[Posted February 15, 2008]

Murder and Madness

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Yet another senseless campus shooting...

CBS2 Chicago Feb 14, 2008 -

7th Person Dead In NIU Massacre

The Chicago Tribune reported Friday morning that the gunman was a current graduate student at the University of Illinois. The newspaper did not identify the gunman, saying authorities have not completed the identification of his body.

Officials said the gunman opened fire in a lecture hall shortly after 3 p.m. and the campus was immediately placed on lockdown. Police were on the scene within a few minutes, but the gunman had already killed himself by the time they arrived.

The shooting happened at a geology lecture class in Cole Hall. Officials said the gunman emerged from behind a screen at the front of the lecture hall and opened fire with a shotgun.

Police said the gunman, armed with a shotgun and two handguns, shot the teacher, a graduate student instructor, and several students before killing himself onstage in front of the class. go to story

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On Campus Shootings

Violence at School
"Simply slaughterhouse, this so-called school is called slaughterhouse. Yes, slaughterhouse."

When A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (Srila Prabhupada) spoke these words in 1973, he was referring to the misdirection of modern education, which back then was churning out hippies, but now we see the literal truth of his words. Schools are troubled by an upsurge of violence which has seen 36 or more shooting incidents across the USA since the Moses Lake shooting in 1996 to the Columbine High killings 8 years ago almost to the day and up to yesterday's rampage at Virgina Tech. 108 killed, 134 injured in connection with school shootings. more

Everyone requires treatment

excerpt from conversation with psychiatrist, Perth, May 12, 1975

Our viewpoint is that in the material world, who has accepted this material body—anyone, but we specially take the human society—they require treatment, everyone. Everyone is mentally diseased, and therefore he is unhappy. Everyone. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna [Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.12]. Anyone who has no sense of God consciousness, he is diseased mentally. He requires treatment. The whole human society, especially at the present moment, they have given up God consciousness. They are not interested. That is their disease. And everyone requires treatment. So the whole Krishna consciousness movement is the mass treatment of the materialistic persons who are mentally diseased. That is our proposition. It is... In India there was a case. A man committed murder, and he pleaded in the court that... His pleader, his lawyer, pleaded that he was mad at that time. We also accept unless one becomes mad, one cannot commit murder or suicide. So the civil surgeon was brought to give evidence whether this man is actually mad. The civil surgeon said that "So far my experience is concerned—I have treated so many persons—in my opinion everyone is mad. So if on account of madness one should be excused from the law, then it is Your Honor's discretion, but so far I have studied, more or less, everyone is mad." Similarly, our study is that unless one is mad, he cannot remain in this material world. So everyone is mentally diseased, and they are concocting their ideas, different ideas. And they are overlapping, my idea, your idea overlapping. Therefore there is clash, unhappiness, violence, individually, socially, familywise, nationwise. This is going on. Therefore everyone requires a treatment, psychiatrist's treatment. And the best treatment is to induce a person to become Krishna conscious. Then everything will be all right. Otherwise, a person who is not Krishna conscious, or God conscious, he is basically a mad man and requires treatment.

Sri Guru and Gauranga