Further Wisdom Derived From Ramayana III

In Kiskindhya-kanda of Ramayana, Lord Rama explains to Vali why He has slain him, founding him guilty. Further He mentions reasons why death penalty is beneficial for those who committed following sinful acts:

- To have a sexual relationship with one´s daughter, a daughter in law, a sister, a wife of one´s younger brother.

Lord Rama also says, that if a king does not punish such a sinner, he himself will be acting sinfully.

Manidhara das:

In the society of today, it is only natural that the issue of a death penalty is controversial as there are no qualified judges in the form of empowered brahmanas who may issue a verdict without any fault. As we see daily, even the worst of criminals get away with their sinful acts due to the corrupted legislative system, which leaves room for interpretation and word jugglery. The laws in Vedic society were clear. So clear, that there was no need of lawyers, better to say liars of today.

As we also learn from Bhagavad Gita, those who set one´s house on fire and administer poison are as well eligible for a death penalty.

In the same Kiskindhya-kanda, we find Hanuman praises Angadha, another great monkey warrior, by considering him being endowed with eight attributes of intelligence.
All points mentioned here can be applied both on the material and the spiritual platform.
They are of course relevant only for those who are endowed with some basic common sense intelligence. Fools can never hear an advice, or they get angry when the advice is not to their liking.

Eight attributes of intelligence:

1) An inclination to hear what others have to say

True hearing is based on absence of false ego and the ability to leave a room or a consideration that things could be seen in another way.
Devotees of the Lord appear to mundane liberalist (who are never liberal) often as arrogant, as they don´t accept anything coming from non-sastric sources. For them the scriptures are only valid basis for discussion, as their application can indeed be seen according to time, place and circumstances but never changed in its essence.

2) The capacity to hear what others have to say

Of course, „little brain is required“, said Srila Prabhupada, and so Krsna Consciousness in its pure form is only possible to comprehend for those who have already some doubt about their empirically acquired „knowledge“.
„I know that I don´t know“ is the basic starting point for everybody who wants to enjoy the benefits of Krsna conscious wisdom.

3) The ability to comprehend the basic meaning of what others have to say

The more intelligent one is, the more one can understand the essence of what was said, and the final origin of everything. Such person is never confused by the effect as he knows the cause. Absolute majority of humans of today don´t have this ability, and therefore the unimportant becomes important to them and the important becomes unimportant. Confused by the details, they cannot „see the forest because of so many trees“.  
Only by the mercy of a pure devotee of a highest order, such as Srila Prabhupada, this confusion can be dispelled, and the originally pure soul can surface from the ocean of ignorance where was drowning in for millions of lifetimes.

4) Good memory

Sruti-dhara is called a person who can remember everything by hearing only once.
As we read in Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna had such a quality as there was no need for Krsna to repeat any of His instructions to him twice. Unfortunately, today most of us cannot remember even after hearing many times the same.
Hence Srila Prabhupada over and over again had to repeat the basic facts of life and describe over and over again the ways spiritual advancement can be made.
Still, many forget again and become victims to cheaters who come along and delude the original substance by dint of their speculative power.

5) Capacity to reason in a favor of a good proposition

This of course requires the ability to know what is good and what is bad. Mayavada doctrines, so eagerly spread today, don´t facilitate this distinction, making everything blurry and „the same“.
But we never find anything or anybody being the same. Everything has its individuality and is either properly presented, meaning to be good, or presented in a perverted way, meaning to be bad. The distinction between these two can be recognized only on the basis of a guru - the bona fide teacher, sastra - the bona fide scripture, and sadhu - the disciplic line of bona fide representatives of sastra.

6) Capacity to reason against a proposition

It is based on the same premises mentioned above.

7) Deep insight into the meaning of what others say

Being eager to push forward our own point of view, we often miss to look deeper inside what was said by others. Misunderstandings based on a superficial hearing are most common in this age where people tend to hear things emotionally and not rationally.
Most people don´t have an opinion at all and are doomed to repeat what was said by others via the mainstream media or from other manipulative channels. Instead of standing on their own, they prefer to flock together in fanaticism groups, as to search after the truth and then act upon it brings responsibility they don´t want to have. Such fanaticized, better to say hypnotized, passive followers are used and exploited by more clever „leaders“ for their own objectives, always aiming on the ultimate control of the world.
To create an opinion on one´s own requires the above mentioned attributes. To have „one´s own opinion“ means to know what is real and what is false. This knowledge can be only acquired on the basis of the scriptures and not from one´s own limited perception based on a confused mind and imperfect senses.
It is the demoniac propaganda of today to make people believe that they must have their own opinion while simultaneously indoctrinating them with the „knowledge“ what their opinion may be. As the source of information is false, anything contemplated thereafter must be also false. The real demoniac leaders of society know that and they know the art how to make slaves to believe that they are free.

Remembering the day I joined the Hare Krsna movement in the seventies in Germany, being exposed to severe opposition, insulted and prosecuted for being a devotee of Krsna on a daily basis in the line of preaching, it never stopped to amaze us how indoctrinated people can be. When asking them what they really know about Krsna Consciousness, in response we got always the summary of the latest headlines printed in newspapers, which didn´t hesitate to use any means to slander us and our activities.
Instantly, the majority of the people repeated what they read (mostly only the headlines:-) without any secondary thought.

Srila Prabhupada humorously commented in regards to this massive brainwashing the general populace is exposed to, by telling a story of a Christian preacher who entered the coal mines in England in order to make the simple coal miners to good Christians.
„Jesus came to save you!“ heralded the enthusiastic preacher. The coal miners didn´t really know much what to say until one of them asked: “What is his number?“
After all, every coal miner had a number and so they wondered which number Jesus has.
The preacher smiled and said, “No, Jesus doesn´t need any number. He came to save you from going to hell!“
Even more confused, the coal miners asked: “What is a hell?“
The preacher responded in a dramatic tone: „The hell is down there, way down, it is dark there and it is hot.“
There was no response. After all, every day the coal miners entered the elevators and drove below the surface of the Earth where there is darkness and where there is hot.
Seeing no effect in his preaching, the preacher grew desperate. As the last possible way to wake up these simple folks, an idea crossed his mind. He shouted:
“And in hell, there is no newspapers!“
„Oooh,“ exclaimed the coal miners, “no newspapers in hell? That´s terrible!“
And they all became Christians.

In today´s context, we could easily say: “Oh, no Google, no Facebook, no internet in hell? That´s terrible, let´s all become Christians“ :-)

8) True wisdom

Can be only derived from a bonafide spiritual teacher, bonafide scripture he represents, and bonafide disciplic line of teachers who do the same.

To be continued...