Should devotees fight in wars?

Srila Prabhupada comments that wars in our age are almost unavoidable since they come as a result of people killing animals. What should we do about it?

Vaishnavas took part in many wars throughout history. Vaishnavas like Hanuman and Sugriva fought in the war between Rama and Ravana, and Vaishnavas like Bhima and Arjuna fought in the battle of Kurukṣetra. Vaishnavas also fought the demons on many occasions they tried to invade the celestial planets, and so on.

However, on all these different occasions, Vaishnavas were in a position to take an active part in the battles, fighting for the cause of the Lord. In Kali-yuga, the situation is different. Wars in our age are fought because of natural resources, geopolitical influence, or mundane causes like nationalism. Often, there is no particular cause except the ambition of a particular man. Srila Prabhupada comments that wars in our age are almost unavoidable since they come as a result of people killing animals. At the same time, Vaishnavas of our time are not physically strong like Bhima or Arjuna to influence a battle in any meaningful way, nor are we encouraged to take part in it, since our mission is to improve our own Krsna Consciousness and share it with others. In previous eras, there was a class of men who were trained to fight in meaningful battles and had the power and nature to do so, but in our age, wars are just like forest fires, which sane persons can just avoid.

Our contribution in the current age is thus not to fight in wars, but to enlighten people so they don't have to be fought in the first place.

However, despite our best efforts, not everyone listens, and thus, wars continue happening. Some wars throughout history affected Vaishnavas, like when muslins invaded Vrindavana, forcing devotees to flee and take the deities with them. One may ask how Krsna can allow such a thing to happen. This is a question that doesn't have a simple answer since it has different sides. Although in many situations Krsna directly protects a devotee by mystical means (as in the case of Prahlada Maharaja), the primary meaning of Krsna's protection is to preserve our spiritual advancement, not our physical body. In general, Krsna also protects his devotee in the physical sense, but this may not always happen due to different factors. It may be that it is just the right time for a devotee to leave his body and go back to Godhead, like in the case of Vrtrasura, but it can also be the opposite: a devotee may be practicing just externally, and thus not have really put himself under Krsna's protection, or he may forget Krsna in a moment of danger and thus disconnect himself from Him. The possibilities are many.

When we speak about the present time, in the last decades or so, there was no great war that directly affected devotees. Vaishnavism was not present in the Korean Peninsula at the time of the war between North and South, nor was it popular in Vietnam by the time of the American intervention. The war indirectly affected a number of the early Prabhupada disciples in the form of the draft, but devotees were able to dodge it in different ways. Krsna gave them intelligence to avoid it.

I heard there was a devotee who fought in one of the Iraq wars, but it was due to choice. Apart from this isolated case, these were wars that didn't have a direct effect on the Vaishnava communities, just as in the wars in Afghanistan.

This changed three years ago, when we had the unfortunate opportunity of experiencing the first war in modern times that directly affected Vaishnava communities. Suddenly, we were forced to experience the madness of war in full force, with thousands of devotees being displaced, families being separated, mothers being forced to separate from their husbands and move with small children, devotees being stuck in zones of occupation or active fighting, temples being plundered by the occupation army, and so on. The stories are many, and we will probably come to understand the full impact of the events long after the war is over.

We also witnessed the madness of so-called devotees succumbing to nationalistic sentiments and actively defending the aggressor, up to the point of misusing quotes from the scriptures to sustain that devotees should join the invading army and serve as additional fuel to the fire.

Fortunately, we also witnessed the example of true Vaishnavas who, despite all the danger, intensified their efforts to bring kirtan, prasadam, and books to the people affected by the war. We also presented the efforts of preachers who sacrificed their own safety to encourage devotees by visiting areas under bombardment, and many other inspiring examples.

Wars bring up the worst and also the best in people, and it appears that it is also true for devotees. Falldown is not just about eating meat. Some fell under the weight of their nationalistic craziness and started to act again as materialists, while others flourished under the difficulties. We probably still have much to learn from everything that has been happening in the last few years.

Read also:

If you read this article to the end, give it a like. This makes Substack recommend it to more people.