The Undying Cycle Of Killing

I have always asked my self, how the soldiers, criminal and murderers are able to kill a person. I imagine that they are full of rage and that they probably are not thinking straight, I imagine that they were taught to do so and that they believe that it is the right thing to do. But for me, the action of taking somebody’s life is unimagible. Sometimes killing someone can be seen as ending a problem. As a common expression, my friends and I say “OH! I want to kill him/her!” or “I will kill myself”, without taking into consideration the real meaning of it.

Nowadays killing someone has not so much to do with duty or honor as it did hundreds of years ago. War and victory were seen as the ability to kill the most amounts of people possible and not getting yourself killed. In the East World wars and battles were held as in any other part of the world, but the fighting was held for honor, and success, yet ironically the East World was full of peace thoughts and inner self finding for tranquility. There is the debate between doing your duty or following the righteous way.
“I do not want to kill them,
even if I am killed, Krishna;
not for kingship of all three worlds,
much less for the earth!” (First Teaching)
Bhagavad-Gita shows the two points of view, Arjuna, the great warrior does not want to fight, he is frustrated and depressed, he does not want to be himself the killer of someone else. What is him to do? If he is taight to be the warrior, he is the role models for so many, but has no desire to fight. He prefers to stay still “even if I am killed, Krishna” , his death minds him less than the the killing of the others, which happen to be his family (who he is supposed to fight).
“The greed that distorts their reason
blinds them to the sin they commit
in ruining the family, blinds them
to the crime of betraying friends.” (first teaching)
It is quite interesting the “greed” blind you, distorts you, ruins you. It is not a new concept, it is repeated in almost every book, or piece of writing we have read in this class, the desire is unnecessary and useless. As I stated previously, the ones that kill are “full of rage, that they probably are not thinking straight”, or I better say, “full of greed, that they probably are not thinking straight”.