About 30 years ago I was the victim of a serious crime. I was targeted by certain powerful people who harassed me to the extent that a lesser person would have been driven to suicide. The harassment stopped when they felt I had been adequately punished.
I cannot say that I did not provoke them or that I did not behave badly. They tried to be kind and help me but I was rude to them and humiliated them. But that does not justify their actions. They could have blacklisted me and let me know what they were doing. A ruined career – at my age – would have been punishment enough.
There was a conspiracy of silence that I was facing. Possibly due to legal advice they did not tell me what they did. When I found out a good fifteen years later, I had an immense sense of being betrayed. I was distraught and filled with rage. The trauma was intense and may have played a role in my having a mental ailment.
I have to say that they probably did not intend to do me as much harm as they did. This is an instance of more damage being done by taking the advice of lawyers than by the original crime itself.
I had the choice of going to the police when I came to my senses and found out what had been done to me.
In the fifteen year period that I spoke of earlier I had read philosophy, Buddhist teachings and had tried out Vipassana meditation. As a result of this guidance, I did not take any legal action. The following are my purely selfish reasons for this decision:
- I decided that the rage and hatred I had experiencing at that time could be dealt with through my meditation practice.
- I told myself that Karma is Karma and God was running the Universe. I was not.
- According to the findings of Quantum Physics the Universe is an organic whole, similar to the human body. Our position as sentient beings is similar to that of cells within the human body. It does not matter what happens to an individual cell as long as the body survives and is in a state of well being. I told myself that similarly it does not matter that I suffered injustice as long as the Universe keeps going. As the Bible says – God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform.
- India is a feudal society and the justice system is in a mess. I had had experiences with the police earlier. I could not see myself gaining anything by registering a police complaint. I could have harmed the persons in question but other than that I would not gain anything. Also I had behaved badly at that time and it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.
- Lastly I told myself that I had better things to do in life than fight cases in courts of law. I had books to read, meditation to do and movies to watch. I had a life to live. Jesus advised us to resist not evil and that following his teachings would result in our having life more abundantly.
For all these reasons I did not take legal action.
I hope this will be of some guidance to people who are wondering whether to seek vengeance or justice or not. God is running the Universe and it is best to leave justice to him. As regards vengeance, the Bible quotes God as saying – Vengeance is mine. The hatred and sense of injustice that we suffer can be dealt with through meditation practices.
I’ll end here. Please comment on this article if you liked it or even if you didn’t. Feedback from my readers keeps me going.
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