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You have to consult sastra. There is direction. It is . . . practically it is the same. Just like Manu-samhita, it says that if one is a murderer then he should be killed. Life for life. He should be hanged. That is the old system

Expressions researched:
"you have to consult śāstra. There is direction. It is . . . practically it is the same. Just like Manu-saṁhitā, it says that if one is a murderer then he should be killed. Life for life. He should be hanged. That is the old system"

Conversations and Morning Walks

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

You have to consult śāstra. There is direction. It is . . . practically it is the same. Just like Manu-saṁhitā, it says that if one is a murderer then he should be killed. Life for life. He should be hanged. That is the old system. The king used to kill a murderer. So that is almost the same punishment.

Paṇḍita means educated. So how one is educated? How it is tested? When a person takes all women except his wife as mother, then he is educated. When one thinks others' property as garbage in the street, then he is educated. And when one thinks that all living entities are of the same level, ātmavat sarva-bhūteṣu, then he is educated. Not that for my convenience I say: "The animal has no soul, so send them to the slaughterhouse." He is not educated.

Rāmeśvara: He says Prabhupāda said one of the standards of education is to see all living entities equally. So not that we say that an animal has no soul, therefore he can go to the slaughterhouse, but a man has soul, so he cannot. Because we see all living entities equally, so we do not send man to slaughterhouse, and we do not send animals to slaughterhouse. That is education.

Interviewer: What . . . in your system, what do you propose to do with criminals?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What do you propose to do with criminals in your educational system? How will you reform them?

Prabhupāda: Criminals should be punished.

Interviewer: Punished?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Interviewer: How so?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How seriously should they be punished?

Prabhupāda: That you have to consult śāstra. There is direction. It is . . . practically it is the same. Just like Manu-saṁhitā, it says that if one is a murderer then he should be killed. Life for life. He should be hanged. That is the old system. The king used to kill a murderer. So that is almost the same punishment.

Rāmeśvara: Capital punishment.

Interviewer: What . . .

Rāmeśvara: What Prabhupāda said is that you have to consult the ancient law books which were written, which are part of Indian culture, thousands of years ago.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Part of the Vedic scriptures.

Rāmeśvara: They are our lawbook. Just like we have books of philosophy, there are also books of law, how to govern society, how to deal with criminals. In other words, we are sticking to the Vedic literatures. As they instruct, we are following.

Interviewer: What do the Vedic literatures say about adultery?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about adultery, Prabhupāda? She wants to know what the Vedas say should be the . . . what is the reaction for adultery? How does one deal with an adulterer? If someone is an adulterer and he's caught, what should be the . . .

Prabhupāda: No, there is no such direct punishment, but it is prohibited. It is prohibited.

Rāmeśvara: There is no direct punishment, but it is prohibited. Part of education and social convention, it is prohibited. Not that the government allows propaganda to be made for illicit sex.

Prabhupāda: The other words, the woman who is chaste, she is very much glorified.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: A chaste woman is very much glorified in Vedic culture.

Interviewer: I'm particularly interested in the educational system that you are setting up. Do you think . . .

Bali-mardana: You mean for children?

Rāmeśvara: She's referring now to the system that we have for our children, gurukula. So what's the question?

Interviewer: My question is because they are receiving this education, physical and spiritual education so that they will be free of corruption and sin, they might still, even with this education, they still might not be intelligent, what you consider intelligent people. How, you know . . . is it more likely that they will be what you would term intelligent, having been educated in this system?

Prabhupāda: No, there are different types of education. Just like in the material world, there is education for medical man, there is education for engineer, there is education for so many other departments. Similarly, there is education how to make one man spiritual. So we are going to give education how to become spiritually advanced. That is our purpose.

Rāmeśvara: Spiritually advanced, that is our purpose. Now her question was whether all the people that go to our gurukula will become spiritually advanced.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, certainly. That is gurukula education.

Rāmeśvara: Even though some are born with more intelligence and some are born with less intelligence.

Prabhupāda: It doesn't matter. Average intelligence will do.

Page Title:You have to consult sastra. There is direction. It is . . . practically it is the same. Just like Manu-samhita, it says that if one is a murderer then he should be killed. Life for life. He should be hanged. That is the old system
Compiler:SharmisthaK
Created:2022-10-12, 06:20:23
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1