles, even the killer of an animal is to be
considered a murderer because animal food is never meant for the civilized
man, whose prime duty is to prepare himself for going back to Godhead. He
says that in the act of killing an animal, there is a regular conspiracy by
the party of sinners, and all of them are liable to be punished as murderers
exactly like a party of conspirators who kill a human being combinedly. He
who gives permission, he who kills the animal, he who sells the slaughtered
animal, he who cooks the animal, he who administers distribution of the
foodstuff, and at last he who eats such cooked animal food are all
murderers, and all of them are liable to be punished by the laws of nature.
No one can create a living being despite all advancement of material
science, and therefore no one has the right to kill a living being by one's
independent whims.

And this, also from S.B. 1.17.6

TRANSLATION
You rogue, do you dare beat an innocent cow because Lord Krsna and Arjuna,
the carrier of the Gandiva bow, are out of sight? Since you are beating the
innocent in a secluded place, you are considered a culprit and therefore
deserve to be killed.

PURPORT
In a civilization where God is conspicuously banished, and there is no
devotee warrior like Arjuna, the associates of the age of Kali take
advantage of this lawless kingdom and arrange to kill innocent animals like
the cow in secluded slaughterhouses. Such murderers of animals stand to be
condemned to death by the order of a pious king like Mahäräja Parékñit. For
a pious king, the culprit who kills an animal in a secluded place is
punishable by the death penalty, exactly like a murderer who kills an
innocent child in a secluded place.

Unfortunately, how many qualify? As an ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure, we need good training and government to counteract the evil effects
of the age and prevent the population in general from engaging in activities
they might not do otherwise in knowledge.

Your servant,
Shanti Parayana dasa

----- Original Message -----
From: "J D Brewster" <jdbrewster@...>
To: <achintya (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 3:01 AM
Subject: Re: [achintya] Death Penatly/Capital Punishment: What is our
stance?


>
> Well it is very clear that Prabhupada supported the death penalty in cases
> of murder. While I don't have the specific references in front of me I
> know
> I have personally read them . He stated that it helped the murderer also
> because he pays for his crime in this life and not in the next.
>
> jdbrewster

Hare Krishna

One issue with this is the fallibility and corruption in law
enforcement. Many people who have been executed were in fact innocent
of the specific crime of which they were convicted. Perhaps it can be
assumed that a so-called innocent person who was executed had
temporarily escaped punishment in a previous birth, but that seems to
be pretty shaky ground to stand upon.

By Manu's standards, nearly every person presently inhabiting Earth
would be throughly condemned, although I can't argue with that.
Animal killing is simply horrible. Still, it seems like more than we
can handle, to push for the execution of meat eaters. It's the kind
of thing that it might be better to leave up to the due course of
time, while purifying the whole scene by chanting Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna

your servant,
Pandu das