Why Bad Things Happen To Good People | What is Good What is Bad | Part 2 by Swami Mukundanand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc
Main Points: 1 From God we can expect perfect justice but the problem arises when in the court of God we see injustice, what injustice, why are we seeing bad things happening to good people? This makes us all squeal (to make a loud high noise because of pain, fear). Why, this person is so nice & why are bad things happening to him or her Or we see the reverse. Good things happening to bad people and that shakes our faith. Here Swami ji is giving you a paradigm (a typical example or pattern of something) that “grow from within and succeed in life” but Swamiji in the world we see the reverse, it is the 'chalu, the chant' the person who's clever and who knows all the tricks of the trade, who's succeeding. What are you teaching me about how to succeed in life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc&t=52 2 Once I was asked to give a lecture on this topic so I said let's ask Mr. Google first. I googled why do bad things happen to good people and I came up with 1 million websites. This is the question of millions of people, it's the question of majority of the people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc&t=120 3 There was a Jewish rabbi (rabbi is a Jewish religious leader and teacher who is qualified to interpret Jewish law and lead worship. The word "rabbi" comes from the Hebrew word rav, which means "master" or "teacher"), called Harold Kushner, he wrote a book on this theme. What happened was that he had a child who developed progeria, progeria is a disease that causes premature aging. His poor child started growing prematurely and in front of his eyes by the age of fourteen he was manifesting the symptoms of an eighty-year-old and then he passed away. It created a lot of questions in Kushner's mind. Kushner said I am a rabbi, I have never done anything bad in my life and my child was born with this disease & my child, there is no question of his doing anything bad. Why did I suffer? Why did my child suffer? Is God truly just? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc&t=149 4 So he considered two possibilities, either God is not all good as we are thinking Him to be, he's got a streak of evil or mysteriousness in him & that's why he is doing bad to good people. Or he is not all-powerful, he wishes to do good but he loses out because there is the Satan and then Satan is victorious. So he considered these two alternatives and he concludes in his book that God cannot be having any evil in him otherwise he's not God. He settled for the second alternative that he wants to do good but then you know Satan is so powerful and God is not all-powerful so he loses out. This was his analysis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc&t=219 5 but this analysis is not very accurate from the Vedic perspective, we don't believe there is any Satan, because if there is a Satan who created Satan. God created him, why did God create a Satan? There is no such thing as Satan, there is only God and absence of God. Just like light and darkness - are they two entities? No, darkness is not an entity but the absence of light is darkness. When a room is dark, is there something in it? No, it's only light being absent. Are heat and cold two different entities? of course not, you keep taking away the heat and what remains is cold. That is why you cool something remove the heat until something reaches absolute zero, you cannot cool it further because you have removed all the heat. In other words cold is just the absence of heat, so similarly there is no being called Satan who could have been the source of evil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc&t=283 6 It is our distance from God that is creating this evil. Then why is it that God is allowing bad things to happen to good people? This is what we are going to discuss and the discussion is going to throw up some very deep truths, you know the more complex the question, the deeper is the truth that it unearths and that is what is going to happen in today's discussion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc&t=375 7 Let us first of all consider what is a good thing and what is a bad thing. When we say, why are bad things happening to good people, what is a good thing and what is A bad thing? Life is a continuum of events where some things are pleasant & some things are unpleasant. There was once a Chinese farmer, he had his patch of land where he lived with his family and one day a horse came running in, a wild horse now horses are expensive and it was a poor country, so the neighbors came to congratulate, Wow! you have got a free horse such a good thing has happened to you, the wild horse ran into your farm. The farmer said good thing or bad thing, God alone knows. Listen on .. in the end farmer’s son got injured seriously because of horse BUT he was thus saved from being recruited forcibly in military for fighting a dangerous event of war. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc&t=415 8 So now what was a good thing or a bad thing that happened to the farmer & his son - how do you decide? The fact is there are always these dualities of events taking place in our life. We wish to lead a linear existence, nothing unpleasant and uncomfortable should happen to me but the fact is those things which are apparently painful and difficult and challenging also benefit us in so many ways and later on we say oh this was a blessing in disguise. The difficulties become opportunities for progress that is the way this life is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBC5XRahPc&t=632 Transcript 0:00 Kushner said I am a rabbi I have never done anything bad in my life 0:08 and my child was born with this disease my child there is no question of doing 0:17 anything bad. Why did I suffer? Why did my child suffer? Is God truly just? 0:28 0:52 From God we can expect perfect justice 1:01 but the problem arises when in the court of God we see injustice, what injustice 1:13 why are we seeing bad things happening to good people? This makes us all squeal. 1:23 Why this person is so nice, why are bad things happening to him or 1:30 her Or we see the reverse. Good things 1:36 happening to bad people and that shakes our faith 1:42 Here Swamiji is giving you a paradigm that grow from within and succeed in life and 1:49 Swamiji in the world we see the reverse it is the 'chalu the chant' the person 1:56 who's clever and who knows all the tricks of the trade who's succeeding 2:00 what are you teaching me about how to succeed in life. Once I was asked to give 2:09 a lecture on his topic so I said let's ask Mr. Google first. I googled why do 2:17 bad things happen to good people and I came up with 1 million websites. This is 2:25 not alone my question this is the question of millions of people it's the 2:29 question of majority of the people. There was a Jewish rabbi called Harold Kushner 2:39 he wrote a book on this theme. What happened was he had a child who 2:45 developed progeria, progeria is a disease that causes premature aging. His poor 2:56 child started growing prematurely and in front of his eyes by the age of 3:03 fourteen he was manifesting the symptoms of an eighty-year-old and then he passed 3:08 away. It created a lot of questions in Kushner's mind. Kushner said I am a rabbi 3:20 I have never done anything bad in my life and my child was born with this 3:30 disease my child there is no question of doing anything bad. Why did I suffer? 3:39 Why did my child suffer? Is God truly just? So he considered two possibilities 3:52 either God is not all good as we are thinking him to be he's got a streak of 3:59 evil or mysteriousness in him that's why he is doing bad to good people 4:05 Or he is not all-powerful, he wishes to do good but he loses out because there 4:15 is the Satan and then Satan is victorious. So he considered these two 4:23 alternatives and he concludes in his book that God cannot be having any evil 4:32 in him otherwise he's not God. He settled for the second alternative that he wants 4:38 to do good but then you know Satan is so powerful and God is not all-powerful so 4:43 he loses out. This was his analysis but this analysis is not very accurate from 4:53 the Vedic perspective we don't believe there is any Satan, because if 5:00 there is a Satan who created Satan. God created him, why did God create a Satan? 5:09 There is no such thing as Satan there is only God 5:16 and absence of God. Just like light and darkness are they two entities? Light, 5:26 darkness? no darkness is not an entity the absence of light is darkness. When a 5:39 room is dark is there something in it? No it's only light being absent. Are heat and 5:48 cold two different entities? of course not, you keep taking away the heat and 5:55 what remains is cold. That is why you cool something remove the heat until 6:02 something reaches absolute zero, you cannot cool it further because you 6:08 have removed all the heat. In other words cold is just the absence of heat, so 6:15 similarly there is no being called Satan who's the source of evil , it is our 6:21 distance from God that is creating this evil. Then why is it that God is allowing 6:29 bad things to happen to good people? This is what we are going to discuss and the 6:39 discussion is going to throw up some very deep truths, you know the more 6:46 complex the question the deeper is the truth that it unearths and that is what 6:55 is going to happen in today's discussion. Let us first of all consider what is a 7:01 good thing and what is a bad thing. When we say why are bad things happening to 7:09 good people what is a good thing and what is 7:12 bad thing? Life is a continuum of events where some things are pleasant some 7:22 things are unpleasant. There was once a Chinese farmer he had 7:30 his patch of land where he lived with his family and one day a horse came 7:38 running in, a wild horse now horses are expensive and it was a 7:44 poor country so the neighbors came to congratulate, Wow 7:52 you have got a free horse such a good thing has happened to you, the wild horse 7:59 ran into your farm. The farmer said good thing bad thing God alone knows. A few 8:12 days went by, the horse that was now living in the farm it ran away back into 8:20 the wilderness. The neighbors came to commiserate so bad your horse is lost 8:29 what a bad thing has happened to you. He said good thing bad thing this the 8:35 future will let us know. A few more days went by that horse which ran away it 8:44 gathered its twenty friends other horses and ran back with twenty friends. The 8:52 neighbors came to say my god you have hit a bonanza twenty free horses what a 9:00 nice thing he said nice thing or a bad thing that I am not so sure. 9:07 A few more days went by and the farmers young son he was trying to tame one of 9:15 those 20 horses and he was thrown off by this wild horse as a consequence 9:22 of which his leg suffered multiple fractures. Now he was lying in bed and 9:30 the doctor told him you will need complete two years to recover. The 9:38 neighbors again came to give their consolation they said Oh Rama Rama Rama. What a 9:44 terrible thing, he said terrible or wonderful let us see. A few months went 9:52 by the neighboring Kingdom declared war on this kingdom and the poor King had a 10:01 little army. To strengthen his army he asked his soldiers to go and recruit all 10:07 the youth between the ages of 18 and 24 from the countryside. The soldiers went 10:15 around, the children of all the neighboring farmers were recruited and 10:20 send into the battleground without certainty of their coming back 10:25 or not this farmer's son who was lying there with a fractured leg the soldier said 10:32 let him be. So now what was a good thing and what is a bad thing how do you 10:38 decide? The fact is there are always these dualities of events taking place 10:45 in our life. We wish to lead a linear existence, nothing unpleasant and 10:55 uncomfortable should happen to me but the fact is those things which are 11:03 apparently painful and difficult and challenging also benefit us in so many 11:12 ways and later on we say oh this was a blessing in disguise. The difficulties 11:23 become opportunities for progress that is the way this life is Standby link (in case youtube link does not work): Why Bad Things Happen To Good People What is Good What is Bad Part 2.mp4
