EP17: Does God Punish?

Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma

Benevolent Nature of Karma

We proceed with our study from the Secrets of Karma.

Bhagwan ke ghar mein der hai par andher nahin.
In God’s home, there can be a delay but never darkness.
^{Indian saying}

There is a very beautiful picture here which actually describes how a mango tree starts its journey from a mango seed and moves towards becoming a sapling eventually, a tree before it starts bearing fruits.

The laws of lag time and the law of multiplier effect apply to positive actions as well. So, in spite of doing your best and being kind to others, if you are still having a hard time, do not give up.

There is a process and time for everything and all good seeds will yield good fruits when the time is ripe.

That is what exactly the picture describes; that there is a process and time for us to get mangoes out of a seed of mango. The same applies to our actions.

Not a single good action will ever go unrewarded. So, just do your best, leave the rest.

So, no matter what is the challenge of your life, bear in mind that the laws of nature are precise, it can never fail. It means that every good action you did, even at the thought level, will get accrued and when the time is ripe, you will have to receive the reward for whatever that you have been doing, that is the law.

So, let this law be very clear in your mind. On this strength of this, cultivate unshakable faith.

Better To Pay In Instalments

Every debt paid leaves us with less to pay.
^{Annie Besant}

It is wise to bear with little problems cheerfully, for what seems to be painful could have been worse.

So, many at times, you have to keep in mind that the benevolent nature, as long as you are doing things according to the laws of nature, is bound to protect, is bound to shield you. However, it is very important for you to face challenges of life because this is the way to grow spiritually and strengthen your muscles, spiritual muscles.

So, when small challenges come or obstacles come or when you face people who make your life not so comfortable, do not react. The reaction is exactly where we do the mistake. It traps you with a particular person or a situation.

So, when you start embracing the challenges cheerfully, courageously, you will find that gradually, the challenges simply dissolve because the purpose of karma, as we keep reminding you, simply provides you with the lessons that you are expected to learn.

Once you have learned the lesson, the karma simply disappears. So, while you are facing challenges, learn the lessons and keep generating good karma, so that whatever you need to learn in the future is made easier for you. There is a very beautiful story to narrate the statement, ”Every debt paid leaves us with less to pay.”

Once a king was engaged in a battle. In the fierce moments, an arrow blew off the king’s crown. The king was very sad and depressed by this action. The Army Chief said: ‘Your majesty, let us rejoice at God’s grace upon you; for the arrow that came for your head took off just your crown. Your head got saved!’

So, when the arrow came, it blew off the crown of the king. In those days, kings used to wear crowns. Even today, it is so, on occasions of course. So, rather than lamenting on the crown that has been blown off, the army chief reminded the king that his head is still saved because the arrow primarily came for his head.

So, rather than rejoicing on the mercy of God, the king was lamenting that his crown was blown off. This is one indication that, many at times, what we think to be an extraordinary pain, may not be even a portion of the pain that you were actually supposed to face.

It was still less compared to what it could have supposed to be. That is the reason why, no matter what is the situation, we always remind ourselves that it is part of the divine plan and as per the divine plan, there is something good in whatever that is happening to me.

Pay your debts happily as it is a blessing to face little problems now and then and avoid the need to pay all at once; the huge karmic debts can make life distressing and even difficult to cope.

Does God Punish?

Thou art my mother, thou art my father;
Thou art my companion, thou art my friend.
^{Prapanna Gita}

It is like the man deliberately sitting on a hot pan and screaming for God’s help.

Meaning, most of the miseries that we have, are actually self created miseries which are actually the product of irresponsibility, carelessness and even laziness substantially. So, once you learn to streamline your lifestyle and have a disciplined life, things have to become better.

One of the key factors that contribute to much chaos and confusion in the world is the fear of God, propagated by most religions.

As a result, the fear of God rules over the love for God and often, our understanding of religion limit itself to the belief that God punishes or rewards.

A wonderful story by Master Osho depicts this plight of the humanity:

So, this is a very profound story from the Great Master which need to be taken with a pinch of salt, not to be taken literally and neither to be considered to be in any way, a disrespect to the priest and other religious people.

The devil returns home and tells his wife sadly: ‘I lost my job.’ The devil’s wife laughs and tells him: ‘You are joking. How is it ever possible that you lost your job?’ The devil replies, ‘Yes, I promise, I am finished now.’
His wife again laughs and says, ‘Come on dear. Stop this joke. As long as humans are there, you can never lose your job. For your only job is to corrupt the humanity.’ ‘It was true,’ the devil replies, ‘but now many priests have taken over my job.’

This is basically just to narrate that most of the problems that humanity is facing today, is because of religion, because of the many divisions humanity has made in the name of religion. The reality is, religions are actually the main factor for majority of the chaos and the problems that we are collectively facing today. So, this particular story depicts the plight of this.

God neither punishes nor rewards. Even the laws of nature do not punish or reward. They just balance a cause with a corresponding effect.

We choose to do negative actions but blame God for the consequences of our choices!

There is again another beautiful quotation from revered Samuel Shoemaker.

Prayer may not change things for you but it for sure changes you for things.
^{Revered Samuel Shoemaker.}

That means, many at times, when you do a prayer and you find that the results are not coming, there is a possibility that you might tend to lose faith in God or in whatever you are doing. The reality is, rather than expecting prayers to transform the conditions for you, you start having a different expectation. You start observing yourself what the prayers are doing to you. Transformations are not just about what is happening outside of you. The most important level of transformation needs to happen at your inner self, inner being.

You have to transform yourself more than the conditions of your life. Why? Because when you transform your life, yourself, the energies are automatically transformed and that will automatically yield lasting results. That is why it has been so profoundly said, “change the energy to change your world“!

This is a very important thing to make a note of. That means, rather than struggling with life, rather than struggling with conditions or people, learn to work with yourself more diligently, transforming the energy, energy of your aura and of your chakras.

As you start working on yourself diligently with commitment, gradually without much effort, you will find that situations start transforming themselves. This is a very important point to note. Let us continue.

Moreover, if you had planted cactus, no amount of prayers can help you harvest mangoes out of it!

It’s not possible. So, there is a beautiful cartoon here that says, ‘Shortcuts won’t help!’ It depicts a couple praying in front of a cactus tree, ‘Oh cactus! Give us a few mangoes.’

Further reading Secrets of Karma, Page 28.