An Infallible Justice!
Chaitanya Caran das: Why me! What did I do to deserve this?“ The outraged cry
that comes from a person who feels he has been unfairly singled out for
suffering by cruel providence.
"Why do bad things happen to good people?” The perplexing question that
haunts the minds of many when they see pious people victimized by painful
reverses in life.
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
“The problem of evil” has been the bane of Western theologians and thinkers
for centuries together. In simple terms, the problem is: Why does evil exist in
the world despite the presence of an almighty God?
The Vedic scriptures give a clear understanding of the problem of evil. They
explain that evil is not God’s creation; evil comes upon us due to our own bad
karma. When we succumb to our lower nature, we exploit the resources of
mother nature in an unlawful way and / or cause suffering to other living beings
just for the fulfillment of our base desires. By such actions, we fix up
appointments with suffering in the future. (And all living beings share a
remarkable memory quirk - they forget their own wrongdoings very quickly) So
when our due suffering reaches us, we have conveniently forgotten the
wrongs that we did in the past. And so the indignant outburst, “Why me?”
KARMA - NOT-SO-UNFAMILIAR
John walks into his house and sees an ugly burn scar on the right hand of his
father. Shocked, he cries out, “Father, what happened?”
Mr. Adams calls his family physician early morning, “Doctor I am having a sever
stomach upset.” The doctor promptly asks, “What did you have for dinner last
night?”
Mr. Dull is having respiratory problems. After examining him, the doctor asks
him, “At what age did you start smoking?”
These are simple, everyday incidents, but all of them involve implicit
acceptance of the concept of karma. On seeing a particular effect, the person
involved desires to know its cause. This is what the law of karma actually is: to
every action there is a reaction. (Newton’s third law, which deals with only the
gross physical level, is a subset of this general law of karma) Thus karma is not
a sentimental religious concept; its implicit acceptance forms the basis of
practically everything done by everyone from every walk of life. Just try to
imagine life without any cause-effect relationship! Chaos would reign supreme.
THE MYSTERY OF THE WORLD
Karma is a simple, logical and satisfactory explanation for suffering, but the
problem is observations of the world around don’t seem to confirm it. Corrupt
politicians amass fortunes without being punished; criminal rogues live in style
as underworld dons; shady businessmen, who earn millions illegally, are
considered the success stories of the times. On the other hand, the upright
crusaders of truth are sidelined; the innocent is punished and the honest
languish in poverty. The question then begs itself: where is justice?
The renowned thinker Harold W Percival answers this question in his book
Thinking and Destiny, “Law and justice do prevail in human affairs. But effect
does not always immediately follow cause. Sowing is not immediately followed
by harvesting. The results of an act or a thought may not appear until after a
long, intervening period. The mystery of the world is created by the separation
of cause and effect.”
REINCARNATION - THE BASIS OF AN INFALLIBLE JUSTICE
Reincarnation forms an integral part of the explanation of the Vedic scriptures
for the seeming contradictions in karma. They assert the eternality of our
existence; our life doesn’t begin with birth or end with death. Each one of us is
an irreducible, infinitesimal particle of anti-matter - spirit. It is this spark which
animates the material body that we currently reside in. The body is merely an
external covering like a dress. And just as we give up old and worn out clothes
and accept new ones, the soul similarly gives up old and worn out bodies and
accepts new ones at the time of death. This is what we call reincarnation.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the greatest thinkers of USA, states in his journals,
“The soul comes from without into the human body as into a temporary abode,
and it goes out of it anew.. it passes into other habitations, for the soul is
immortal.”
The soul is the active principle in the body. He is the doer of all actions - good
and bad and thus it is he who has to reap the fruits of his actions, either in the
same life or in a subsequent life. So we can understand that an apparently pious
person who is suffering greatly is reaping the effects of impious activities
performed in this or previous lives. Conversely an impious person may enjoy
temporary prosperity now due to his past pious credits. Of course, irrespective
of their present condition, the nature of their present activities is certainly going
to have its effect - the pious will reap benefits and the impious will suffer, in due
course of time.
An analogy will make the workings of the law of karma clear.
In villages, foodgrains are often stored in huge vertical containers; fresh grains
are poured in from the top and old stored grains are taken out from the top. A
farmer may have produced poor quality grains of say brand Z for the past 4
years and stocked them in his container. This year he produces high quality
grains of say brand A and stores them from the top. Yet he finds to his
exasperation that from the bottom grains of brand Z come out. This is how
“bad things happen to good people”.
Thus the principles of reincarnation allow us to view life with a much broader
perspective - not from the standpoint of one brief lifetime which is nothing
more than a flash in time, but from the standpoint of eternity. With this
broader vision, we can understand how each individual soul is alone
responsible for his own karma. Understanding of this universal and infallible
system of justice is the basis of lasting peace and real happiness.
The famous author W Somerset Maugham remarks in The Razor’s Edge, “Has it
occurred to you that transmigration is at once an explanation and a
justification of the evil of the world? If the evils we suffer are the result of sins
committed in our past lives, we can bear them with resignation and hope that
if in this one we strive towards virtue our future lives will be less afflicted.”
WHY ARE THE IGNORANT NOT EXCUSED?
In the court of divine justice, a human being cannot claim innocence on the
grounds of ignorance. The laws of nature are impartial and inescapable. Fire is
going to burn anyone who puts his hand into it, even if he be an ignorant child.
If a villager travels in a first class compartment of a local train with a second class
ticket, his fine will not be waived on the grounds of ignorance. If he is using the
services provided by the railways, it is his duty to be aware the rules that govern
those services; the onus lies on him, not on the railways.
Once a traveler going through a forest saw a light a short distance away. When
he reached there, he found to his surprise that it was a magnificent palace. As
no one seemed to be around he ventured inside. He found himself in an elegant
hall with furniture, cushions, fans, and several other luxuries. He also saw a
dining table full of a large number of delicacies. Seeing no one around he started
eating it all, relaxing on the sofa under the fan and having a good time.
One doesn’t have to be an expert moralist to figure out that the traveler was not
doing the right thing. Although all the facilities were there, he had not arranged
for them; they were not his. So he had no right to enjoy them. Although the
owner might not be immediately visible, it is his (the traveler’s duty) to find out
about the owner and act according to whatever rules the owner might have
formulated for visitors. Else the owner has every right to punish a trespasser.
Similarly we are living in the world which is exactly like the palace; all our needs
- air water, heat, light etc are provided for. So before availing of these gifts it is
the duty of every human being to inquire about the Maker, the Owner of the
world - God and the rules according to which He expects the inhabitants of the
world to operate. Action without such basic common sense is simply inviting
trouble.
It is like going in a private company and doing whatever one feels like - sitting on
the PL’s chair, using the Director’s personal computer or barging into the CEO’s
cabin. Ignorance will hardly be entertained as an excuse for such behavior.
Similarly a human being who presumptuously exploits everything around him
and harms others for his own selfish interests will certainly not be protected
from the law of karma by the subterfuge of ignorance.
GOOD WITHOUT GOD?
“I of course believe in karma. But I don’t bother myself with doubtful sectarian
religious concepts like God. I just believe in being good and doing good to
others; living honestly and not harming others.” How often have we heard this
modern goodie-goodie philosophy? Lets see an analogy to understand what it
actually boils down to.
Once a gang of thieves robbed a bank and fled to the forest. In the forest, the
leader of the thieves turned to the others and spoke with utmost gravity, “We
should all be honest principled gentlemen. So let us not try to cheat each
other, but share this money equally among ourselves!”
Does this “honesty among thieves” carry any value? For the law they are all
dishonest bank robbers; their mutual honesty has no legal standing
whatsoever.
Similarly we have not created even one of the things in the world we reside in,
not even the bodies we live in. All the things that we absolutely need for our
survival - the air we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat, the solar heat
and light that sustain us - are created by Mother Nature, who acts under the
direction of our Father God. The Ishopanishad, one of the most important
Vedic texts, therefore asserts (mantra 1), “Everything animate and inanimate
within the universe is owned and controlled by the Supreme Lord.”
So when we neglect God, claim His property as our own and decide to be
“good” among ourselves without even acknowledging God, how are we better
than “the honest thieves”? In the eyes of the cosmic government, we are
thieves and will be penalized by the inexorable law of karma.
Thus goodness without God will not save us from the clutches of karmic
reactions. It is important to understand the definition of sin in this connection.
Sin is generally thought to be any activity that harms others. But from the
absolute standpoint, sin is the willful disobedience of the laws of God by
disregarding His supreme proprietorship of everything. So even goodness
without God is sinful
GO BEYOND KARMA
In order to get rid of suffering once and for all, we have to stop doing bad karma.
And all karma which is not connected to God is bad karma - the difference is just
a matter of degree.
The Bhagavad-Gita explains that the art of work is to “see action in inaction and
inaction in action”. We cannot become karma-free by giving up karma (activity)
because we cannot give up all activity. Firstly we cannot stop doing activity
forever; it is against our very nature as dynamic spiritual beings. And secondly
even while being supposedly inactive, we are killing so many microbes just by
our breathing, bodily movements, digestion etc. So inaction cannot free us from
karma. This is what it means “to see action in inaction”.
On the other hand when we are not in gross ignorance, we can understand that
“Everything belongs to God, everything acts according to His laws, I depend
completely on Him for my very existence and I am completely under the control
of His laws.” With such preliminary knowledge, we can begin to spiritualize our
work - by working for God. Then karma cannot touch us. For example, a soldier
may kill hundreds of enemy soldiers on the battlefield, but the law will not touch
him because he is working for the government. Far from being punished he will
be given an award of bravery. Similarly when we work for God, the divine
government, far from giving us karmic reactions, will award and glorify us.
The spiritualization of our work is the subject matter of spiritual education - real
education. Spiritual education is simple for the simple and complicated for the
complicated. But suffice it to say that for all classes of people it begins with the
association of genuine spiritual scientists, who have themselves become
accomplished in this science and art. In the pathetic absence of spiritual
education in the present social setup, The Spiritual Scientist is a humble attempt
to provide this invaluable knowledge to all genuine seekers of truth.
