DOES GOD PUNISH GOOD PEOPLE?

DOES GOOD PUNISH GOOD PEOPLE?

All of us have always heard of this word "Does god punish good people"
Why is that good people suffer?

All religion teaches us to be truthful, as the famous saying goes 'what you sow, is what you reap' All of us must bear the consequences of our own act.

Often we hear people say that we have not hurt or exploited anyone, we have only done good and yet we have had to suffer.Does god really punish good people?

I recall of a story which i read many years ago. A bacheloer was very successful in building is business in Canada. Later, he turned his attention to spiritual things. He elected his trustworthy assistant as the new director of the company.Unfortunately his partner played him out and this bachelor was almost declared a bankrupt. His company was wound up and he migrated to London and he decided to start a new business. His badluck, his shop was robbed within a week!

This bachelor keep asking god why do punish me: "Why did this
happen to me? I pray many times everyday. I seek God's help and
protection. Every morning, as I get up, I offer a prayer: I spend
some time in quiet meditation.

Throughout the day I keep thinking of God and offer small prayers to
Him. I pray again in night, before I go to sleep. I have hurt no one.
I have cheated no one. I have never been dishonest. Why, of all
people, did this happen to me?"

I think of a young woman. She stays in Singapore. She is God fearing.
She is an active member of a Yoga Society. Some months ago, she came
to India, along with her family members. They visited a number of
sacred shrines. They met holy men and sought their blessings. Then
they returned to Singapore. A few days thereafter, their office
premises were gutted by fire, and precious documents were destroyed.
The girl, with tear filled eyes exclaimed: "Why is it that this
happened to us? We visited India in a spirit of reverence, sought the
blessings of a number of holy men and women. Why did this happen to
us!"

I read concerning a woman. She went round the world collecting rare
and precious antiques. After six laborious years, she returned to her
country where she planned to start business in antiques. A week
before the inaugural function, a fire broke out, and a number of
shops including her own were destroyed. Her hard work of six long
years proved futile. Her priceless collections, her irreplaceable
curios, were reduced to ashes! No insurance claim could compensate
her adequately. She put the same question: "Why did the All-Merciful
God permit this to happen to me?"

Another story is about women who devoted the best part of her
life to social service. She was by nature affable, amiable,
energetic, and vivacious. She went out of her way to bring joy and
comfort into the lives of many. Suddenly, one day, she found herself
losing balance as she walked. A few days later, as she returned home,
one night, she stumbled and fell across the threshold of her house.
The next day she was examined by a doctor, who, after a thorough
check up, diagnosed the disease as multiple sclerosis. She was told
that it was a degenerative nerve-disease which, with passage of time,
would gather momentum and restrict her mobility. Ultimately, she
would not be able to walk without support and she would be confined
to a wheel-chair. She might even lose bowel and bladder control and
be dependent on others for her routine chores. This lady too, could
not understand why this had happened to her, when many of her friends
lived normal, healthy lives. "Why did God permit this to happen to
me?" she asked.

Some people believe that there are certain obligations they owe to
God, and if they fail to fulfill them, they or their dear ones are
punished. One such woman met me when I visited Ottawa, Canada. She
told me that she recited the second, twelfth and eighteenth chapters
of the Bhagavad Gita every day, before taking her lunch. She
observed, also, the Satyanarayan fast, every month. But during a
whole month, she missed out on the recitation and the fast. The day
after Satyanarayan her husband, who was perfectly healthy and normal,
suffered a stroke, and has remained paralysed since then. The woman
put me the question that was uppermost in her mind: "Has this
anything to do with my failure to read from the scriptures and
observe the fast? Is there any cause and effect relationship between
the two?"

I think of a young man. He was the only son of his parents, who are
good and kind, and obliging by nature. With his pleasant manners, the
young man easily won over the hearts of many who knew him. One night,
the car in which he was returning home, collided against a truck,
killing him and three of his other friends. When the news was
conveyed to his parents, they cried: "Why did the Merciful Lord allow
this happen to us? Why was our only son snatched away from us?"

A learned Rabbi has written a book titled, When Bad Things Happen to
Good People. In this book the Rabbi narrates how his three year old
son was afflicted with an incurable disease called Progeria. The
effect of this disease, he was told, would be that the boy would not
grow taller than three feet, would remain bald, and would age
rapidly. Even as a child, he would have the appearance of an old man!
Naturally, the father was grief-stricken. "Why has God permitted an
innocent child to become the victim of such a disease? He asked. "He
has hurt or harmed no one. Why has he been exposed to physical and
psychological torture?" The author considers several similar cases
and concludes that God is not omnipotent, as we believe Him to be.
God has limited power. Within those limitations God can exercise His
discretion. But there are forces over which He has no control. If
those forces operate, God has no way of helping you out.

Dr. Anne Besant, the founder of the Theosophical Society gave birth
to a child who, during his infancy, suffered from convulsions.
Suddenly, the fever would shoot up and the infant would have a series
of fits. The suffering of the infant was more than the mother could
bear. She was at a total loss to understand how the All-Loving, All-
Merciful, All-Compassionate God had inflicted so much suffering on a
harmless, guileless and perfectly innocent baby. She turned an
agnostic and said that she was not sure if there was a God.

One day, she was asked to review `The Secret Doctrine' by Madame H.B. Blavatsky. As she went through this book, she came upon a chapter on Karma and
Reincarnation. She read line after line of this chapter with
deepening interest and a new awakening dawned on her. She began to
understand that the present was not the only life that she or her
child had lived; it was but one of the innumerable lives they had
lived so far. The present life was but a fragment in the continuity
of existence and, therefore what an individual suffered today could
be the product of what he (or she) had done in an earlier
incarnation. The mystery was unravelled. Her entire attitude towards
life changed.

The answer to the opt-repeated question, "Does god punish good people?"
becomes clear when we understand the operation of the law of karma
and re-incarnation. The law of karma is the law of cause and effect.
Every effect must have a cause. The effect we see now must have a
cause, recent or remote. Whatever happens to me today has a cause
behind it.

Question: What is the concrete proof for this?

Answer: You will get concrete proof when you practice silence and
enter the depths within you. The meaning of the mystery of the
endless adventure of existence is there within you. As you enter into
the depths within, the mystery is unravelled.

Question: Can you give us some concrete example?

Answer: An example has been given in the Mahabharata. It concerns the
blind King Dhritarashtra. After the Mahabharata war was over, Sri
Krishna said to Pandavas and Kauravas and all others: "It is time for
me to return to Dwaraka. But before I leave, tell me if there is
anything I can do for you?" The blind King Dhritarashtra said to
him: "I have beeNgood to everyone: I have not been cruel or unjust to
anyone. Why is it that I am blind and have lost all my hundred
children?" And Sri Krishna said to him: "I would wish you to get the
answer for yourself. Meditate, go deep within yourself until you
touch the astral self, and you will know!"

Dhritarashtra entered into deep meditation and contacted his astral
self. The astral self keeps a record of our earlier incarnations.
Dhritarashtra discovered that in an earlier incarnation, he had been
a tyrant king. One day as he walked by a lake side, he saw a swan-
bird surrounded by a hundred signets. He asked his people to remove
the eyes of the swan-bird and kill all the hundred signets just to
please his passing fancy! He then understood why he was blind and had
to suffer the loss of his hundred sons.

Question: But isn't that a very lengthy process of getting to know?

Answer: It is well worth it. You do not acquire a post graduate
degree overnight. You have to put in years of study. Just as there is
the science of nature, so also there is the science of the spirit.

The rishis of ancient India called it Atmavidya. Vidya means science.
As natural sciences have their laws, so does Atmavidya, - the science
of the spirit, - have its laws. One of those laws is the law of
karma; another is the law of re-incarnation.

Question: Could you explain this law of karma?

Answer: The law of karma, simply stated, is the law of cause and
effect. My Beloved Master referred to the law of karma as the law of
the seed. As you sow, so shall you reap. You cannot sow thrones and
reap apples. The law of karma is universal in its application: it
applies equally to all. We are sowing seeds everyday in the field of
life. Every thought that I think, every word that I utter, every deed
I perform, every emotion I arouse within me, every feeling, fancy,
wish that awakens within me, are seeds I am sowing in the field of
life. In due course, the seeds will germinate and grow into trees,
and yield fruit, - bitter or sweet, - which I shall have to eat. No
one else can do that for me. There are causes that produce their
effect immediately. There are other causes that produce their effect
after a long time. As an example, if you go to a party and overeat,
it is a cause you have created. This cause produces an immediate
effect, - acute indigestion. There are other causes which take very
long to produce their effect. But every cause must produce its
effect; every seed must yield its fruit. This in simple words is the
law of karma.

We are told, all men are created equal. No one can be so blind or
foolish as to imagine that there is actual equality of ability or
environment or conditions of birth for all. Why, in the same family,
all children do not have equality of ability or intelligence. There
is a family of which the eldest son is an IAS officer and the younger
is unable to pass the SSC examination. We have a proverb in Sindhi
which says: "The mother gives birth to children, each brings with
himself his destiny." In other words, each one brings his karma with
himself. There is a family of which youngest son is a multi
millionaire, while the eldest is so poor that he and his children are
virtually starving, literally begging for food.

Two questions arise:
1. Is this inequality the result of karma?
2. And if so, is it fair?

The answer to both, - as the great teachers of India have taught us, -
is in the affirmative. You are the architect of your own destiny.
You are the builder of your own life. Every thought, emotion, wish,
action creates karma: and we have been creating karma for thousands,
perhaps millions of years. If our thoughts, emotions and actions are
benevolent, so called good karma results. If they are malevolent,
evil or difficult karma is created. The good or evil we generate
attaches its effect to us and remains in our life current until we
have satisfied it by balancing it out.

Question: Why is our past karma kept a secret from us?

Answer: Don't you think it is a great mercy of God that our karmic
links are not known t o us> Else, it may be difficult for us to live
in the world. Thus, for instance, there may be a man whose wife, in
the present incarnation, was his bitter enemy in an earlier
incarnation and had now become his wife only to settle previous
accounts. If all this were revealed to us, what would be our
condition?

Question: How did bad karma originate?

Answer: Man was given free will; he was given the right of choice. He
can choose between what the Upanishads call preya and shreya. Preya
is the pleasant: the path of preya is the path of pleasure that lures
us but leads to our degradation. As a Danish proverb has it: "After
pleasant scratching comes unpleasant smarting." Shreya is the good:
the path of shreya may, at first, be difficult to tread but
ultimately leads to our betterment and well-being and spiritual
unfoldment. At every step man is given this choice. Many of us, alas,
choose the easy path, -the path of pleasure, - and so keep on
multiplying undesirable karma.

Question: If all that happens today is the result of our past karmas,
does it mean that everything is pre-destined?

Answer: No, certainly not! We are the architects of our own destiny.
We are the builders of our future. Many of us blame fate, kismet for
our misfortune. But let me tell you, dear friends, that you are the
builders of your own fate. Therefore, be careful especially of your
thoughts. We pay scant attention to our thoughts, believing that they
are of no consequence. We say, after all, it was only a thought, what
does it matter? Every thought is a seed you are sowing in the field
of life, and what you sow today, you will have to reap tomorrow.

God has created a universe of beauty, fullness, happiness and
harmony. Each one of us is a child of God. God wishes each one of us
to be happy, healthy, prosperous, successful and to enjoy all the
good things He has created. We keep ourselves away from all those
bounties because of our karma. Change your karma and you will change
the conditions in which you live. And you can change your karma by
adopting a new pattern of thinking.

Question: Can karmas be wiped off by Prayers

Answer: It is believed that the effects of karma can be mitigated
through prayers. In any case, the suffering can be reduced, because
prayers acts as a sort of chloroform. It is like going through an
operation. The surgeon puts you under anesthesia and you come out of
the operation without feeling the acute pain. Else the pain is so
excruciating, that a person could die of it. This is what prayers
does to you.

Question: Can saints take over the karma of their disciples?

Answer: They can. However, normally, they do not wish to interfere
with the law of karma. For they know that the law of karma is not
punitive but reformative. The law of karma does not wish to punish us
for what we may have done in the past. The law of karma wishes to
reform us and so sends us experiences which may help on our spiritual
advancement. It is true there have been cases when men of God have
taken the karmas of their devotees upon themselves. It is like having
birds released from their cages. A man may purchase the birds and set
them free. Likewise, a man who is rich in the wealth of the Spirit
may, if he so desires, pay for our karma and released us from the
cage of maya.

Question: Tell us how to face suffering?

Answer: If our attention is on suffering they get magnified beyond
all proportions. In the midst of suffering let us count our
blessings. Usually, we suffer only in one area of our life. There are
so many other things for which we should be grateful. Take a piece of
paper and make a list of all the blessings you still have. There was
a man who started from scratch and build up a flourishing business
and one day become bankrupt. The first thing he did was to take up a
piece of paper and write down all the things he still possessed. He
found, he still had a great deal to be thankful for. With gratitude
in his heart, he started anew and built up a still larger business.
If we count on our blessings, our suffering recedes in the background.

In all conditions of life, let us thank the Lord. Let us make it a
habit, - to praise the Lord at every step, in every round of life.
Even in the midst of fear and frustration, worry and anxiety,
depression and disappointment, let these words come out of the very
depths of our hearts: "Thank you, God! Thank you, God!" and we will
be filled with a peace that will amaze us. When we thank the Lord all
the time, we build for ourselves a ladder of consciousness on which
we can climb and touch the very pinnacle of peace.

Let me tell you the story of a woman. Her husband fell seriously ill.
The doctors dispaired of his condition and said he would not be able
to last longer than six months. The woman had deep faith in God and
started thanking the Lord a thousand times everyday. "Thank you, God!
Thank you, God!" she prayed again and again. "Thank you, God, for
having healed my husband and made him whole." She continued to offer
his prayer even though there was no sign of healing in sight. Strange
enough, a few months later, when the husband went for a check up, the
doctors were amazed at his miraculous recovery. "A power above and
beyond ours has been at work!" they exclaimed.

Whatever be the condition in which you find yourself, whatever be the
suffering through which you pass, keep on thinking the Lord all the
time. When you do so, your heart expands and you become receptive to
the helpful and healing forces of God.

In every situation, do the very best you can and leave the result to
the Lord. When Henry Ford was seventy-five years old, he was asked
the secret of his success. He answered: "My life is built in these
three rules. I do not eat too much, I do not worry too much and, if I
do my best, I believe that what happens happens for the best."

Express gratitude.........

Many of us have been taught by our parents that we must thank others for their help or if they give us a gift. How many of us continue to practice what we have been taught since we were a child.Do we express gratitude to all that we have and to all that things that we are going to have?

It is a very a basic teaching that all of us know in our fingertips but we fail to put it to practise.


What is the definition of Gratitude? It means being thankful. If
gratitude is followed at every step of life it will have many benefits, such as

1) It will uplift your mind and way of thinking which is the biggest
benefit

2) If u practise living in a state of gratitude all the time, the positive vibrations of gratitude will go out into the universe and will attract even more positive people and events in your life

And remember it is not important what you do. It is important what you are. Being is more important than doing. Does it make any sense?

Remember the focus is more on being rather than doing. If you speak and behave in a particular way but your inner being does not match with it then it will never work.
We must be thankful for every breath that we are taking....For everything good in our life. we must be thankful for the car that we own, the job that we have, the loving husband that we have, thankful to god for our precious baby ........

Even if you dont like a person or you dont like your work........ ...
feel thankful for it because God has given you that situation for a particular
reason.You will find out soon!

Feel thankful for every good and bad thing in your life. In the
beginning it may be some what difficult but with practise you can
feel more and more thankful throughout the day. Do it after waking
up and before going to sleep and do it as many times as you can
throughout the day.

I guarantee you that if u follow it sincerely, you will feel
so good and your life will start changing.My life has changed drastically from the time i have practised the gratitude manthra!

If we complain or beg......... .. it sends negative energy of lack
and restlessness into the universe which attracts even more lack,
struggle and disharmony in our lives. So stop complaining and start
thanking that is what jesus means when he says, "Those who have will
be given more."

It simply means if you have gratitude then you will attract abundance and joy. If you have nothing but complains you will attract more complains and negativity.
Let us express thank you everyday for every single thing that we have, we are going to receive and be thankful for the life, universe, sun, moon, food and all the miracles that we are going to receive.