Can the Problem of Evil Be Understood Through Consciousness?

"In this profound video, Swami Sarvapriyananda tackles the age-old question of the problem of evil, exploring it through the lens of consciousness. How can evil and suffering be understood within the framework of non-dual consciousness? This discussion delves into the philosophical and spiritual perspectives on evil, providing insights into its nature and existence in the realm of awareness and consciousness."

[@AMD-BCS]

Wow, so many comments and counter arguments 😊 Truly amazing. Jai Prabhupada! Read Prabhupada books!

[@emadmirza1248]

Rupert Spira gave a very good answer to why there is evil in this world. However, we find a pretty good answer given in this video as well of why there is evil in the world.

[@dabeezkneez8716]

Firstly, we cannot know for certain that the mouse 'suffers'. In fact , from a spiritual point of view, it is considered that 'suffering' is a consequence of the thinking, judging mind. In the absence of thinking , there is only pure experience and observation of it. Pain, in the case of the mouse, is just a physical sensation of a combination of stressors and biological reactions culminating in death.

[@loboriski]

exactly .. well said.. the suffering is bought about by thought .. which involves time.. so when there is immense joy or immense pain there is no sense of self hence .. in this case the mouse does not suffer as the meaning of the word suffer ... only to the observer who is also a thought that the mouse suffers.... rest of it are sensations .. without the word

[@loboriski]

as long as there is thought .. there is time .. and time implies suffering .. total attention like a hawk to the thoughts in which there is no knower or thinker ends suffering instantly ... if not do what u may stand on a ur head for the rest of ur life or help each and everyone u see.. theres is no escaping ...

[@arvindrampal1565]

Yes ..there is suffering for the mouse...for the mouse experiences fear ...sadness...joy etc..even though it's consciousness is not as sophisticated as a human ...it still does experience these things

[@tleales]

The world as we know it can only exist in duality. It needs heat and cold, dryness and dampness, night and day. Evil and good are also intrinsic to this Existence. Not to diminish Evil as a source of suffering with life-changing effects, yet, for the seeker of Truth, it is best not to dwell too much on the evils of this world. Evil will be twice as damaging if it distracts those seeking to understand and establish themselves on their True Nature, which is non-dual and thus beyond Good and Evil. Thank you for reading.

[@nishantmehta8]

Duality is created by the conciousness to better understand the nature of its reality. Good Bad, Hot cold are constructs of human mind. Natures nature is to be non dual and absolute. Evil exists only when the mind thinks of it as evil. Just like when you hear the backstory of a villain, you may rationalise his actions. Evil is merely just actions we have characterized as bad.

[@amitdey6824]

🙏🌸🙏🌸🙏🌸🙏... Nice examples Swamiji 👌👌👌Really great thing said Swamiji regarding helping hand ❤ ... I think evil and good , sorrow and joy exists only in the body and mind or to be more precise in the mind ... Beyond these limited planes of existence I guess there is no pain or pleasure or evil or good . Or maybe it is just our perception of the evil thing is wrong ... Just like a dark shadow proves there is light which is just blocked by some object somewhere , similarly an evil means some good is about to come or some good is hidden in it, we r not able to see it , with time it will reveal itself ... Just matter of our perception Rectify me Correct me if I'm wrong 🙏🙏🙏🌸🙏🙏🙏

[@ALNPrasad]

Amazing swamiji

[@louissmith1171]

Evil only exists within Man’s free will of thought. How else would you know that you existed without choice? There isn’t a good vs. evil…. just seek maturity…. Maturity is god/unconditional love and immaturity is evil/a child. Keep it simple and know you are the source of love…..

[@bharathihariharan8821]

🙏🙏

[@levlevin182]

To just exist is not happiness. I know many people that exist but are suffering. Seems to me, an ordinary man, that Universal conscious well being is Real. enough is enough! Let's get real! 🕺🏼

[@Yogis_BitterTruth_Nirvan]

According to advaita. Only eternal is real. rest all temporary things are play, appearance, illusions caused by the real including good and evil. how to avoid temporary suffering ? by realising you are not mind or body you are pure consciousness which is energy it can't get hurt can't suffer. emotions, attachments, sufferings are of the mind and pain of physical body. if you attach to the mind and body you suffer. if you attach yourself to the present moment totally there is no room for mental suffering but there can still be physical pain. unless we somehow widraw our senses we cant be painless physically. if you are able to watch suffering then you are different from suffering hence you can't suffer. you can pay attention and focus in the present moment totally for mind to be busy to avoid suffering technically.

[@oscarmartinez3732]

A helpful and, therefore, a peaceful mind sees no evil

[@extavwudda]

It would be a naive mind at that

[@oscarmartinez3732]

@@extavwuddaA selfish and, therefore, restless mind sees evil everywhere

[@oscarmartinez3732]

An enlightened mind sees no ontological evil. There’s none. Evil is part of phenomena alone. The other part of phenomena is goodness.

[@extavwudda]

@@oscarmartinez3732 By your logic, an enlightened mind sees no good either. Rather than claim there is no evil, one ought to admit it even within themselves.

[@oscarmartinez3732]

@@extavwuddathat’s right! The enlightened mind sees no goodness. That’s part of the duality

[@user-pc8dg8lf8y]

Everything that is against life and that is we call a sin is evil. Everything that is support life and that is we call divine laws or morality is good.

Why is the world so dark with so much war, misery, terror, violence, destruction of nature and crime? From the person who abuses their partner, beats their children, incest, practices psychological abuse, to the person who completely unprovoked hits another person, to the person who bullies, to the person who shoots another person, to the person who rapes another person, to the one who detonates a bomb to hurt others, to the one who ridicules another human being, to the one who cheats, to the one who is jealous, to the one who talks shit about others, to the one who takes advantage of his position of power, to the one who takes advantage of other people, to the one who lies, to the one who destroys property, to the one who steals, to the one who kills, to the one who starts war, to the one who creates terror and to the one who robs another human being all have one thing in common; No man who lives in love can harm anyone. Anyone who is mean and stupid probably lives in ignorance of who they are as a human being at the core and they have a lack of love and empathy. Most of the time, they also lack the knowledge and inability to manage their own thoughts, feelings and behaviour. God created the world and the world is not finished. The world is undergoing evolution. The inner development of man is also ongoing. We will live with darkness until one day it doesn't work. Then humanity will change and live consciously and in love.

[@krishnaadluru2822]

😊

[@knreddy8467]

Thanks for your compassionate post on the subject! I have a small constructive comment - the core of all human evil is due to lack of formal education based on values i.e very basic value based teaching to children when they are very young. Most religions except one have these written in their scriptures - Bible Vedas among other great religions. Today’s education lacks these spiritual teachings in classrooms. If the children are taught these great values to become a good human being the humanity will cease to have evil in the world.

[@theschoolofconsciousness]

The 'creator' is a war monger. We too.

[@extavwudda]

I am suprised swami is not able to better answer this question. Why can't we just admit that even though there is an underlying unity, the duality of the world requires extremes at both sides of all possible dimensions? Light has no meaning without darkness. Good cannot exist without evil. They are not opposites, but complementary. Yin and Yang in eternal dance.

[@sumittete2804]

He has explained very beautifully. Furthermore, Advaita Vedanta is a non dual philosophy whereas Dvaita Vedanta is a philosophy of duality that is the philosophy of sheer ignorance or a weak darshan of Vedic philosophy.

[@satishsiripuram5842]

In Advaitha everything we see everyday is non-real/illusion. As soon as we say “Ying & Yang” we are out of the philosophy of Advaita (Non Duality) and in the philosophy of Dvaitha (Duality) and all the answers that Swamiji gave are for “Duality” not for “Non Duality”

[@hakuin3654]

That Shows you ,that even vedanta is a Dogma like islam,christianity etc..he cannot speak against dogma

[@satishsiripuram5842]

@@hakuin3654 Vedanta is a philosophy which talks about the “Anth”, the conclusions or the ending. In our case It is “Advaita Vedanta (Non Dual). I am being specific because other philosophies of Vedanta does not accept Advaith Vednata Islam/Christianity/Hinduism etc., are religions and Vedanta is a philosophy. They are not the same What did you hear or learn in Advaith Vedanta which made you think it is Dogma?

[@Anonymous-of2wg]

Brahm is neither Divine nor Devil

[@allnone4277]

please edit videos properly don't distort them... show swamiji fully

[@Yogis_BitterTruth_Nirvan]

yes it's like watching him from outside of window of his house 😂😂

[@andypenn4711]

no answer given to the question stated here though. Plus, what is so called "evil" for the mouse is the so called "good" for the cat an so on... The question of good vs. evil is a product of confusion in an attempt to delude even the smartest. It's always all in one. People do have a choice to make to cause or not to cause suffering to others unlike animals. For humans it's about becoming conscious.

[@arjyaroy]

Kunti Devi in *Jaya Samhita* earnestly requested ❤🙏Sri Bhagawan 🙏❤ to have pains and negativities (usually considered as *EVIL* so that she can remember HIM always...... so.... Evil/Ignorance/woes whatever they are....are the quality of MAYA.....a projection from the ❤🙏 Supreme....for me HE is Sri Vishnu Bhagwan 🙏❤...... The cause for knowing SAYAM JYANAM ANANTAM BRAHMAN...... through which we humans can surpass the *"Janma Samshar Bandhanat"* *evil* is vehicle riding which and deciphering all its aspects we will reach ❤🙏HIM🙏❤......the ONLY way.....

[@krishtheindian]

Good and evil are at the level of mind (duality). In non dual, we are the light that illuminate the mind and body. Under the light one can read Bhagavath Geetha or Playboy. Light is not affected by that choice. It just illuminates the choice made by mind. You’re that light. Not the mind that suffers between dualities.

[@rachmondhoward2125]

Our problem is that we have created a perfect God and then struggle to associate our pefect imagined God with badness or evil. The universe is a unified "being" each thing that is part of this exist to fulfill its role. A tree's role is to be a tree as its genetic material dictates but inorder for it to propagate its genetic material must be duplicated. In this process very rare mutations occur. Some mutations will be harmful and some may be good allowing the offspring to survive under changing conditions. We may think of mutations being "bad" as these changes the original role of the genetic material to make perfect copies of itself. From this example "badness" is a form of mutation that self arises and the genetic material in many cases successfully self eliminate the errors but in a very few cases it is unable to self correct. The tree may continue to make perfect copies of itself but can also "suffer" (badness) because of factors external to it, for example from disease when it is attacked by other organisms or due to a lack of nutrients in the soil or extreme heat. Using the tree as example and turning to humans. On one hand we could say that badness is an abnormality, a mistake, that we have the ability to self correct but fail to do so. On the other hand, "badness" arises from external factors, but unlike the tree humans can to some extent avoid some of these external factors or even when influenced to eliminate the desirable influence. We cannot think of the cat and mouse in terms of good or bad. The cat is "designed" to eat mice, and mice is "designed" to eat other things. Let's turn the cat-mouse example to humans, humans can choose to eat or not eat other animals. The badness comes when there is no compulsion to eat other animals and we still do and even worse badness is when we abuse our power to mistreat other animals or kill them for vanity, purely for fun! What is happening to humanity is that the "aberations" is being amplified by those who have willingly chose evil as a way of life, for example Satanic or Luciferian worshippers, or people that is greedy, jealous, malicious and see other people or things as objects over which he or she can exercise control over, sometimes because they derive pleasure from doing so. Many badness or evil arise from humans out of the processes I explained. But badness or evil is not the natural intent of the universe, it is an aberration that is destructive, cancer is not good for the body!

[@waltershumer4211]

So the cat playing with and shredding apart the mouse is ignorance????😮

[@meetaga]

Ramakrishna ji was paramhamsa but he still had to suffer cancer...

[@muraleedharanthazhakode7239]

❤❤❤🙏❤❤❤

[@sampoornamkannan]

Evil or good never exist anywhere except in observer's deluded imagination. Consciousness seemingly affords a platform for even this to manifest.

[@marcsunborn]

The absolute is - acintya-bhedabheda-tattva - inconceivably one but different. Good and evil are intertwined with each other, one and the same living energy that brings forth change, but simultaneously different in appearance. Good and evil are not created, neither is the cosmos. Existence is infinite in extent and eternal in duration, constantly changing in appearance, manifesting in - and disappearing from the observers awareness. There are no gods responsible for this, neither are you.

[@ravindramurthy3486]

1. Swami ji seems to equate Vedanta with Hinduism. I respectfully disagree. They are in entirely different domains and are not the same. 2. Good and Evil apply to the Sphere of duality (apparent one at that!!). They both rise from the same source and recede in the same principle of “I” but I remains the unaffected being that it always is.

[@Yogis_BitterTruth_Nirvan]

Vedanta is Hinduims only. what do you mean? Hindu is geographical identity of the indigenous people between Himalay and Hind ocean and all knowledge about reality and self are Hinduism or sanatan dharma only. you are like jesus doesn't belong to Christianity 😂which may be true but not in the case of Sanatan dharma

[@ravindramurthy3486]

@@Yogis_BitterTruth_Nirvan 1. I mean what I wrote. 2. Please find out for yourself whether Vedanta has anything to do with Hinduism or any religion for that matter. 3. All religions find perfect philosophical framework regarding morality, ethics etc. in Vedanta and are free to borrow from Vedanta, but religions including Hinduism do not breathe in the rarefied air of Vedanta. Religion is rooted in individuality, but Vedanta rises to a "plane" above individuality. 4. Your analogy between Jesus and Christianity and whatever I am talking about is as laughable as the emoji you have included in your response.

[@Yogis_BitterTruth_Nirvan]

@@ravindramurthy3486 Truth is universal but that knowledge was discovered by our ancestors Rishi munis so Vedantic knowledge and it's patency belongs to us Hindus.

[@ravindramurthy3486]

@@Yogis_BitterTruth_Nirvan 1. I do not believe that we both are on the same page. 2. Let us agree to disagree. With that, I will take leave. Thank you.

[@MaartendeJager]

You gotta have polarity in order to make creation work. Hence the positive and negative forces. Ps. Karma ís causality.

[@ashajay]

World doent exist according to advaita vedanta, it only seems to exist then where is the question of true eternal evil? Evil is energized by the one and only existence . Just my personal belief

[@preetambhat]

No, the world exists, but not in the way we usually perceive it.

[@ashajay]

⁠I meant world seemingly exists like blueness in sky and ocean

[@soumenpaul7544]

If you believe in non duality, how can there be evil and virtue ? All such duality is with respect to someone. The same thing which maybe perceived to be good for one would be evil for another. It's all about where the center is, and generally due to ego we assume it to lie within us. Remove the centre, then the qualities also don't make sense any more.

[@sanjeevkulkarni4923]

When will Hindus have a religion that addresses their real life threatening problems? We have wasted enough centuries prattling about consciousness and astronomy while others conquered the world. When we will wake up?

[@nat-nik8011]

NEVER

[@0ut0fafricaa]

There’s no such thing as evil. Evil is just a judgement we assign to an action or outcome.

[@Freyathrith]

By this logic nothing exists if it's a judgment assigned to an action or an outcome. To be consistent, then, there must also be no such thing as lying, honor, truth, or beauty -- for starters. Things do very much exist even if they are assigned judgments.

[@0ut0fafricaa]

I appreciate the rebuttal. I’m not saying there is no word, concept or judgement called evil. My issue is with evil being considered a ‘thing’ or problem to be understood or solved. I assert that the word evil does not map to a specific thing that can be universally understood or defined in a way that could resolve the hypothesis. No one ‘commits’ beauty to someone, no-one ‘commits’ truth to anyone, but people talk about people ‘committing’ an evil act. This is inflationary and intentionally used by the media to sell papers, or a government to bring in legislation. Christians started the crusades based on a central belief. The torture they dished out could be called evil, but at the time it was justified. Likewise ISIS’s Jihad is called evil by some but is justified by others. If people stopped using the word evil, evil would disappear. It would be replaced by ‘wrongdoing’ or something. Evil does not exist.

[@BessieOscar-e6b]

Williams Kimberly Martin Laura Clark Anna

[@allnone4277]

please edit videos properly don't distort them... show swamiji fully