THE DEATH PENALTY

By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, understand and agree here that the death penalty is beneficial to the murderer.



SB 4.6.4

tad ākarṇya vibhuḥ prāha
tejīyasi kṛtāgasi
kṣemāya tatra sā bhūyān
na prāyeṇa bubhūṣatām

Word for word:

tat — the events related by the demigods and the others; ākarṇya — after hearing; vibhuḥ — Lord Brahmā; prāha — replied; tejīyasi — a great personality; kṛta-āgasi — has been offended; kṣemāya — for your happiness; tatra — in that way; sā — that; bhūyāt na — is not conducive; prāyeṇa — generally; bubhūṣatām — desire to exist.

Translation:

When Lord Brahmā heard everything from the demigods and the members who had attended the sacrifice, he replied: You cannot be happy in executing a sacrifice if you blaspheme a great personality and thereby offend his lotus feet. You cannot have happiness in that way.

Purport:

Lord Brahmā explained to the demigods that although Dakṣa wanted to enjoy the results of fruitive sacrificial activities, it is not possible to enjoy when one offends a great personality like Lord Śiva. It was good for Dakṣa to have died in the fight because if he had lived he would have committed such offenses at the lotus feet of great personalities again and again. According to Manu’s law, when a person commits murder, punishment is beneficial for him because if he is not killed he might commit more and more murders and therefore be entangled in his future lives for having killed so many persons. Therefore the king’s punishment of a murderer is appropriate. lf those who are extremely offensive are killed by the grace of the Lord, that is good for them. In other words, Lord Brahmā explained to the demigods that it was good for Dakṣa to have been killed.