let's take a look at the other side of this proposition good people are we
really good people if we were we would have been in the kingdom of God we would
have been God realized the fact that we are in the material realm means that we
are not so good as yet I don't want to say bad otherwise somebody will be hurt
so you have to now change the statement why do good things happen to not-so-good
people isn't the answer obvious to make us truly good in other words the goal of
it is so that we should truly become godlike truly become like God become
perfect as he is perfect you have to have this understanding and while we are
in the material realm there is the law of karma that is applicable the law of
karma states "karma pradhana vishwa kari rakha jo jas kari so tass phalu cakha"
the Bible says exactly the same thing as you sow that shall you
also reap but again why Kushner stumbled was that he's got one lifetime's
perspective and in one lifetime then the law of karma becomes inexplicable if a
child is born blind and the child questions what did I do to be born blind
what answer will you give to the poor blind child if you say it was the wish
of God then God is very unfair this person is born with 6x5 vision and
I'm born blind and we are just beginning our existence this is gross partiality
the only logical sensible answer is that this is karmas carried forward from
past lives you see all the Karma's that we have done not in one life in endless
past life times God keeps an account God alone can keep that account in fact then
the Nyaya darshan gives it as proof of God without him there can be no law of karma
it's the all-knowing you can keep such an amazing account that is called the
Sanchita, Sanchita karma is the accumulated Karmas of our past
lifetimes minus what we've already burned out so every
time when God sends us into the world to continue our journey he takes one
portion from the sanchita and gives it this portion you have to bear in this
lifetime so the portion of the accumulated which is tied to us in this
lifetime that becomes our prarabdha prarabdha is the destiny with which we are
born there is an element of destiny in everybody's life nobody can deny it you
did not choose the place where you would be born God chose it you did not choose
that intellect etc God chose it and send you down with it though the destiny is
determined at every moment we have a free will with which we can make choices
understand it that way when you play cards the hand that you're dealt with is
determined you cannot say no no I don't want these cards I want those cards you
have to play with these cards but how you play is not determined a bad player
can lose with a good hand a good player can win with a bad hand this allows for
bridge tournaments to take place otherwise it could be a throw of dice
similarly we all have this free will and the Karma that we do with our free will
is called Kriyamana karma, "quotes for scriptures"
"quotes for scriptures" your Prarabdha and Sanchita is fixed but
Kriyamana is not fixed so you can slowly slowly change the course of your life if
it is written in your destiny that you will get that one million dollar lottery
you will get it that's destiny but further having won it you could blow it
up in a year's time or you could multiply it to 1 billion that would be
your independent effort stemming from your free will so we are under the bond
of this karma and how do you get rid of this whole account only then you could
be liberated when it's all burnt away how do you burn it away something that
is infinite in extent it's very difficult
to deplete it because from infinity if you minus 100 you are still left with
infinity and if you minus a million it is still infinity you minus a trillion it is
still infinity how to exhaust our sanchita Karma who knows how much is there
at the stockpile and alongside with that we are making more Karmas so in one
side we are doing minus on the other side we are doing plus will it ever get exhausted
Lord Krishna in the bhagavad-gita he explains he says look Arjun there is
justice there is injustice Nyaya Anyaya you need the third thing and
that is Kripa grace if I bestow my grace I will burn that whole pot of
your Karmas by grace so that grace even in the world there is the rule of grace
in law you know this is the law in India and I have checked up it's also the law
in USA if the Supreme Court declares the death verdict sentences to death by
hanging the Supreme Court is the ultimate now there is no recourse but
the law says there is one chance that convict can still appeal to the
President for mercy. If the President so chooses by mercy he can forgive.
President also is not allowed to be whimsical in that mercy there is a law there
if this, this, this condition is met then we shall
bestow mercy similarly God says by the law of karma you will never get out of
it you will need mercy or grace or Kripa
but the grace of God is not a whimsical act oh I like this guy's nose let me
grace him I don't like her eyes forget it
God says my mercy also has rules and the rule for bestowing mercy is you need to
fulfil my condition what is the condition you have to surrender to me so
he concludes the bhagavad-gita "Sarva-dharman parityajya mamekam
sharanam vraja" Arjun give up all varieties of religiosity in just
surrendered to the Lord, quotes from "Bhagwad Gita" I shall
burn away all your past deeds and liberate you from Maya have no fear
so what we need to do is not blame God not blame circumstances not find fault
why are bad things happening to me there is something different that we need to
do every time we have to look inside and think how do I need to improve that will
change everything you have to believe it if you can understand you will believe
it and then your focus will be to improve yourself as somebody said when I
was a teenager I dreamt of changing the world
but as I grew into my early 20s I thought if I can change my country it will be
enough and then after marriage I realized if I can change my family I
will be a hero but in my old age I think if I had tried to change myself that would
have been the best you know that change has to begin from within so have faith
in God and his world good things are happening first of all you need to
change is your attitude.