Innocent people (Lect. Conv. & Letters)

Expressions researched:
"If a person is innocent" |"innocent citizens" |"innocent creatures" |"innocent living beings" |"innocent living entities" |"innocent people" |"innocent person" |"innocent persons" |"innocent public" |"persons who are innocent"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:

Because formerly the war was declared not whimsically. The war was also religious war. So in the religious war, a kṣatriya... The kṣatriyas were fighting, not the śūdras, not the brāhmaṇas, not the vaiśyas. There was a caste for fighters. Not like this, where a śūdra is elected as president, he is not fighting, he is in a safe place, and he is simply directing, "You go and fight. Let me see how you are fighting." No. The king, the kṣatriya, he will come forth in the front of fight. That was fight. If the king is killed by the opposite party, then it is declared that they are victorious—no more fight, no more unnecessarily killing other persons. The aim was to kill the king. The king was on the front. The other party, he was also in front. The king is fighting with king, and the soldiers are fighting with soldier. So when the king is killed, then the other party becomes victorious. That was the process of war, not that releasing atomic bomb from the sky and kill so many innocent persons. No, that is not war. So war, if it is fought on principle, on religious principle, that is called dharma-yuddhi. That is not prohibited. But this killing process, unnecessarily, innocent men, that is not dharma-yuddhi. That is irregular fighting. That kind of war is not sanctioned by the Vedas.