If consciousness of the couple at conception determines the nature of the child, will a child born through rape be evil?

Answer Podcast

Transcribed by:  Geetanjali Nath

Question:   It is said that the consciousness of the couple at the time of conception determines the kind of the sould that will be born at that time. So if some conceptions happen in very un fortunate or cruel circumstances, ie. if a women is raped, then does that mean that the child who is born will be of a very low consciousness and will be evil , because neither the parents was good, the women was fearful and the man was brutal. So will such a child be evil and should how should one look at such a child.

Answer:   The purpose of the knowledge of karma and the philosophy of life , that is given in the vedic scriptures, that is meant to help us to become better, better in serving others, it is not meant to make us bitter about others. That means , the whole point of doing garbhadhan samskar, garbhadhan samskar is refereed to doing purification rituals so that one has a good conscious. so that we can attract a good soul and we can do good to the world. so it is means to improve our service to that person that soul. So now the point is that that whatever situation we are put in, that situation is an opportunity for serving. So the soul , yes because the conception has happened in brutal circumstances, we could say that a soul with some bad conditioning will be attracted at that time, but we have to know that the past samskaras are only one factor in the journey which the soul will take, the upbringing, the association, these are also very important factors, and these factors can and they are in the parents hands. So the child is given good upbringing , good association, and the child can grow up wonderfully and this child can even overcome past conditioning s of the past life what ever they may be and can become a glorious human being, a wonderful devotee also. after all the soul has freewill. and our past conditioning never take away our freewill. So the now the point of this is that , as I said, that we would like to offer the best service to Krishna and to the world, by which we can also make spiritual advancements. So as parents, then we do the procreative act as a service to Krishna and that may attract a good soul who will become a good devotees. Then another way we can serve Krishna by taking a soul who is not having such good back ground and trying to train and elevate that soul. and if we do that , that will be a special glory, that will be a special mercy. Shrila Prabhupada, his special glory is that he went to the west , and people who were so degraded, the hyppies who were so degraded to be rejected even by the western culture, which itself is consiered degrade from the vedic point of view. So they were the rejected among the rejected, and Prabhupada elevated them,, that is his glory.  So we should see every situation as an opportunity for service, and when we are living int he world and are dealing with people in this world , we are not meant  to , or we should not look into peoples past life karma and try to judge them, that will be very insensitive, if a father, find that the child is sick, is the father or the mother is to think that the child is suffering because of the past karms, no , the father has to think that what is my duty now. The suffering must have come from the past karma, but what is my duty m, by duting my duty I will grow and I will make advancement, and I will do something for my loveed one. So our phylosophy is not meant to primarilym, not to make us hared hearted, it is simply to make us clear headed, about why things happen and what we need to do. for example, if if a devotee couple is come to krishna consciousness, they may have some children before coming to Krishna consciouness and some children after coming to Krishna counsciousness, does that mean that they should love their earlier children less and the alter children more. no , that have to offer the best facility that can and the children willg gtrow individually. So the important thing is to recognize that the whole phylosophy is means to make us better, and to help us make ot5hers obetter, so therefore , even if a soul has been born in such unfortunate situations, the soul can rise to great levels, and in fact the whole principle of bhakti is that it can counter and transcend the effwect of birth. So Krishna talks about this in papayonaha, in Bg 9;32 he says   māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya,  ye ’pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ, striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās,  te ’pi yānti parāṁ gatim.  so he says , that even those who are born sinfully, even if they take shelter of Krishna, they can also become elevated and liberated. and that’s why if some one if put in such a situation, rather than rejecting that child as a evil so something like that, by loving and raising that child, one can actually experience the potency of bhakti in raising anyone and everyone. Of course if such a terrible situation happen how to things have to be dealt with, that will be dependent on time place and circumstances. But the point is we are meant to deal with people based on this life perspective, and when this child is born , now the conditions in which the child is born, from this life’s perspective, the child is not to be blamed, and the child is as worthy of the parents love, as much as any other child, born in any other circumstances. So if we misinterpret the philosophy to become hard hearted to others then actually we are actually doing violence to the philosophy, we will alienate Krishna and we will alienate ourselves from Krishna. So our philosophy is meant to make us sensitive and make us clear headed so that we understand that why somethings are happening, so the whole point of the consciousness at conceptions is that , we should try to improve our consciousness at that time, not that we twist the whole thing around and say that ” ok, that person who is born over there is evil and there fore I will not care for him or her , whatever like that”, that would be a terrible misinterpretation, In Mahabharata , when Draupadi, dishonoured, or Sita is kidnapped in Ramayan, no body goes around saying that ii is because of your karma fo just suffer it, in fact the pandavas try to redeem the honor of Draupadi, and Ram also does the same for Sita. So therefore, we also have to understand  where the philosophy is to be applied and how. So in this case the knowledge of consciousness of conception, determinig the progeny should be used to improve our consciousness when we are conceiving. It is for those who are married and are devotees, but if there are circumstances beyond our control when such things happen t, then at that time we cannot bring in this philosophy  introduce the philosophy over there , and screw out and un-compassionate and insensitive meaning from there, then in that situation we should think ok wheat is the best way I can serve, and there we cant take shelter of the redeeming potency of bhakti, how papa yonayah can also attain param gatim, that what Krishna assures, and do our service in that situation. Thank you.

Hare Krishna.

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