Heavy Handed

“Parasurama is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and his eternal mission is paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam [Bg. 4.8]—to protect the devotees and annihilate the miscreants. To kill all the sinful men is one among the tasks of the incarnation of Godhead. Lord Parasurama killed all the ksatriyas twenty-one times consecutively because they were disobedient to the brahminical culture. That the ksatriyas had killed his father was only a plea; the real fact is that because the ksatriyas, the ruling class, had become polluted, their position was inauspicious. Brahminical culture is enjoined in the sastra, especially in Bhagavad-gita (catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah [Bg. 4.13]). According to the laws of nature, whether at the time of Parasurama or at the present, if the government becomes irresponsible and sinful, not caring for brahminical culture, there will certainly be an incarnation of God like Parasurama to create a devastation by fire, famine, pestilence or some other calamity.” (SB 9.16.18)

Srimad-Bhagavatam contains a variety of violent accounts, many of which describe the fierce acts of the Lord Himself. To the first-time reader it can be unnerving. Why is there so much hardcore violence in these narrations? Aren’t such vicious acts driven by the lower nature of lust, greed and anger? Why does the Supreme Lord have to resort to such fierce tactics to establish His way? Don’t such accounts leave the door open for misinterpretation and misuse by the immature? Could such narrations be fueling the religious violence that we see in the world today?