A worldly man cannot either run away from the world or from the evil

[Guest guest]

……“God is generally perceived by people as the most benevolent, powerful,

permanent and an all pervading consciousness who controls everything and

everyone in the universe Past, Present or Future. All philosophies and religions

have theorised that God is the greatest, kindest and perennial giver of all

sorts of happiness to His creation. He is ‘Ananda Murti’ or the repository

of all and eternal happiness.

 

It is because of such attributes that God is called the Omniscient, Omnipresent

and Omnipotent Almighty and is highly apotheosized in all religions with

oriental or occidental hyperboles. Leaving aside the spiritually evolved persons

or the genuine seekers, most of the devotees when praying God nurture a secret

expectation in their conscious or subconscious minds that their prayers will

somehow draw kindness, help and happiness from God.

 

Happiness herein means a solution to those material or psychological aspects of

life that create problems. One who in his prayers seeks a solution to his

personal problems alone cannot be called a true seeker in the spiritual path. A

genuine seeker in the path towards God cannot expect pleasurable or desirable

events only. He has to experience and bear both pleasurable (so called good) and

painful (so called evil) experiences with equanimity visualising God’s divine

role in both.

 

It is not in the scheme of things of God the Almighty, or the law of nature

through which God operates, only to give pleasurable experiences to all life

forms including human beings. If God is only ‘good’ then where does the so

called ‘evil’ emanate from? If good is opposed to evil, then there has to be

some other powerful entity who must be equal and opposite to the benevolent God

in its evil capabilities.

 

But if God alone is the giver of both the good and evil experiences, then there

cannot be a separate entity called ‘Satan’ or ‘Shaitan’ beyond His

overall scheme in the management of the universe. In Hinduism there is a concept

of Devatas (Positive forces of nature) and Rakhasas (negative forces of nature).

But Hindu mythology again explains that these powerful negative forces called

Rakhasas or Asuras used to draw their power only from God.

 

There are numerous instances of Lord Brahma, Vishnoo or Shiva empowering these

Rakhasas through their blessings. Therefore, these Rakhasas or negative forces

of nature have a specific and important role in the overall scheme of God. Hence

good and evil forces and experiences are necessary concomitants to each other

just like light and darkness. Neither can exist alone.

 

Every good event or good action contains an aspect of evil in it and every evil

contains an aspect of good howsoever small it may be. Thus there cannot be

something called pure good or pure evil. These qualities of good and evil as

symbolised as Devatas and Rakhasas respectively, are inbuilt into the very

fabric of human nature. These two attributes of a human being, when in

interaction with the same or similar attributes of other human beings and of the

overall nature around, create a conflict between the opposing forces.

 

To the ordinary mind, such conflicts are perceived as human problems. Given the

Dialectic Theory of nature, without such an interaction of two opposing forces

nothing can be created. If water and fire elements were not predominantly

existent on earth, no life form would have been possible. An understanding and

acceptance of the play of two such equally opposite forces in one’s material,

mental or spiritual life is a ‘sine-qua-non’ to spiritual evolution. Both

are necessary correlates in the divine matrix. Without such an understanding it

is difficult, nay, impossible to progress in the path of spiritual evolution.

 

Through religious and spiritual practices one can reinforce and enhance the

positive qualities in oneself. Such practices, however, do not destroy the evil

qualities but keep them in a dormant state. Hence, one cannot reject the evil

qualities in oneself or in others but accept them as an aspect of nature or God.

 

A worldly man cannot either run away from the world or from the evil but can try

to contain or minimize the negative compulsions it creates in mind. Through

religious or spiritual practices, so long as the divine qualities are kept at a

higher level, the evil qualities remain subdued and silent. But when a person

strays away from his religious path, some of the evil qualities do raise their

head, even if he has some good qualities.

 

Therefore, to expect that through prayers or other religious practices one would

get only material or mental pleasures by divine intervention is a fallacy. Since

the very plinth of acceptance of God only as a pleasure giving entity is

defective, most people suffer more due to such conceptual inadequacies than due

to the evil qualities of others. The nature, intensity and possibilities of the

negative or positive thoughts can only be understood by conscious observation

and analysis of one’s own thoughts. However, most of the people do not find it

necessary or possible due to their total involvement in the day to day worldly

affairs.

 

Those devotees, who achieved God realization, were the ones who had gone beyond

the conflict of good - evil and pleasure - pain through strenuous and long drawn

mental practices as prescribed by their Spiritual Master. They were the real

spiritual seekers. " .........