In the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is mentioned that meat eaters are received in hell by the animals they killed during their lives. The animals receive appropriate bodies they can use to attack their killer and thus take revenge on him. This can raise a few doubts. Why are these poor animals who already suffered by being killed forced to accept bodies in hell and wait there for a long time in order to punish the man who killed them? This may sound like re-victimizing the victim for many.

This happens in connection with the statement of Dharma in the Srimad Bhagavatam (1.17.22): “You know the truth of religion, and you are speaking according to the principle that the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator.”

In a sense, revenge and the desire for justice is a natural reaction when someone causes us suffering, but it’s very important to understand the price we have to pay for it. If one wants to see how a criminal is suffering in prison, he will have also to stay there to be able to see. Similarly, to punish someone who wronged us, we will have to also be in the same place he is, in order to meet him face to face and deliver the desired punishment.

When an animal is killed by a meat eater, he often desires revenge for what he is suffering. An animal who so desires has the opportunity to assume a body at the entrance of hell and take his revenge when the sinner passes there. The problem however is that to get revenge the animal has also to stay there, waiting for the sinner.

Similarly, to get justice for someone who did something wrong to us, we will also have to take our next birth in the same place this sinner appears, so we can see his suffering, or inflict the suffering ourselves. Sometimes someone who desires revenge against someone else ends up becoming his son, or even his wife, a position where one can indeed cause maximum suffering. However, for this one has to live close to him, in the same place he goes.

This is what the Srimad Bhagavatam means by “the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator.”

Someone who wrongs us will have to face the karmic reactions for it anyway, but by carrying the desire for revenge inside of us we just create further difficulties for ourselves, keeping us close to the person we hate. After being victimized by us in the next life, the person will then also want to take revenge, and thus the roles will be again inverted in the subsequent life. That’s how souls stay for a very long time in this material world causing pain to each other.

A better solution is just to let it go. The aggressor will be punished for his actions anyway, be it by mundane authorities or by the laws of karma. In any case, he will suffer the reactions to his actions, but it will save us from being the ones doing it. In other words, forgiveness doesn’t necessarily absolve the aggressor from punishment, what it does is to absolve us from being the ones doing it. It breaks the cycle of wronging and being wronged.

We should always remember that the price for revenge is another birth in this material world, close to the person we want to take revenge on. Therefore, the desire for revenge is actually a poison that slowly kills us. It’s better to let it go, understanding that things happen to us as a result of our past actions and that other people are ultimately just instruments in this complicated arrangement. Competent authorities can punish the culprit, we don’t have to take this upon ourselves.