WHY Why do bad things happen to good people? Dr. Candidasa dasa
September 2004 Beslan, Ossetia, Russia
ANSWERS?
NO EASY ANSWERS... God works in mysterious ways Bad is just a matter of point-of-view It is to test our response to the bad events So we can see the contrast between good and evil We are all sinners who actually deserve far worse Life is not fair, i.e. we were born to suffer Never mind the bad events, the main thing is that if you believe in... you will go to heaven
Why do Bad Things happen to Good People? God is... Good Cruel & Evil All Powerful Powerless
Why do Bad Things happen to Good People? God is... Good Cruel & Evil All Powerful Powerless
Why do Bad Things happen to Good People? God is... Good Cruel & Evil All Powerful Powerless
NO GOD? We are parts of a greater whole Life always comes from life Chemicals have never produced life Every complex system has a creator
The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source of birth, and it is that Brahman that I impregnate, making possible the births of all living beings, O son of Bharata. [Bhagavad-Gita 14.3]
So Why? Evil God Weak God No God
The Black Death
WHY? Alignment of stars Jews poisoning wells Gypsies Foul smelling myst God s wrath
Answer
real answer
NOT THIS BODY For the consciousness there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. [Bhagavad-Gita 2.20]
REINCARNATION As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change. [Bhagavad-Gita 2.13] Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail. [Bhagavad-Gita 8.6]
KARMA Impelled by deep-rooted material desires, the embodied living entity engages his active sense organs in fruitive activities. He then experiences the results of his material actions by wandering throughout this world in so-called happiness and distress. Thus, impelled by the reactions of his own activities, the conditioned living entity is forced to experience repeated birth and death. [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.3.6]
QUESTION ANSWERED
experiences the reactions of his own activities...
SOLUTION TO BAD THINGS It is indeed impossible for an embodied being to give up all activities. But he who renounces the fruits of action is called one who has truly renounced. For one who is not renounced, the threefold fruits of action desirable, undesirable and mixed accrue after death. But those who are in the renounced order of life have no such result to suffer or enjoy. [Bhagavad-Gita 18.11-12]
Merely renouncing all activities yet not engaging in the devotional yoga cannot make one happy. One who works in devotion (karmayoga), who is a pure soul, is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear to him. Though always working, such a person is never entangled. [Bhagavad-Gita 5.6-7]
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all undesirable reactions. Do not fear. [Bhagavad-Gita 18.66]
SUMMARY: WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE? Religion does not give a satisfactory answer. Science does not give a sensible answer. Krishna consciousness reveals the underlying cause and offers a solution: action (karma) from past lives results in pleasure or suffering in this life
OBJECTIONS 1. but we don't remember our past life? 2. If I knew what I did to deserve the punishment, then I could avoid doing that in the future? 3. but what does suffering teach? 4. but that is not very comforting? 5. but how are we supposed to know which actions are bad? 6. but were there really so many bad people to warrant all the suffering in the world? 7. but you Hare Krishnas also suffer and die, don t you?
WHY Questions? Dr. Candidasa dasa