The recent attacks on innocent Hindu tourists by terrorists are severely heart breaking. Terrorism is rapidly increasing with the progress of Kali Yuga. I remember when I was small, around 13-14 years, I would read Harry Potter. After reading about the invisibility cloak that Harry had, before sleeping I would sometimes dream myself going to the hub of terrorists at night and shooting all of them under the protection of invisibility cloak. How wonderful it would be to see this world without any disruptive and destructive elements? 

Not only the recent past, but even our scriptures are filled with examples of terrorist attacks. Hiranyakashipu was not only a global, but a universal terrorist. When Duryodhana was scheming various nefarious plans to kill the Pandavas, it was nowhere lesser than a terrorist plot. In Africa, a terrorist was responsible for killing many of our devotees including Mother Hladini. 

The current scenarios of globe, ranging from the ongoing Russia Ukraine war since 3 years and 2 months where more than 10 lakh people have been killed, Israel Hamas war going on since one and a half years wherein around 40,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, showcase the perversion of human emotions. 

When an attack happens right in our country, it is natural to get affected. 

What can we as devotees do in such a situation?

Our Role: 

As devotees, we can intensely pray for welfare, peace and justice. Prahlada Maharaja says, 

svasty astu viśvasya khalaḥ prasīdatāṁ
dhyāyantu bhūtāni śivaṁ mitho dhiyā
manaś ca bhadraṁ bhajatād adhokṣaje
āveśyatāṁ no matir apy ahaitukī

May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing bhakti-yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each other’s welfare. Therefore let us all engage in the service of the supreme transcendence, Lord Sri Krishna, and always remain absorbed in thought of Him. SB 5.18.9

Krishna hears the prayers of His devotees. 

Apart from prayers, what all can we do?

What about shooting the terrorists ourselves? I wish my childhood dream could come true. But unfortunately, it is a bit difficult. Therefore, we must try to avoid violent responses.

There is no need of munching over hundreds of news channels and social media forwards, and boiling our blood with anger, revenge and resentment. We can be updated with the right information, and put forth our concerns with a cool head, to the civic authorities, and to people who care.

In case we wish to serve on a dharmic platform, we could do so. At the same time, we must fight adharma by dharma. We must vote for the party that supports dharma. We can also engage in teaching dharmic values to children, adults and to the entire society at large. We can approach the civic authorities to give more opportunities to spread peace and dharma on a larger scale by spreading Krishna Consciousness in the form of harinaam sankirtan, lectures on Gita and Bhagavatam etc.

Field work has to be done by the right people who are deputed, capable and equipped for the same. If we desire to extend our support, we can definitely do so, while understanding our ultimate goal. Yes, we must be definitely prepared to fight against adharma, and do the needful. When devotees were attacked in Mayapur, Prabhupada told devotees to keep a gun. For those who know only that language, reply has to be given in the same language.

Our Identity:

Let us now try to look from a spiritual viewpoint. From this point onwards, the entire article puts more weightage on the spiritual eternal aspect, more than the dharmic viewpoint. Also, it tells what must be a devotee’s internal wiring amidst the external volatile situations.

The above mentioned large figures of Russia and Israel wars may not affect us to the extent the recent attacks have. If we see objectively, lakhs have died there as compared to a few in India. If we were a devotee born in America, still it might not have affected us that much.Why is it so? As the citizens of this country, we deeply identify as Indians. We also strongly identify as Hindus. 

Just imagine, if we would have been born in Russia, what would have affected us more? We would not have even cared for what’s happening in Kashmir. 

Our identification determines how much we get affected by any situation. Srila Prabhupada gave us the identification of being a Krsnaite. Wouldn’t Srila Prabhupada say many times – I am not a Hindu, I am not a Muslim, I am not a Christian, I am a spirit soul, and servant of God?

Our Family:

Our eternal religion is Krsnaite. Therefore, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura wrote the book – Jaiva Dharma. Narottama Dasa Thakura says, 
advaita ācārya bala, gadādhara mora kula
Advaita Acarya is my strength. Gadadhara is my family.

This is our family.

From the Acaryas Viewpoint:

If we see our acaryas, they have been always fixed in practicing and propagating KC in all times while praying for the welfare of people in general. Obviously, they did the needful so that the right environment is maintained to practice Krishna Consciousness.

Prabhupada himself was a nationalist, but his spiritual master convinced him – The only problem in this world is lack of God consciousness, and the only solution is God Consciousness. What would have been the intensity of the national freedom struggle during that time? A thousand times more than what is happening today. Yet, Srila Saraswati Thakura was convinced. And he convinced Srila Prabhupada.

This doesn’t mean in any way that we disregard whatever happened. But, in this manner, countless distractions come forth in our lives in the form of either adhyatmika, adhibhautika or adhidaivika. Maya wins in sidelining our attention for a few days from the real goal of life. Like this, she wins over us for the whole life by giving various distractions on personal, social, communal, national and international levels. Some give so much prominence to these things that they stop practicing Krishna Consciousness and wish to work for the society in other mundane ways. This is not desirable.

The Fading Relative Truth v/s Fixed Absolute Truth

If we view objectively, where are the updates on India Bangladesh war now? Haven’t they faded away? How many hours we spent on arguing, discussing about that?

What about the temporary news of this world that we got affected by at some point of time in our life? It is nowhere in the picture now!

Inspite of the different tides and waves that keep on coming in this material world, a devotee’s mind is focused on eternity. BG 2.70 states,

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ
samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve
sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

Should we, as devotees, endeavor to spread dharma? If we wish, we can do so on some level. But, if we wish to understand from a perfect spiritual point of view, we are not here to promote only Hindu dharma. There are a million others who can do that. We are here to promote Krishna Consciousness. We must not make our KC subservient to mundane ideologies.

We have got this opportunity after many millions of lifetimes. Some lifetimes were lost in affection for family members, some in sense gratification, and some in other petty things. We must assess – Do we have that much time to lose this life also to any other cause? 

Material world is a place where there is danger at every step – padam padam yat vipadam na tesam. While praying to Krishna for peace, we can try our best not to get sidelined, and try to fix our consciousness on Krishna in this greatest hour of danger by chanting His Holy Name. 

PS: This article in no way is an attempt to desensitize the recent issue. We must take the necessary action and fight for dharma. Extremist terrorism is definitely a great challenge. But at all times, we must know that material world is a place of nasty happenings. Prabhupada would say, “Danger is there because you have put yourself in a dangerous situation.” Our goal as always remains to practice KC and preach KC amidst the many turbulations of this world. And whatever helps us do that effectively, we must support that cause.