Aneel Kumar: Sir, since Vedas has preached that slaughter/killing of any kind of living being is not permitted. Then why did the Lord Krishna in the battle of Kurukshetra make Arjun kill his opponents who were also living beings. Please answer this question.
Swami Ram Swarup: Vedas-shastras warn us that everybody must be learned of vedas i.e., aspirant must get full knowledge of Vedas by listening from an acharya. Knowledge only of a few mantras i.e., in pieces (like a rat who cuts away some portion of cloth and rest of the cloth is left behind) is always harmful. So, aspirant always remains in touch with acharya of vedas to put forth his query before the acharya to be solved. Therefore, I am happy that you have sent the query.
There are three educations/preach about (i) knowledge – science etc(Gyan) in Rigveda,
At the time of every creation, knowledge of four Vedas emanates direct from God and is originated in the heart of four Rishis in non-sexual creation. In the said process, first of all, the knowledge of Rigveda advents and originates in the heart of Rishi Agni. In this Veda though the description of every worldly matter right from straw to God has been mentioned but it speaks especially about matters concerning science of the world. God has described qualities/nature of all materialistic articles of the universe. Therefore, the entire mankind must get the benefit of eternal knowledge of Vedas by knowing about right from straw to Brahma i.e., God. The meaning of “Ric” is that wherein the qualities and nature of all matters have been described and the meaning of Veda is knowledge i.e., true knowledge. These words are used in making the pious word “Rigveda”.
(ii) In Yajurveda, the form of true, pious deeds have been preached. So, in the absence of listening of Yajurveda, we can’t know about real moral duties of students, married persons, vanprasthis and sanyasis. Even the moral and social obligations of King, parents, children etc., can’t be known.
(iii) In Samveda there is preach about eternal true worship of God like yajyen, name jaap, practice of ashtang yoga by following which an aspirant realises God/attains salvation.
(iv) Atharvaveda authenticates the above three vedas’ preach. It also contains comprehensive knowledge of medical science.
So, Almighty God who is formless, creates, nurses, destroys and again creates universe. This process is eternal and everlasting. So, at the time of beginning of each non-sexual creation, the knowledge of above four Vedas emanates direct from God and is originated in the heart of four Rishis. The knowledge is given by the God to the human-beings for their welfare/benefit because until the knowledge is given by somebody, no one can attain the knowledge. In the beginning of the creation, no preacher, guru, acharya, teacher is present there to teach. So, God gives the knowledge.
As regards karma-kand (deeds) Vedas preach about duties to be discharged from different kinds of sections of society. For example- For a Brahmin, tapasvi or yogi violence is prohibited. He may seek justice from the king. Fundamentally, there must not be any violence in society from anyone. But Vedas say, to maintain justice, law and order and to fight against the injustice or enemies who are harmful to the society and nation then to kill such culprits is a pious deeds and the kshatriya who gets killed while defending the society and nation from culprits gets swarg.
Swarg means either salvation or the best birth in the next life where he will do more pious deeds like worship etc., and attain salvation.
So, one should know his concerned duties to be discharged by listening vedas. I have written a book- Manav Dharma Shiksha, in Hindi, quoting the ved mantras wherein Duties of a king to kill/ruin the culprits, have been mentioned. I would advise you to read the book, please. Book can be sent on receipt of your postal address, if you so desire. The price of book is Rs. 21/-, excluding postal charges.
Subhash Arya: Namaste swami ji. I want know about God or energy? What is energy and God? Both are different or not? I am very confused about this because westerners say that energy is God but Indians and Vedas say that God is very powerful being.
Swami Ram Swarup: My blessings to you. If God is energy then the energy should be related to some object. For example- Lion, men, women, trees are the objects and they have their own types of energies. We always remember the name of God. Now there are two things- One is name and second is God. Similarly, there are two things. One is energy (power) and who has that energy (power), He is God. That is why, God is called Almighty. That is, He has all unlimited powers.
In this connection, I paste my article, please. After going through the article, you may send any query.
There are three matters in this world- God, souls and prakriti. God and Souls are alive matters whereas Prakriti is non-alive. Definitely, God contains power/energy. However, it must be noted that God has unlimited power whereas souls (we people) have limited power. As regards God, He is formless and amongst unlimited qualities/powers, He is omnipresent, omniscient, Almighty, creates, nurses and destroys the universe. So, we must worship the said God, based on the knowledge of Vedas.