Spirituality is the Antidote to Crime

[Guest guest]

Western researchers have eventually come round to the traditional

Indian view that crime is not a consequence of damaged people (i.e.,

the people who have been harmed or deprived under the existing

social system), but that some people are inately wicked and selfish.

 

Therefore, in the opinion of James Q Wilson, a noted researcher on

crime, "Nothing avails except to set them apart from innocent

people" (Thinking about Crime, p. 235). Approximately five millennia

ago, Sri Krishna revealed the same truth to Arjuna on the

battlefield of Kurukshetra, that in this world there were two kinds

of beings -- the divine and the demonical (refer Verse 6, Chap 16,

Bhagavadgita). And Sri Krishna further revealed that for the

protection of the pious and destruction of the evil-doers, He

manifested himself in every age (Verse 8, Chapter 4).

 

One important lesson of Indian tradition that has been handed down

to posterity through various forms of worship -- including the

worship of the Mahishamardini (the Destroyer of the buffalo-demon)

or the Goddess Durga -- is the need to restrain one's ego and to

contain arrogance. The unrestrained ego has been verily described as

demonic in the 16th Chapter of the Bhagavadgita. Some of the demonic

qualities enumerated therein are insatiable passion filled with

vanity, pride, arrogance, impure resolves and the lust for power and

supremacy.

 

The worst crimes against humanity were and are still being committed

by the men possessed of those demonic qualities. According to

National Crime Records Bureau, a woman is raped in every 30 minutes

in India, and a person is killed in every 75 minutes by domestic

violence. The current ratio of acquittal at 1: 0.6 is a testimony of

the failure not only of the Government but also of the social system

that are apparently helpless against the Mahishasurs of today's

India.

 

It is a fact that egoistic persons are usually powerful, owing to

their affluence or social status, even though all powerful persons

are not necessarily egoistic. As in ancient times, gods were known

to have reined in their ego while the demons had let it loose -- we

find a replication of that in our time as well. In India the

following three categories of people can be classified as powerful:

the politicians, the rich and the bureaucrats. The majority of the

above three classes are egoistic and self-indulgent for want of

spiritual upbringing or inclination. Their intense desire for

riches, fame and power at the expense of the people has led to the

erosion of social values.

 

What applies to individuals at a micro level also applies to a

country on a larger canvas. When a country is possessed of demonic

impulses, crime against humanity assumes a much larger dimension,

like what the world had seen in Hitler's Nazism. Ongoing Pak-

sponsored terrorism on Indian soil, such as the Mumbai blast of

March, 1993 and 7/11 train serial blasts in the same metropolis are

just a few instances of crime against humanity committed by a

country out of a demonic design.

 

No state capital in India has proved to be more helpless in the face

of organised crime of the mafia than Mumbai. From the time of

Varadharaj Mudaliar in the early 60's, followed by Haji Mastan,

Yusuf Patel and Karim Lala down to the present hegemony of Dawood

Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan and Chhota Shakeel, the mafia have been

calling the shots in India's commercial capital. Pak-based terrorist

groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harakat-ul-Mujahidin

have only added a new dimension to the already existing Mafia Raj

steering all crimes, viz. drug peddling, kidnapping, murder, et al.

The close nexus between some politically influential, self-

aggrandising men of power with the mafia bosses is the primary

reason why the crime graph in Mumbai is always on the rise.

 

While other states have been able to largely control and contain

local hoodlums, the threat of Mumbai mafia gangs expanding their

tentacles in tandem with Pak-based terrorist outfits to other metros

like Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore is staring in our face. It is time

to strike at the root of the problem before it is late.

 

The question is how to strike at the root of the problem. According

to the Control Theory propounded by western researchers like Wilson,

there are three fundamental approaches to crime reduction. These are

deterrence, discouragement and removing excuses.

 

In the 70's and the 80's, being the period of prosperity, America

and Europe experimented with the reform approach stressing more on

understanding the criminal rather than preventing the crime. The

above approach evidently failed as the recorded crime in both the

continents increased phenomenally. As for instance, the number of

recorded crime grew in the UK from 1.6 million in 1970 to 5.4

million in 1992. In the mid 90's, the criminal justice system in

America and England was rendered more stringent in pursuance of the

Control Theory. This resulted in considerable rise in imprisonment

and reduction in the crime rate. Post-9/11 America and Europe have

further strengthened their criminal laws.

 

In India, the major problem lies in how to remove excuses for every

crime committed; inasmuch excuses dilute resolve of the people to

tackle crime. If it is terrorist strike, the excuse is Kashmir. If

it is Naxalite mayhem, the excuse is social exploitation. If it is

attack on a leader, the excuse is political rivalry. If it is murder

of the likes of Jessica Lal, Meher Bhargava and Priydarshini Mattoo,

the excuse is lack of proper upbringing of the murderous youth. If

there is police inaction or Government inertness, the excuses are

political pressure or compulsion of coalition politics. It is time

for the nation to change its psyche of acceptance and to call for a

tougher administration of criminal justice.

 

It is only collective determination of the people that works as the

most effective antidote to crime. The spiritual tradition of India

teaches us to accept life and destiny but not the crime against

humanity. Even God does not pardon it.

 

SOURCE: The Organiser

URL: http://tinyurl.com/yxa92q

[Guest guest]

Since when is this James Q. Wilson lock-em-up mentality the Hindu view of crime? I thought

the Hindu belief is that God/dess is in every human being, and every human being is

therefore deserving of compassion. My wife works with women prisoners. In her experience,

many of these women have made bad choices in their lives; but they are also, in many, many

cases, victims of physical and psychological abuse, suffering from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,

and the prison system often serves to dehumanise them even further. Moreover, many of

these prisoners are sent up on penny-ante shoplifting, prostitution, and drug charges, while

the people doing *serious* harm to society, the corporate elite and their political front-men,

are the ones passing the laws and running the prisons.

[Guest guest]

The original article looked like an opinion piece or editorial to me --

a particular individual's opinion, rather than "the Hindu view."

 

, "willendorfer"

<willendorfer wrote:

>

> Since when is this James Q. Wilson lock-em-up mentality the Hindu

view of crime? [....]

[Guest guest]

, "willendorfer"

<willendorfer wrote:

>

> Since when is this James Q. Wilson lock-em-up mentality the Hindu

view of crime? I thought

> the Hindu belief is that God/dess is in every human being, and

every human being is

> therefore deserving of compassion. My wife works with women

prisoners. In her experience,

> many of these women have made bad choices in their lives; but they

are also, in many, many

> cases, victims of physical and psychological abuse, suffering from

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,

> and the prison system often serves to dehumanise them even

further. Moreover, many of

> these prisoners are sent up on penny-ante shoplifting,

prostitution, and drug charges, while

> the people doing *serious* harm to society, the corporate elite and

their political front-men,

> are the ones passing the laws and running the prisons.

>

It is an Assumption without a foundation on facts that there exists

anything that can be termend "a hindu view". There is no pope, nor is

there a single founder, nor is it one religion with or one

philosophy that is followed by all Hindus, there are no dogmas

everybody must follow. That is why your queston/statements lack any

connection with the Reality of the indic religions.

 

The statement "the Hindu belief is that God/dess is in every human

being, and every human being is therefore deserving of compassion."

is incorrect, neither this belief is not a common denominator of

Hinduism, nor does the idea exist that the limited ego engaged in

acts of ignorance and crime, is the Goddess, nor is there any

specific "hindu view on crime"

 

The feeling of "Compassion" is important in Buddhism, it cannot be

said that Hinduism shares the buddhist view on the importance of

this feeling, though acts of giving and charity are consider to be

valuable though not even this is a dogma.