MASS MURDER

official source: Shabda Cayanika' Part 16

cross-references: also published in Prout in a Nutshell Part 15

this version: is the printed Prout in a Nutshell Part 15, 1st edition, version 
	(spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most 
	up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition.

      When a large number of people who may or may not be criminals are murdered at the same time, it is called gan'ahanana. Even if a large number of criminals are murdered at the same time this term is used because it is very difficult to theoretically judge who is a criminal and who is not. Sometimes innocent people may be subjected to severe punishment because wrong information appeared in the documents and records concerned with their trials. At other times judges may deliver incorrect judgements, and in fact there are numerous cases where judges have made mistakes. In such circumstances even innocent people may be given capital punishment. Then again, innocent people or those who have committed minor crimes are sometimes deliberately given capital punishment because of malicious judgements. Such punishments can never be supported. For example, the murder of Socrates can never be supported, neither can the hanging of King Nanda Kumar or the assassination of Siraj-ud-doola. These murders can never be justified by logic or reason.

      Over and above these examples, the very institution of capital punishment cannot be supported. Those who kill other human beings violate cardinal human principles. What to speak of human beings, those who kill animals also overstep cardinal principles hence their actions can never be justified. One who has killed another in the name of justice is even more condemnable, but even then the system of capital punishment cannot be supported. Nor can we support the actions of die-hard criminals who strut arrogantly through the streets waging a campaign of terror and destruction. Assassins and murderers must be brought within a penal code based on Neo-Humanism so that their thirst for blood is permanently eliminated.

      It is usually found that those who are victorious in war try others once the war is over, as if they had a holy dispensation. Those who are vanquished are branded as murderous and anti-social elements even though they may be simple, harmless people. In the last world war the Allied Forces (England, France, USA and USSR) were victorious and the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) were defeated. The Allied forces passed judgement on many so-called war criminals without properly verifying who were guilty and to what extent. Even the Axis leaders died before the term of their natural lives -- Signor Benitto Mussolini of Italy died an unnatural death, Adolf Hitler poured petrol over his body and ignited it, and Prime Minister Tojo of Japan was hanged. It is said that the British undertook an intensive search for Subhash Chandra Bose in order to try him as a war criminal. Dr. Ra'dha'binod Pal of Bengal was one of the judges at an international tribunal which was established to try the so-called international war criminals, but he disapproved of the way politicians were declared war criminals and given death sentences. So, when many people are murdered at a time -- whether they are ordinary criminals or not -- it is called gan'ahanana.

	During the Second World War the Allied forces mercilessly killed hundreds of thousands of absolutely innocent men, women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by dropping atom bombs on them. They threw innumerable men, women and children into the jaws of death, and poisoned, maimed and mutilated countless others through nuclear fallout. Was this action humanistic? Under what right did they dare hang Prime Minister Tojo? These questions will crop up repeatedly in the minds of enlightened people. This black history can never be suppressed by mouthing hollow, high-sounding slogans and flying white pigeons of peace.

      Once a certain prime minister discarded his much vaunted humanism and love of non-violence on the basis of rumours. I am aware of certain politicians--and many others are also aware of them -- who preach the gospels of peace by flying white pigeons but sharpen the weapons of war behind people's backs. They hold garlands of felicitation in their hands but conceal knives in their sleeves. Their policy is: "Preach the gospels of peace but keep your powder dry". They pretend that out of love for humanity their hearts will melt. In the fervour of political rallies their eyes dissolve with tears and flow like the Ganges, but in their hearts they crave for a menu of roast chicken -- slaughtered after ignoring the cries of innocent hens. The gospels of peace do not fit in such mouths. Let them raise the slogans, "Victory to roast chicken. Victory to rump steak."

1 May 1988, Calcutta
Shabda Cayanika' Part 16