Adam Lanza killed 26 including 20 kids and his mother in Newtown, Conn.,elementary school, USA on Dec 24. Is it just the tip of the iceberg? Are we preparing ourselves to witness more such mayhem? Such tragedies shake our conscience and force us to introspect. How can one stoop so low that he can mercilessly massacre innocent children and his own mother? While murdering them what he would have been thinking and feeling? What was the state of his mind at that moment when he would be seeing the dead bodies of little children?
As a society we call ourselves modern and also civilized. In our pursuit for modernity we are trying to kill the most basic necessity of human existence i.e. the “feelings” which we have for fellow humans. Most of us have become so self-centered that we do not care for anyone else.
Empty heart becomes a breeding ground for envy and hatred. We don’t find pleasure within and outside. Heart cries in agony and the eyes want to see tears in everyone’s eyes. We give to the world what we have. Adam Lanza’s heart was devoid of love and gratitude and so he thought every other individual to be his enemy.
The tragedy would have never happened if he would have understood that every living being are his own brothers and sisters. We will love and care for others only if we understand that we are all children of one Supreme Father, God.
Srila Prabhupada explains, “All living beings are eternally connected by their common participation in the divine existence of God. When this existential oneness is obscured through atheism and agnosticism, people are not inclined to be merciful to one another; they cannot recognize their self-interest in promoting the welfare of other living beings. In fact, people are no longer even merciful to themselves: they systematically destroy themselves through liquor, drugs, tobacco, meat-eating, sexual promiscuity and whatever other cheap gratificatory processes are available to them” Srimad Bhagavatam 12.2.1.
So as a society we should strive to civilize ourselves by accepting and respecting the higher principles of lives as explained in the revealed scriptures. And as an individual we should endeavour to elevate our consciousness by connecting ourselves to the Absolute Truth.
Let us pray for the departed souls including that of the killer who later committed suicide and also pray that such incidents never ever happen in future.
