Edwin van den Schoor
ronsfor
COWARDS ARE THE FOOD OF THE BRAVE
carāṇāmannamacarā daṃṣṭriṇāmapyadaṃṣṭriṇaḥ |
ahastāśca sahastānāṃ śūrāṇāṃ caiva bhīravaḥ || Manu 5.29 ||
“The immobile is the food of the mobile; those devoid of fangs are the food of those endowed with fangs; those without hands are the food of those with hands; and cowards are the food of the brave.”
Srimad Bhagavatam has the same verse:
ahastāni sahastānām apadāni catuṣ-padām /
phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ jīvo jīvasya jīvanam // ŚB 1.13.47 //
“Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another.”
So - we can observe this law all around. Many times, out of some fear, in some situations - we act as cowards. And those others - they feel it, and they take advantage of it.
So - bhirava, coward - we will be “eaten” by those who are more brave in this particular situation. If we are cowards - we become weaker - and those, to whom we give power, will become stronger - abhayam, fearless - and they will substitute on you.
This is the law, everywhere - school, business, work, society...
And it is not only that this is for warriors - that better is to die, than to live in captivity.
While examples from war would be the most understandable.
For example - during WW2, near Stalingrad (1942) - 600000 germans surrendered.
But after war (1948) - after captivity, only 20000 from them were left alive by soviets.
So, anyway - they all died. But what a difference - glorious death on the battlefield or death in disgrace and humiliation somewhere in concentration camps...
Better they would fought till the end, gaining respect from enemies and achieving better afterlife from Supreme.
dvāv imau puruṣau loke sūrya maṇḍala bhedinau /
parivrāḍ yoga yuktaś ca raṇe ca abhimukho hataḥ // Parasara 3.30 //
“These two are destined to reach the highest of all regions, having penetrated through solar globe, namely - renunciate who practice spiritual practice and soldier, who has been killed, fighting with his face towards enemies (in a sense - in front of, not running away).”
And what happened with their families, wives and children, while they were dying in captivity? Not many of you know, that in 1945 - at the end of the WW2, more than 2 million german civilists - old and children were killed by revenge groups in Preussia, and more than 2 million women were systematically raped by Soviet Army (at that time - Soviet Army was already predominantly muslim - Kazakhs, Kirgizs, all Asia...)
For those who know history of India - pattern is common. Muslim invasion.
Therefore Sikhs and Rajputs refuted cowardice. When being overpowered by muslim invaders, and understanding inevitable consequences - all men fearlessly went out to fight till the end, but women performed collective suicide - jauhar. Choosing chastity instead of horrors of rape and humiliation. Everyone knew from history - that men will anyway be slaughtered, children will be converted and all women raped - as it has happened with those, who surrendered before - in previous invasions - like in a case of fall of Vijayanagar empire and others.
But what to speak about far far away history - in modern age - genocide of Kashmiri pundits or hindus in Bangladesh...
My question is - why hindus are not fighting till the end? Why they surrender and then, later are crying and wining and suffering all the time? It is not true that only ksatriyas can fight back. It’s a duty of everyone.
śastraṃ dvijātibhirgrāhyaṃ dharmo yatroparudhyate |
dvijātīnāṃ ca varṇānāṃ viplave kālakārite || Manu 8.348 ||
ātmanaśca paritrāṇe dakṣiṇānāṃ ca saṅgare |
strīviprābhyupapattau ca ghnan dharmeṇa na duṣyati || Manu 8.349 ||
“Twice-born persons shall carry arms: When religion is interfered with, when there is confusion among the twice-born castes caused by the exigencies of time,in his own defence, in cases of hindrance of sacrificial fees, in the case of outrages upon Brāhmaṇas and women,—if one strikes in the cause of right, he incurs no sin.”
guruṃ vā bālavṛddhau vā brāhmaṇaṃ vā bahuśrutam |
ātatāyinamāyāntaṃ hanyādevāvicārayan || Manu 8.350 ||
“Without hesitation one should strike an approaching desperado,—be he a preceptor, a child, or an aged man, or a highly learned Brāhmaṇa.”
nātatāyivadhe doṣo hanturbhavati kaścana |
prakāśaṃ vā'prakāśaṃ vā manyustaṃ manyumṛcchati || Manu 8.351 ||
“No evil of any kind accrues to the slayer for killing a desperado, either openly or secretly; as it is only Fury recoiling upon Fury.”
The point is that in one’s own defence a man should always fight.
A ‘Desperado’ is called one who is intent upon destroying another one’s body, property, wife or children. Such a man one ‘should strike without hesitation.’
But can one act righteously, when one is full of fear? No.
So - do not fear. Be brave. Srila Prabhupada - His name was Abhay Caran. Abhay - fearless. And He was like that - He went alone to America and conquered the whole world. And we? Devotees? His so called followers? What are we doing now? Out of the fear to not be recognized in society, we even do not give spiritual names to our children (in their documents), we adapt to different social norms and customs of modern age (rejecting varnasrama), we pollute our girls by implementing feminism and all other nonsense (instead of teaching chastity and Vedic culture); our gurus became bridge preachers and some kind stage clowns and important leaders manufacture and maintain different “preaching” projects without any mentioning of Krishnas name or affiliation with ISKCON of Prabhupada...
How to call it - if not cowardice?
If you are Hare Krishna - be it. Be brave. But if you have fear - know the law. Prepare to be eaten. Do not cry afterwards.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
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