Please elaborate the concept of 'Law of the land'.

[Shri Anil Antony asked: Please elaborate the concept of ‘law of the land’, in the context and background of topic of Madhura Bhakti; is there any difference in the law of land if the places were Jerusalem and Mecca?]

Swami replied:- ‘The law of the land’ means the belief of the public present in a land. Sometimes, a specific belief may be wrong. Generally, such specific belief, which is wrong is opposed by at least some people of the land. Scriptural authority is also joining the belief of that land. Every land has its own constitution based on the common beliefs of that land. When the issue of the birth place of Rama came, the supreme court considered the common belief of the public of India. Of course, the archeological findings supported the common belief of the land. Several other logical factors were also considered, which were supporting the common belief of the majority of the public of the land. Without other logical factors supporting the belief of the land, simply based on the belief of the land, an ethical decision will never be taken. This only means that the case of the birth place of Rama cannot be discussed based on the constitution written in Jerusalem or Mecca or the concepts of atheism. The judicial discussion shall be based on the Indian constitution. The identity of the birth place of Rama shall be investigated based on the Hindu scriptures. If you take the scriptures of other religions, this topic has no reference in any scripture of other religions. Similarly, when discussion on sweet devotion of Krishna is considered, we have to refer scriptures like the Bhagavatam, the Mahaabharatam and the Puranas etc., since this topic is out of the context of the Bible or the Quran. The incidents that happened in the life of Krishna are always based on the then customs or traditions or culture of Hinduism in the times of Krishna. You cannot examine this topic in view of the present constitution of India. Had Krishna existed just in the past generation, the present Indian constitution could have been referred.

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