Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says that as long as we believe we have free will, we have to own up the consequences of actions done by us with our free will.
But it is indeed true that at the exalted level of comprehension, everything is God’s will. A person who attains this conviction firmly is the one who has attained God realization or self realization. Only such a person becomes the perfect instrument of God. Sri Ramakrishna says that whatever that person does is simply the acts of God and it will only be perfect and right.
If ordinary people do whatever they want to do by saying that they are doing it as God’s instruments they are only deluding themselves.
Suppose a person, out of a very reasonable justification (in his own assessment) kills another with anger and vengeance. He may say, “I have delivered the right justice that this fellow deserved for his evil actions. I have acted as God’s instrument . His ‘prarabdha’ is such that he gets killed by me in this birth. So, I have not committed any sin.”
If his argument is really true, what happens if police arrest him and the court orders a judgement that he should be hanged? Should he not accept that it is also by God’s will and the judge acted as God’ s instrument and punished him?
That’s why Sri Ramakrishna says that along with the ‘idea’ of free will, the concepts of punya and papa too shall coexist. If not, there will be total anarchy. Without fear of punishment based on papa, people will keep doing all sorts of atrocities.
https://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Good-vs-evil.jpg256527C.V.Rajanhttps://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Logo6-Hinduism-Sanatana-dharma-Way-of-life-340-×-140-px-300x124.pngC.V.Rajan2019-08-26 09:53:542019-08-26 09:53:54When every action of human is prefabricated by God, and human beings are (acc. to Gita) just instruments in the hands of God, how can we define what is meritorious (Punya) and evil (Paap)?
If there is really any God and if it is really true that He is all merciful and compassionate as scriptures eulogize Him, then why on earth are there so many painful and incongruous things happening at all times — children and parents suffering from famine in some countries, little children getting raped, tortured and abused, animals suffering under cruelty of man, religions encouraging herd mentality in their followers, existence of glaring inconsistencies and inequalities in creation and so on?
This was the question raised in one of the Hubpages discussion forums, by a lady with a very soft heart who had been pained by many such realities of the world . She was wondering whether there is really any God; if one were to be there, would He ever allow all these glaringly painful goings-on?
There are a couple of different ways in which these anomalies and doubts can be analysed and answers found.
A) God-as-a-Loving-mother approach
When you are a very little girl, let’s assume you pinched your little younger brother out of contempt, out of sibling rivalry, not because of any omission or commission of his, but because you were angry that your mother loves him and cuddles him more than you.
When your mother comes to know of it, if she is a level headed woman, she will understand the reason, be patient with you and explain why you should not do such things. If you have a good heart that can understand, you will know immediately that what you did is wrong. Or your mother may warn you severely on your act and advice you not to behave like this in future.
If you happen to repeat such acts in the future knowingly or unknowingly, she may smack you at the back and warn you of more severe punishment if you don’t behave.
Now analyze the above in detail. There are three different ways you may react:
1) You may be endowed with a good heart that understands why what you did was wrong and you will not repeat it again.
or
2) You may understand what is wrong with you, know that it’s bad, but at some other occasion when your heart sinks to a lower level, out of an emotional an spurt, you may do the mischief again on your little brother.
or
3) You may not be willing to listen to any logic behind your act and your mother’s advice or warning and continue to repeat your vicious acts of vengeance in future, with increased degree of hatred. As your brother grows up, he too may start retaliating, thereby a sibling rivalry may grow to a lifelong contempt between a sister and a brother.
Now think of your mother. Whatever be your mode of negative behavior, is you mother going to dislike you and disown you? Will she not always try to reason with you, at times give punishment to you, at times act too magnanimous with you, at times get too angry with you –but will she not, as a mother, continue to love you and be concerned with your moral well being?
That’s the same thing with God. All of us are God’s children — be the doer of a heinous crime or the sufferer of the crime.
Just as a mother, God loves both the categories and his concern is only the right moral conduct and gradual evolution of all. He knows some of his children are good and some are bad. He knows that he cannot totally wash his hand off from his bad children.
We must also understand that the creation is too large, the canvas is too big, the children are too many, the acts of crimes are too varied, and the time period of God’s delivery of justice and consolation to the affected children or punishing the mischievous children is too wide for scrutiny by others who see “only a small duration of a very long movie.”
Hinduism states that this “long movie” is not confined to one birth. The “cause and effect” cycle goes on and on across several births. God’s way of consoling the affected and punishing the wicked has got its humanly incomprehensible time scale.
As an erring child, you may not be sure when your mother may behave soft with you or act tough with you. At times, you will expect your mother to beat you, but she may leave you with a warning. At times, for an insignificant mischief done by you, your mother may flare up and beat you disproportionately.
When such unpredictability exists with a human mother, why not it be so with the Universal Mother, the God? But, what looks to be unpredictable to you, may be very intentional in God’s scheme of things, because, he knows what’s best.
Hinduism calls all these unpredictability of creation as Maya. The act versus the fruits of act is dealt with in detail by Karma theory by Hinduism.
In a nutshell, an ordinary man cannot sit in judgment about God with his limited intellect. A finite scale cannot measure the infinite.
https://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Evil2.jpg253446C.V.Rajanhttps://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Logo6-Hinduism-Sanatana-dharma-Way-of-life-340-×-140-px-300x124.pngC.V.Rajan2018-02-05 13:10:112018-04-07 15:06:06Why God permits evil in this world if he is truly all powerful?
This website has been conceived and being developed by C.V.Rajan. He is a retired Engineer and an ex-design consultant, now living with his wife in Ashram at Amritapuri, Kerala, spending his retired life in quest of spirituality under the holy feet of Amma, Satguru Mata Amritanandamayi.
He is an avid reader and a writer. Writing as a hobby started in him at the age of 20. As his interest turned to spirituality in his late thirties, he became an avid reader on the lives and teachings of great Mahatmas like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi and his satguru Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma).
In his early fifties, he wrote at various blog sites on variety of subjects like Hinduism, spirituality, life & living, healthy living, Indian culture and so on. Now through this website (Hinduism Way Of Life), C.V.Rajan is consolidating and sharing all his writings on Hinduism under a single umbrella.