The recent incident of assault of three sadhus in Bengal’s Purulia on January 12, 2024, shows how the sadhus have become soft target for the miscreants. People have still not forgotten how a mob killed sadhus in Palghar, Maharashtra.
This incident was also like Palghar. The assault happened in Purulia when the sadhus were on the way to Gangasagar for a holy bath on the auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti.
The reason for assault of sadhus in Purulia
As per the media reports, while on the way the sadhus asked three girls in Purulia who were going to Kali temple for something. But due to language problem the girls thought that these sadhus were following them. They informed the local people about these sadhus.
The locals thought that these sadhus are “kidnappers in disguise” and they are threating the girls. They caught the sadhus and forcibly took them to Durga temple. There these sadhus were mercilessly assaulted, stripped naked and their vehicle was vandalised. Fortunately, some sane man informed the police.
Fortunately lives are saved
The police immediately intervened and the life of the three holy men were saved. The video of the assault of sadhus in Bengal’s Purulia has been widely shared. It is so painful to see the three elderly sadhus wearing saffron robes being beaten by the mob. One of the sadhus is being stripped naked. It is so disgusting. It is so difficult to watch the video.
From the video we can easily see that how people have become so cruel. People are assaulting and others are shamelessly watching. They do not have any fear of the law. The incident was similar to Maharashtra’s Palghar incident. In Palghar too the locals falsely accused the holy men as kidnappers and killed them.
But in Palghar the police were mute spectator but to the credit of the police, in Purulia they came and saved the lives of the sadhus. 12 people have been arrested in connection to the incident.
There was a time when the sadhus were revered in India but these days due to systematic brainwashing these holy men are looked with suspicion.
Why assault on Hinduism?
In TVs and movies, it is common to see men wearing tilak and saffron robes indulging in immoral activities. Making fun of Hindu culture and faith have become so common in TV serials and movies that now a days people just overlook it. And this has emboldened those who have an agenda to demean Hinduism.
The movie Annapoorani tests the tolerance of Hindus
For example, the makers of the movie Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food went to such an extent that they started propagating that Lord Rama ate meat. It has already been clarified by many learned Vedic scholars that Lord Rama never ate meat.
But still people driven by agenda are misinterpreting Sanskrit text and trying to say that Lord Rama ate meat. After facing severe backlash Netflix was forced to remove the movie from its platform.
Co-producers of the movie, Zee Studios tendered an apology, “We have no intentions as co-producers of the film to hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and Brahmins community and would like to hereby apologise for the inconvenience caused and hurt caused to the sentiments of the respective communities. (sic)”
But while making the movie, did the writer, director, actor, producer not think that they are playing with the sentiments of the Hindus? Or was it just an experiment to test to what extent they can go to hurt the sentiments of the Hindus.
Also, the movie is now available on YouTube. Will the makers of the movie remove the controversial content of the movie from You Tube too?
Distorting the Vedic scriptures, playing with the sentiments of the Hindus should stop immediately.
The government whether at centre or at state should take cognizance of these instances and make sure that unsocial elements should not be allowed to disturb the harmony in the society.
The reason why Krishna comes again and again
If we turn the pages of history, we will find that the government would be very careful in ensuring that the religious principles remained enforced.
The righteous rulers would consider the holy men who would dedicate their lives in the service of God as a valuable asset to the society. These men of God were protected and nicely cared.
Even the Supreme Lord expects us to live as per the codes given in the sastras. So, they appear again and again to educate us about this.
Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita tells us why he comes to this world. He says,
yadā yadā hi dharmasya
glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya
tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham
“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself.” Bhagavad Gita 4.7
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge
“To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.” Bhagavad Gita 4.8
So, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in this world to protect the righteous, punish the unrighteous and to establish religious principle.
This is why when Arjuna was not willing to fight the war then Krishna insisted that being a warrior it is his duty to protect those who are on the path of dharma. It is his responsibility to punish the evil.
Maharaj Parikshit about the duty of the king or ruler
In Srimad Bhagavatam we find that Maharaj Parikshit followed the path of his grandfather, Arjuna. As a king, he would punish those who would commit any crime. His mission was to make sure that every citizen is living as per the injunctions of the scriptures.
Maharaj Parikshit explicates the duties of a king (or a ruler) as follows.
- “…the king’s good name, duration of life and good rebirth vanish when all kinds of living beings are terrified by miscreants in his kingdom. It is certainly the prime duty of the king to subdue first the sufferings of those who suffer…” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.17.10-11
- “Whoever causes offenseless living beings to suffer must fear me anywhere and everywhere in the world. By curbing dishonest miscreants, one automatically benefits the offenseless.” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.17.14
- “An upstart living being who commits offenses by torturing those who are offenseless shall be directly uprooted by me, even though he be a denizen of heaven with armor and decorations.” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.17.15
- “The supreme duty of the ruling king is to give all protection to law-abiding persons and to chastise those who stray from the ordinances of the scriptures in ordinary times, when there is no emergency.” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.17.16
Set an example by punishing the miscreants
India is the holiest country because here appeared Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. In this land of Bharatvarsa, the Supreme Lord should always be glorified and those who chant and glorify their names should be honoured, respected and protected.
In this holy land of India, the government’s responsibility at the centre or at the state is to protect the holy men and holy women. The assault of three sadhus in Bengal’s Purulia is a grim reminder that the unsocial elements do not fear law. They think that they can get away with it even after commiting such crimes.
So, the government should ensure that those who assaulted the sadhus should be severely punished. It is not so difficult to identify the culprits because there are many videos of the assault.
The punishment should set an example so that in future no miscreants should dare to harm harmless holy men and holy women.
