Something to learn from
Dear Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I just received some good news from Hrdaya Caitanya Prabhu about Bhakta Steve. He is now conscious and the doctors said he'll be out of intensive-care soon.
I think there is something that we can all learn from this incident with Bhakta Steve. This material world as we all know is a dangerous place, therefore we should be more cautious when were out there in maya's kingdom.
One time I was distributing books and a thief came running by me, similar to the incident with bhakta Steve. As he was running by I was thinking, "Should I tackle him?" but then I just let him go (probably more scared than anything else). Sometimes afterward I would think, "Should I have stopped him?" From this incident Krsna is answering that question. Devotees are good natured, so sometimes when they see an opportunity to do a good deed they do it, as a natural instinct.
There are however police that are trained to deal with these things, so from now on it should be a policy that we not get involved when we see a crime. We have enough service as it is.
But there are instances where we can help someone who is in danger. Such as the incident in Australia: Two ladies were shouting out a window for help because the building was on fire. Some devotees grabbed a tarp that was to be used for a Ratha Yatra parade, they made a circle pulled the ends tight and told the ladies to jump, and that they did and were saved. The next day it was front page news. Prabhupada was very happy that they did this and would mention it many times in his preaching.
But as far as dealing with criminals, let the police and Yamaraja (the highest police official) deal with them. If he's foolish enough to be a criminal he's foolish enough to harm a devotee.
Your Servant,
Vijaya Das
