OSWALD PEREIRA writes on the release of the Bilkis Bano rape convicts and why it goes both against the law of Karma and the law of the land
India is believed to be way ahead of the West and other regions of the world in spirituality. In fact, the world looks up to India for guidance and leadership in spiritual matters.
The great yogis like Swami Vivekananda and Paramhansa Yogananda were regarded as sages in the West and their teachings were looked upon as Gospel by their Western followers, who incidentally, owed allegiance to different religions. But, despite their different faiths, they have found great spiritual lessons in what Vivekananda and Yogananda taught them. It is believed that their missions abroad were by Divine sanction.
From them, the world learnt about yoga and karma, mainly through the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, whose essence was demystified and explained in simple language to a Western audience not familiar with the universal truths.
The West also learnt about the fact that the great incarnations like Lord Rama and Bhagavan Krishna are so divine and powerful because their energies are blended and complemented with their better halves, Sita and Radha, respectively. Similarly, if Shiva is the soul, then Parvati is the Kundalini resting in the body.
While we all adore God as our eternal Father, many of us consider Divine Mother, equally, if not more important. For, it is Mother, who is the giver of unconditional love. She is Divine power. She is the embodiment of Nari Shakti or Woman Power that we all Indians worship.
In the West, where women are allegedly portrayed as objects of desire, this teaching of Nari Shakti has been of great help in transforming their view of women.
The philosophy of Karma and rebirth were alien to people in the West, whose main religion is Christianity. But our great Indian teachers taught them that these concepts were not only scientific but also very logical, metaphysically speaking.
Doesn’t all that I have written about, so far, sound so good and make us feel proud to be Indian and to have shown the world the path of truth and karma, and above all, woman power? The answer is an empathic yes, not once, but thrice ― Yes, Yes, Yes!
However, on August 15, as we celebrated India’s 75th Independence Day, all 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case were released by the Gujarat government as per a new remission policy. The convicts had been sentenced to life imprisonment for her gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
By releasing the convicts not only has injustice been done to Bilkis Bano and her family, but the law of Karma has also been turned upside down. The convicts should have been left in prison to complete their sentence and work out their bad Karma of raping Bilkis Bano. This would have been in sync with the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and its law of Karma, apart from the law of the country.
By releasing the convicts, the great philosophy of Nari Shakti that has made us proud Indians, has also been shown the door. The rape victim, Bilkis Bano, would have felt empowered that her rapists were convicted. Now that they are free, she has again become a victim.
May God guide us as a nation and let us pray to Bhagavan Krishna to show us the light and lead us back on the path of truth, justice and karma.
Oswald Pereira, a senior journalist, has also written eight books, including The Newsroom Mafia, Chaddi Buddies, The Krishna-Christ Connexion, How to Create Miracles in Our Daily Life and Crime Patrol: The Most Thrilling Stories. Oswald is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, and practises Kriya Yoga.
A very apt justification against the release of the convicts. Their release has punctured the very values and norms of our heritage.
Agree, Nargis, the release of the convicts has punctured the very values and norms of our heritage.
Indeed Oswald jee!
The most heinous crime the system has perpetrated on the glorious day of 75th Azadi ki Amrit Mahotshaba, by releasing these convicted people hiding behind a 1992 non-existing review policy.
Bilkish Bano the victim has no choice but to shed tears staying depressed within the four walls of her home.
No doubt India is the treasure house of spiritual knowledge & spiritual torch bearers.
No doubt great sages from India like Swami Vivekananda, Swami Sivananda, Swami Yogananda, Acharya Rajneesh Swami Maheshansnda, Swami Muktananda and many more have delivered the message of Veda, Bhagvat Gita, Yoga to world.
The material west inspired by Indian spirituality delved deep into Indian Spiritual Texts and Yoga.
Our sages transformed a section of westerners to follow our path through assimilation, practicing chanting & meditation.
West gradually became rich taking the knowledge from India. Now more westerners are studying spiritual scriptures of India than Indians themselves.
We have lost our soul. We forgot our deep rooted spirituality.
Being intoxicated by the material pleasures of west, we forgot the fundamental message of Sanatana.
When they are studying Vedas, Gita, Kashmir Saivaism in the west with intense steadfast efforts, we have stopped studying, praying, meditating.
We are now depending on western scholars to know and understand our own scriptures.
How can with this distorted mindset we can have time to stand with that poor lady?
Hatred, divisive choices and anger distanced us from our core. We chose to loose ourselves in the dense jungle of hypocrisy, sensuous pleasure and insanity.
No more we have compassion, love and a mind to serve others.
But nothing worst can happens in His just creation. Krishna arrives repeatedly to remove this disparity in existence and reestablish order… dharma.
HE SHALL, I HAVE NO DOUBT, INTERVENE TO PUT THINGS IN RIGHT PROSPECTIVE AND TRANSFORM HIS CREATION AGAIN TO A SWEET GARDEN OF VIRTUES.
Today is Janmastami.
Shrikrishna shall take birth tonight. It is a festive time.
Let us pray – may with His intervention we Indians comeback to our sense, as quickly as possible.
A wonderful blog Oswald Pereira jee to bring minds back from deep slumber.
Manas Das Jee, like you, I am optimistic that Bhagavan Krishna will save us. The time has come for Krishna to come again to end iniquity. But this time, He will be accompanied by Jesus Christ, and other great avatars of various faiths to show that we are all united and One with Divinity.
Overlooking the Lord of Natural Justice, being completely blind, one perpetrates any act of injustice.
And verily in the same depth of spirit, invoking the Lord of Natural Justice, being blindfolded, one gives a verdict of justice.
Both the criminal and also the justice as such stand on the same platform, separated from one another though, by a very thin line of divide.
Often one wonders, overlooking what one perpetrates a crime and invoking what one pronounces the final justice.
Yes of course, as Dostoevsky says it about the predicament of both the criminal and also of the justice in a very few simple words, and yet so conclusively:
“If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will be his punishment-as well as the prison.”
How amazingly, these words are equally addressed to the criminals and also the one who sits on the chair of justice and yet, it appeals to the later more than the former, for hope and aspiration of the world rests more on him than otherwise.
The case of Bilkis Bano as such is no exception and the verdict had to pass through the acid test of Natural Justice, there is no doubt about it.
A timely post Oswald Ji.