What causes man's cruelty towards man?

[Guest guest]

What causes man's cruelty towards man?

 

 

 

How can one human being be cruel and an instrument of death and

suffering to others? Obviously,because he harbours a deep hatred for

certain people whom he considers as being "separate" or different

from him.There is fragmentation in consciousness,a polarised

perception of humanity as "we" and "they".This fragmentation is a

potent source of fear and conflict within the mind.It then projects

outside as an ideology,as misplaced faith,fanaticism and hatred.The

flawed understanding of human beings as polarised,separated into

irreconciliable groups,betrays the deep fragmentation within the

mind,the deep rooted conflict,fear and hatred simmering in the depths

of individual consciousness.Such a deeply violent man may then be

seen as a leader,a symbol of an ideology,an ideology of brotherhood

that deals in death,mindless acts of violence motivated by a blind

hatred,a war blindly seen as just,a blind cause,vaguely defined and

zealously pursued.The flames of hatred are fanned by the winds of

ignorance and frustration,of a desperate sense of being victimised by

the "other".Fragmentation within the mind is the root of violence and

hatred.War,indeed,begins in the minds of men.

 

 

 

Young babies have an innate sense of unity with their suroundings.One

crying baby can make other babies in the room cry as each

instinctively feels the pain and discomfort of another.This sense of

oneness,of shared joy and sorrow,is our natural state.It is only our

learnt notions,our innate mental conflicts,the vanity of our self

image,the limitations of our understanding,the absurdity of our

thinking,physical illusion,mental delusion and intellectual confusion

that gives us a sense of a separate existence,removed from the rest

of humanity or from certain "others".Yet,once this notion has been

accepted,has been learnt and taught,the seeds of fragmentation,of

fear,of conflict and hatred,have been planted in the mind.

 

 

 

Once the mind actually believes in separation,then it follows that it

can inflict thoughtless acts of violence and untold suffering on what

it perceives as the "other".Since there is a fundamental sense of

alienation in the mind,there is a spontaneous violence and hatred

born of fear.Thus,there is fragmentation,fear and as a reaction,

violence and hatred.The suffering to the "other" is seen as an

achievement and an act of heroism.Strange are the complexities of the

human mind.Stranger are the guises under which cowardice masquerades

as courage and weakness as strength.This as much a reflection on our

civilisations and societies as a whole as on particular individuals.

For,a violent man comes to power only because many people support

that violence,that hatred,that conflict not only by their actions but

also,primarily,within their own minds.

 

 

 

We are under a spell of separation cast by nature and nurture.This is

often extremely difficult to cast off even for the best among

us.Bodily,we are separate from birth to death.We perceive our own

bodies immediately but perceive others as separate in space and time

as we perceive other people and objects through the medium of our

senses.This creates a persistent illusion of separation and

fragmentation,"I" and "not I".One's own body is seen as "I",all

others are seen as "not I".Yet,all human bodies will bite the dust

and become fertiliser for plants and maybe food for animals.In death

there is no separation,nor in birth.In birth,every human being is

born of a mother's womb,experiencing a complete sense of unity with

its environment in the womb.Neither in conception nor in death does

separation exist.Yet,our individual existence begins with the

separation of our body from the mother's and the force of this

natural event along with the limitation of our senses,creates the

stubborn illusion of a separate existence.In an everyday sense,each

person is separate-yet,in a fundamental and final sense,separation is

a myth created by the ego.It is ironic how one notion of a primarily

separate identity(ego),then selectively identifies itself and divides

the world into "we" and "they".In this maze of notions,in these

internally generated perceptions of separation and reactions of

violence,hatred and conflict,man becomes incredibly cruel to his own

fellowman.Extraordinary suffering is inflicted upon millions to

uphold mere beliefs,figments of one's imagination.Often,ideals and

ideologies become sophisticated forms of escapism.

 

 

The only way to heal the conflict in the world,in society,is to heal

it in our own minds,to tear the veil of separation,to terminate this

mental delusion.Nature,birth,death,common sense,reason,scriptural

authority,all point to the oneness of life on earth.Yet,to understand

and assimilate these insights calls for love and patience,first and

most of all,with and within ourselves.We have to become utterly still

and observe the conflicts,the subtle prejudices and hatred,the double

standards in our own mind.In this observation,this direct perception

of our minds as they are,a complete understanding,our consciousness

will be transformed.It is only a fundamental transformation of our

own consciousness that can end man's cruelty towards man.

 

- Ashok Gollerkeri(written on 11/9/2002)

 

SharingForSelfEnquiry/message/393

[Tarun 6]

In Vedik Culture, 5 living beings must be carefully protected: brAhmaNas, cows, women, children, aged.

Every society, bar none, is judged by God according to how it treats these 5.

Almighty God's precise, merciful judgement goes on forever unobstructed, regardless of our paltry, incomplete opinions.

Id est, our slanted view shall never do.

[Guest guest]

the lecture is the mundane trying to understand reality without jnana,knowledge of how this world works.

 

to understand how and why people are treating others and their particualar mindset,without knowledge of the paramatma,

the inner guidance we all recieve though unaware of,is wasting your time.

 

People are experiencing the reactions due to them ,the laws of Karma bind all people to act in a specific way guided by paramatma.

 

Without this realization the mundane viewer

sees this world as chaos and confusion

guided by prejudices and hatreds,in fact it is all guided by God.

 

Transcendental knowledge gives us proper vision ,proper understanding .

 

The activities in this world are not without

purpose and reason and divine control.

 

nothing is going on devoid of the strict laws of karma,there are no mistakes,no

one is free from his fate,the reactions one experiences from previous actions are

there for the purpose of freeing the soul

from the bondage of material existence and giving the soul eternal freedom and bliss.

[sha 0]

To answer brutality with brutality

is to admit one's moral and intellectual bankruptcy.

 

~ Mahatma Gandhi

[Tarun 6]

[Tarun 6]

[Guest guest]

You won't see these pictures on the American news media :

 

http://www.shianews.com/hi/middle_east/news_id/0000728.php

[brajamandala 0]

lm

[brajamandala 0]

Oh my, I mucked up the last one. Lets try again.

 

Brutality in the human race is astonishing. I witness mental and emotional brutality quite often from a so-called long time vaishnava, who takes pleasure in subtly undermining others, delivering snide and condescending remarks to hopefully make the recipient feel inadequate, inferior and not worthy of love or/and respect from others, particularly love from God. I've come to realise this personality is actually very insecure, he overstates and exaggerates the exuberance of any meeting with anyone as if he is the great loved one, that people find he is the most fascinating, so elevated, adoreable, so sweet, and yet he will punish his own children in the most twisted and harsh manner.

 

Brutality whether physical, emotional or mental is deep seated and originates in the false ego, in the darkest canals, it's used to control, to demean, to manipulate for one's own ends, where wil it stop, if the long term so-called devotees have thislamentable malaise, what to speak of the ordinary folk in the world. I better chant some more rounds.

[Guest guest]

Disease is in the way we see others, it will never cease untill we ourselves stop seeing the evil in others.

[ethos 0]

The disease is our material conditined life. It will not stop until it's spiritual. You cannot artificially force or fake higher conscious sentiments. This may work with ignorant people, but it rarely works with devotees who are more expert on these matters.

 

But in the meantime, beware! The world is full of hypocrites who impose morals on others while they have their secret life.

 

Prabhupada said "Discrimination is realization." To ascribe false attributes to yourself or others is a serious mistake.

 

This reminds me of the Californian philosophy of "just feel good about yourself." You see, never mind being good. Just feel good about yourself.

[Gauracandra 1]

These traits are something I've been noticing in the general culture, and it is most noticeable in television humor. I think in the past humor tended to be situational. Things would fall into place in such a way that it would be funny. But now it seems like humor is based solely on quick put downs. Even politics is like this. The person who wins a debate is not the one who gave the best response, but rather the person who "capped" the other guy the best that night with a witty zinger. Thats what makes the headline the next morning. So I think the culture is turning this way such that meaningful dialogue between individuals is diminishing and is being replaced with "television witticisms". I heard Peggy Noonan point this out maybe a year back, that people are starting to talk like characters on tv. Its scarry to think about but I think it is true. We really are influenced a great deal by that little square box. Anyways, I probably went off on a tangent, but I think a lot of this is a cultural shift due to learning how to deal with one another from the boob toob /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[brajamandala 0]

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, wonderful ideal, but I also agree that discrimination is necessary, and sometimes we have to see in order to not emulate, hear in order to not take on board, etc.etc. we're in the learning process. Its pretty hard to not see something very blatant, even something subtle if you are an aware person, "Oh, no I didn't see that, it's just imagination again, silly me.!" This is foolish nonsense, I realize hear no, see no, speak no, although it's a high ideal it's a little simplistic. Of course we should endeavour at all times to not speak it, but actually I feel what hear no evil and see no evil refers to is if you do hear or see, ignore it to the best of your ability. Don't let that example influence you in that manner. Am I saying the obvious? Of course, the higher vaishnavas fixed in that transcendental world will see everything as perfect, no evil anywhere, everything is perfect, but until that day lets use some common sense shall we.

I agree with you Gaurachandra, it seems like if you're a conceited smartase, you're worthy of recognition. cooler.

[brajamandala 0]

actually just to add on to my last post, about seeing evil in others, it must ber in the seer first in order to see it in another. I was told from a very reliable source some time ago about a devotee B.R. Sridhar Maharaj banned from his compound because he was "evil and spreading evil". The evil he was spreading was profound, and I've since heard this from others also. B.R. Sridhar Maharaj saw it in him, realized what he was doing and how he was affecting others, especially new devotees faith not yet really formed, and this vaishnava, how could one say with sanity he had evil in him which qualified him to see evil in another. Ludicrous proposal. Explain that. Prabhupad also saw it in others, once again, it's not that you don't actually see, it's just that it's more preferable to concentrate on the better qualities in one and not the darker. This is not the transcendental realm, and the vaishnavas on this globe today and before also see evil, that's why they're here, to try to help us suckers get out of it.

[Guest guest]

Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj recommended not even watching T.V. and Srila Saraswati Thakur said the same of movies but most devotees continue to feed their consciousness with a regular diet of both these influences.

Goes to show how much we really follow the instructions of our gurus, most of us watch a lot more T.V. and videos than arotics. And there is nothing subliminal about it, it's just in your face gross, we see and hear so much blatant offence, slander, dishonor and gross misconduct that we diminuish what values we once had. We may be disgusted, but we still watch. It all feeds off itself, that is why it is recommended not to contemplate the mundane, but rather focus on the beautiful forms of Radha Govinda.

I once heard one KC preacher state that if you're really so offended by what you are seeing and hearing why not just turn it off. But we don't. We're attracted to controversy and drama, we tend to feed on it. This sort of humor is in the name of revealing the bulldust, and the hypocracy. But it just fills the air with more cynicism and sickness seeing the falt instead of the perfect solution, Krishna..

[ethos 0]

I think I normally want to scrap myself. Right now I'm just tired.

 

I think everyone here has valid points - including you Guest. Really.

 

We can't all be like each other. Let's just be a family for awhile.

[Guest guest]

You are talking about 'madhyama devotees' and NOT maha bhagavatas.

Go and read in Bhagavatam about the 'maha bhagavata' 11.2.45 and the rest, kanishta and madhyama.

[Streetstraw 0]

Unless each person is trained in both Soul & Supersoul awareness, this one short life shall be considered all in all.

Natural short-sighted conclusion: Might Makes Right.

Or as PrabhupAd stated (imitating them): "Bring black money, bring white money, just bring money!!"

[ethos 0]

Prabhupada had alot of nice one-liners.

 

You have some good quips Streetstraw. That's 3 or 4 I've copied now. I might very well use them on a website I'm doing. Hope 'ya don't mind?