Is God making us to suffer...? - Fallacies in conceptions of God 

Listening to 5 minutes of Swami Sarvapriyanda elevates my consciousness 555 times !!

When you understand Consciousness, this question is so solved!

I will try to answer this question from what I have heard from Swami Sarvapriyanandaji s lectures There are three levels of reality 1) Paramartic (the absolute)..2) vyavharic ( transactional) 3) pratibhasic (illusionary). We are in the transactional level (waking state) right now.we experience happiness and suffering in the waking and dream state. What Vedanta says is we are actually the absolute / Paramartic/ turya/ satchitananda...but because of ignorance we identify our self as body/ mind ( name and form) The law of Karma acts in this state. According to Swami Vivekananda .. Good.. good..bad..bad..none escape the law..the one who wears the form .. wears the chain too ( law of karma) I have not started yet.. The question is about suffering... Let's imagine we are in a dream state( pratibhasic level) Imagine experiencing pain and suffering.. ( we have gone through such situations many times).in a nightmare.. When we wake up ( we have shifted from pratibhasic level to the transactional level)or shifted from lower level of reality to a higher level of reality..we realize that everything..the pain and suffering we experienced was FALSE AND IT DID NOT EXIST.. The question is about the pain and suffering in the transactional level.. When we will shift from transactional level to Paramartic level we will REALIZE that everything the pain and suffering we experienced in the transactional level was all FALSE AND IT DID NOT EXIST.. Because of IGNORANCE in the dream state (pratibhasic) the pain and suffering we experienced was real. And because of IGNORANCE in the transactional level we think the suffering is real.. What ended the suffering in the dream state..(the shift to a higher level of reality) will end the suffering in the waking state... THE SHIFT TO THE PARAMARTIC LEVEL. WE WILL REALIZE THAT EVERYTHING WAS FALSE AND NEVER EXISTED.. BRAMHA SATYA JAGAT MITHYA..

God bless you Swamiji. Your words are music to my ears. 🎼🎵🎶🎸

I just love this Swami! He is sooo well-educated. I really enjoy his talks and his passion for his beliefs. He never lets me down or disappoints me. I wish I could meet him and get some answers to My questions.

Swami Sarvapriyananda’s explainations are beautiful. This is an age old question and the answer here is as good as it gets

Beautifully explained... Yes.. This is the only way to come out of suffering, to know the truth..

All I can say is WOW! this is the best answer ever given by anybody!!

Ramkrishna mission is the only light in this dark universe......

I have met people who take their suffering as if it is not real, as if it is happening in a movie, as if they are just observers of that suffering. And I am not talking about the Yogis. I am talking about people like you and me, common people living a common life. They have not even studied the Vedanta but they seem to know the truth. Looks like the truth, after all, is not a great riddle or a puzzle to crack. The truth is not some great mystery. The truth is simple and is in front of us all the time: *You are not the Body.* *You are not the Mind.* *You are the Consciousness.* *You are the Observer.* *Your true nature is to simply observe.* *If something is happening to you.* *it's not really happening to you.* *Nothing can happen to you.* *Because you are just an eternal Observer.*

This man is seriously underrated…👏👏👏

Great answer. When you understand the structure of life within the law of karma you will understand why the world is the way it is. Bhagwan shri Krishna is the ultimate goal of our existence on earth.

How patiently he listens to the question despite knowing that these are silly questions

Swami ji. I have been following you for the past 6 months and now I think whatever I have known before that was stupid. Thanks for the prospective you gave me.

life never suffers!! Life is always bliss but when life identifies with mind and body which is composed of desires, where there is a fall and rise is there(Happiness and misery are there) and life identifies and thinks that it is suffering. But life itself is blissful!! Know Thyself!! Know that you are one with God!! Misery and happiness are just a play

So self realisation defeats suffering by transcending it . Wonderful to contemplate on

The same question had led to the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha

I am loving his videos...There cud not be better explanation than this!!! Awesomeness!!!

What a fantastic Vedantic scholar he is! So lucky to be able to listen to this ocean of wisdom. Nothing but awe and gratitude!

What Swami Sarva is saying is the gist of Indian philosophy which has been explained by Gurus from time immemorial. The only way to understand this is when you understand yourself, by meditation and by self reflection. By asking yourself the question again and again 'who am I' you might be able to get to the bottom of this. Starting with the question 'am I the body'? If you can't do it the book of Ramana Maharishi 'who am I' should help. Understanding this question is the only way to live at peace in this world.

The more important thing is.. Are you people looking for answer or solution? Did you want to know why there is suffering or want to end that suffering? If you want answer, it's already given in the video, and it may not satisfied you nor liberate you.. IF you want liberation, then you must transcend the suffering, self-realization is the only solution..

Amazing amazing amazing.... the best answers of all the queries.... Swami Ji's the ocean of wisdom of sat chit anand.... I really feel he is the incarnation of Swami Vivekananda or some really great being of ancient times....all his speaches are enlightening to some extent.... Hope we all grow spiritually 🙏🙏 shashtang Pranam 🙏🙏🙏

You are pure consciousness living your own mind posture. There's no external world independent of the mind. This world of sufferings the mind earned for itself from previous births.

We are getting suffering because when we get pain then only we try to find the answer who am i?, why it happened to me?, what is going around me? And I'm running behind of what?, etc... We can experience the happiness of light, if we know the darkness. Or else light is just nothing even though it is important. Actually lucky persons are not those who never suffered, lucky persons are those who suffered because when we hurt that time only we ask the questions and try to find the answers, other times we never try to seek or question anything. This universe trying to realize who we really are but we are running behind things which leads to nothing, because others are running that's why we are running. If we stop and think once what I'm doing, why I'm doing, who am I, for who I am doing?, etc..., then we get the answer and we get peace within us. So enjoy suffering think it is good for us and this universe trying to remove our debts.

Self realisation is our purpose of life!

Thank You again, Swamiji! There is no other way. Jai!

The simplest awnser to the question is that happiness can't excist without suffering. Imagine a movie, book or game where nothing bad happens, I bet you wouldn't even watch it to the end.

That question, "who are you?" Was actually the answer. Anybody on this path is first taught that he is not the body and he is not the mind. All sufferings are related to either body or mind. So the answer is given in the very beginning to everyone, but one can only see that once he realizes that within himself.

Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional and the cause of all suffering is IGNORANCE.

I am also amazed at the questions put up by such youngsters. They are just so fantastic, so matured and so spiritualistic. Indeed to such a question, Thakur in "Kathamrita" does say that this is God's own wish as He has "kept" this Maya. As indeed the world is false (Brahma satya jagat mithya) according to the Upanishads hence the Swami so rightly says from the Vedanta that sufferings, therefore, are indeed illusory. And a very good answer from the Swami quoting from Thakur's "Kahtamrita" to search who you are...only then the answer comes. Joy Thakur Ramakrishno.

I cry in pleasure every time I listen to Swami Ji...Kritkrityoham

Advaita Vedanta is the essence and glory of Indian philosophy and unique genius. Many thanks.

All matters are result in thought I must own them, learn from what I have done, be it good or bad is a marker on the compass of life.

Very simple answer is, if there was no suffering you will not know what is happiness. Light has importance because there is darkness.

Pranam Swamiji 🙏🏻 This question & its answer is a blessing for me … I express my deep sense of gratitude to you Swamiji for all your wonderful talks… Keep blessing us with your teachings …

. Religious faith gives us psychological strength to face the unavoidable miseries of life.

All sufferings and pleasure due to notion. Stop your notions free yourself from sufferings. Hopes, wishes, affection, all are path to sufferings. The moment you start your notion you build your world, time & space. Wherever you are right now? I mean place, at some point it was your notion. Stop notion, stop hopes and wishes make mind to no mind and feel the bliss. Once your mind is clear (without any thoughts) you will able to see the God within yourself. Thoughts are not making you to realise yourself . Once mind become "No Mind" you will able see God within yourself ( you are the God and you have created this world )

As Krishna said to Arjuna that he himself felt the joy of victory as Pandavas and also the misery of defeat as Kauravas. And only due to ignorance they perceived those glories and miseries as their own.

I love Swami Sarvapriyananda talks. I don’t know for sure but I feel he is an enlightened man. Thakur said: “this is the Leela of God”. In another chapter of the Kathamrita he said to M. “Stop reasoning!”. And then? Who knows… Saint Augustine said “misericordia domini inter pontem et fontem, inter gladium et jugulum” means something like “The mercy of God can arise even between the bridge and the river, between the razor and the jugular." I love Thakur's expression "Stop reasoning!" I think it is the most reasonable explanation. I mean solution.

such an elegant explanation . i came here to seek solace after seeing what happened in the world due to COVID-19.

I have been feeling that during meditation swami ji but i couldn't describe it. Thank you for explaining it so well that now i just see god everywhere and in everyone. i know it may sound stupid but that is true, the way i perceive things have changed

Law of Karma, Play of God, Maya - Stories that do not happen. At last self realisation. All make sense. Thank you very much

Nice Walks "As I walk through this wicked world Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity I ask myself, "Is all hope lost? Is there only pain and hatred and misery?"

Thank you for this explanation Swami ji. I guess it is similar to what the Buddha said: work out your own salvation with diligence.

If we are truly conscious then there will cease to be any questions whatsoever, we will just be, do whatever good we can and when death comes we will go quietly. No need for any religious quests to find god, no need to misuse technology for power or lust or greed, no need for any social dramas or struggles. We will just adapt or align to the ways of the technological advancement from the point in history when we are born, love our neighbors and not need rules or laws to lead a decent life. It’s because we are not conscious that we fall prey to all the sources of distractions from the environment and society and so we adapt to the impure ways of everyone else, and give in to gossiping about others, thinking evil or jealous thoughts about others. It’s easy to follow in negative ways because it takes less effort than positive ones. It’s because we are not conscious that we create an uneven strata of existence and identity society, we create a larger than life movie star because of our dependency on entertainment to escape the mundane life and its woes. If everyone was good and conscious around us when we are born chances are astronomically high that we would be shaped and molded into being good and conscious. In fact there would be no distinction between good and evil, just we would do what is needed. There would be no hurry to get anywhere, no rush, no competition, no thrill to get us off. Life would consist of only bliss, not 90% suffering and 10% pleasures to try and compensate for the sufferings. We need doctors, to cure us because most of us don’t know how to take care of ourselves and fall prey to the wrong ways of the world, we need laws and enforcement agencies because we can’t stop ourselves from committing wrongs, and we need so many different facets of the walks of life because the human mind is so limitless and has countless ways to create problems for itself so various professions arise, psychiatrist, the gurus, the leaders or politicians, the rulers. All of this is happening because we think we are something big and that we are the center of the universe. If the atoms or molecules or even cells in your body that are vastly smaller than you decides that they are the center of the universe then your whole physical body will collapse within a few days, but we are lucky that they work in harmony for our well being. When we reduce our egos and thoughts to being insignificant and nothing then only we realize what an idiot we have been from birth to adulthood and till we die our physical deaths. The modern conveniences would not even need to be created so we become dependent on them and become lazy and think of our weekend escapes from a slaving job. The earth would sustain our healthy lifestyles because it has the resources and potential to do so. And the earth would be healthy and not damaged like it is now. Stop running, see how acute your vision becomes, and how focused it becomes, you will capture life like a camera does when it is at standstill and so is the object it’s trying to capture. We created the need for something like a “noble cause” that contrasts with our impure and flawed ways that is why we are running after it after our basic needs are met. The need for anything would be gone and so the temptation for overuse and misuse of the thing we need would also be gone. We would just use the bare minimum so there would be plenty left for ourselves, others and our future generations. If you deep think and contemplate you will realize you already know this. But there is an opposing force in your mind negating these thoughts and realizations from surfacing. Balance the two forces and you can come to a still point where everything is clear. We are all living life from imbalance.

I believe he is practical and perfectly descriptive of Hindu thought. It is an unpleasant truth. But liberation is all about unpleasant truths. Not for the light hearted. Summary of Swamiji's view-"Suffering is law. Part of dharma. Part of life itself."

Absolutely right Swamiji ... Law of Karma for unenlightened.... Fir the enlightened, the world doesn't exist, so where is suffering... God is really Merciful.... We are just not realising the truth... If there were no suffering, who will want to realise his true nature??

Answer: Just understand "Tat Tvam Asi" and all the sufferings would become a dream for you!!

Our mind can take pain and suffering to a limit.. then there is a disconnect and all pain and suffering disappears.. a great relief.

Ooo...That's great answered 💯💕!!!..Thanks to enlighten us swami sarvapriyananda jii✌️..That's really tough question to break down but in this video a very logical answer is given with all necessary spirituality, science👍. Indeed this questions answer would require time to understand completely 🙏..

Great content. Keep it up!

Sucks to be any non human species not capable of self realization on this planet tho.

I'm a person of very limited knowledge. But what I understand from bhagavad gita that God doesn't make us suffer. Suffering comes from the interaction between three modes of material natures. Mode of goodness, passion and ignorance

Read Bhagavad Gita as it is and know the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna. Hare Krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare and be happy 🙏

Wonderfull Rev. Swamiji

We are spirit souls having a material experience. It is the material experience that is our sense of suffering so suffering is unavoidable. There is no suffering in consciousness itself in itself consciousness is beyond change and deterioration.

Why there is suffering in life: There is no creator, so no creation. Universe is manifestation of “ Divine consciousness “: upanishads 🙏 Objective world exists in duality: day night, good bad etc so is joy & suffering, two sides of the same coin called life! One can’t exist without other.🙏

The majority of all these questions would drop if one experiences a near death experience. After experiencing that - there would be a realization that ANYTHING can happen to you in this life and many others AND it will NOT even matter. It was all for growing and gaining consciousness of your true nature. The problem with this gross life is people are deep in ignorance and lack the knowledge. When these questions arise - it is only because you are in ignorance. The way to escape this ignorance is knowledge ...self knowledge and there are many paths to get there. But it all ends with knowledge.

Enlightening words. Thank you for uploading this video.

Without suffering , you can never yearn for god realization

Great reply GOD bless swamiji!

Only the person suffers. The identity. The ego. The one who has attachments. But this one who is suffering is simply a psychological self created and conditioned by influences and circumstances. Who are you without your 'you'? Without your story as the person you have been led to believe you are? You are the one who perceives and so therefore cannot be that which can be perceived. You are not your body or your mind but you are experiencing the expression of your self as consciousness through the instruments known as the body and the mind. Just like we cannot see light until it is reflected off of an object.

SUPERB & MOST CONVINCING REPLY JAI RAMAKRISHNA

Most satisfying answer ever! Infinite thanks to you

We suffer because, in our experience matterial is reality , We have settled for this thinking , that’s the reason of all the sufferings , Actually God is creating suffering only for our happiness, so that we Grow and seek the reality, Hari Bol 🙏

Amazing clarity...love when I turned to vedanta.

I have the greatest respect for the revered Swami, and I love his discourses because they give me so much to think about. But in this case-the question of why do we suffer if God is all powerful and all merciful-I think to transcend this suffering only Jnana may not suffice. We need Bhakti as well.

I don’t blame anyone for our sadness except for ourself. People choose to be evil to each other and this not in perfect harmony. As for illness, it is because we have lost our way on how to truly nourish our bodies. Healthy foods and healthy thoughts combined. And we are not meant to be on this Earth forever. We have a larger purpose. I believe.

Suffering is just a play of mind. That's it. Only mind creates suffering; when we are in deep sleep, what do we experience? Perfect happiness!

Karmik theory is not sound and logical. And the answers given does not stand to the strict reasons (as far as philosophical reasoning is concerned). But Swamiji has given the best answer. Swami Sarvapriyananda is really good explainer! Fantastic! Only Swamiji, I see, has the very clear insight and depth! Yes! even if you know the answer (logical, philosophical, reasonable... whatever.) the real question is how not to suffer and if possible free others from suffering! From the suffering itself the question arises and we want to transcend it! knowing the logical or philosophical answers does not make suffering go away, which Swamiji has spoken, clearly shown here! It's only knowing the way to transcend the suffering which is the real answer. All of humanity should (must) work toward that goal. Thanks a lot Swamiji!

Very well explained...

Jai Sri Ramakrishna

Sir ,pronam neben .Apni prosno gulor khub valo uttar diyechen.

Mind-blowing...spirit-blowing

Beautifully explained.

Self realization is only for human and also only adults can self realize .. it still not answers why infants and animal kingdoms suffer?

Desire- Greed and selfishness is the root cause of any suffering. Our child dies- we shed tears! There are million kids dying in the world-class we don't know about and do not care about and do not feel the grief - even when we witness! Why do we crave for happiness and joy and fun? Suffering is not created by God. It is our own creation and it comes as a bundled package. Pleasure and joy would not be satisfying if there was no suffering or pain. Plain and Pleasure are two sides of coin. God has nothing to do with it. Follow your karma and your action. Keep good intentions with no harm. Everything will fall in place with Peace!

Pain is sure.. But suffering is optional.. - buddha..

Jay Jay Sarvapriyananda 🙏

Let’s assume for a moment that you have attainted enlightenment and you are free from materialistic world and it’s consequences but maya still exists in another part of the mirror and for people like me.Maya is true as true as consciousness for every living being. You cannot escape as long as you are living .according to the yogis you can transcend it ,but still cannot escape .

I read in 'The Wisdom of The Overself' by the Aidvaita Vedanta philosopher Dr. Paul Brunton, that God's boundless imagination needed to be constrained to a limited space time experience and in such a way as to have meaning. Hence Karma is brought into the system so that the Universe unfolds by cause and effect. God 'self-imposed' this Law on his imagination of the Universe and so it seems His hands are tied and He suffers and laughs with us until the end.

Great swami jee.....thanks a lot for ur lucid words

Yes. YOU are 'god' (aka that magic man in the sky...yes, sarcasm but with a serious point). To me and many, that 'man' or WORD 'god' is a metaphor of YOURSELF, what YOU feel, been through, see, etc. 'Bad' things happen....yah....and? It's called Life. I had 'bad' things happen until I comprehended WHY they/it happened and what I learned from it. I have 'dead' kids to....but logic, science, reasons involved with medical and more all interact and well...it makes sense. Instead of morning in sorrow as if I'm to always 'get what I want'. Knowledge is power. What you 'see' is what you get.

Brilliant

In world there's only incidents. Those incidents cause pain or pleasure in our minds according to the adjunct of experience. And being attached and overwhelmed by that pain gives suffering. Pain is inevitable but suffering is an option.

The Absolute infinite is not good or bad, to ascribe human forms of emotions, thoughts, shapes, colors, ideals and other limitations the human mind tries to impose which is the definition of Maya. Suffering is a quality of all vanishing objects. The rock struggles to maintain its shape from pressures of nature, iron struggles with oxygen rusting it, all microorganisms struggle to survive. This is feature of the forms. naturally all forms struggle to preserve themselves. As long as You have form, you will strongly until you realize your formless nature, then all suffering will be so insignificant.

Most beautiful answer I have heard :)

Great Answer 👍👍👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

God is egoless. Suffering is the universal law that plays out for those who are embroiled in... ego. He has no roll in your affairs of action. The action stops when you are without... ego.

Glory to ramakrishna. Great bharata.

Attachment is the root to all suffering the flesh gives pleasure and it can also give it polarity which is suffering. Attachment!!

Suffering has a very abrupted vibration of frequencies that come below the frequency of vibration of anger. These vibrations can be studied and controlled only in a environment of confident confrontation rather confused conflict. Placing the vibrations of suffering on a bigger platform of slow, claiming and smooth vibrations is one of the many ways to analyse and decapitate energy

even if it's true that the suffering is not real, it still seems real. Using the analogy of suffering in stories, nightmares are not real, but they still feel real at the time and are very unpleasant. If I had a choice, I would not chose to have a nightmare when I sleep, even though I know it isn't real, because during the nightmare it will seem real. So why would a loving God allow us to experience imaginary suffering if it will seem real to us?

That's a lovely answer, but I think another possible, logical answer is that the failure for us to realize that Atman is Brahman renders us incapicated, thus in our unrealized state we are not omnipotent: we have yet to free ourselves of our binding.

Shakti , u r rite, no one has d answer, but if u read isha upanishad u will find the very answer u r looking for

My questions: 1. If God is only good, why did God allow the law of karma to exist that causes suffering to beings in present and the next lives for those who bolieve that maya is reality and they don't do bhakti to break it because of ignorance? 2. Why is God taking revenge using the law of karma?

Answer to this question that why is there suffering if God exist as per gurbani is:- First of all God is not responsible if we are suffering we are ourself responsible for pain and suffer. Bcz we are the one who is stucked in duality and cannot recognise our real form that is Brahm. ( in gurbani it is mentioned as Swebhang meaning swyam se tut jana/ apne aapse se alag ho jana) We are willingly not ready to leave maya same as the monkey gets trapped bcz of it's greed. And secondly, god is no where described in sikhism that is always good, in jaap saheb, dasam granth written by 10th master gobind singh ji, he sings the attributes of Almighty nirankaar and he also address and bows in front of him by saying "namo krur karne" Meaning:- i bow to your attribute of being cruel and merciless. It is same like a teacher is punishing a student for his betterment.

All animals in this world suffer because of attachment. Suffering stops once you become detached. Practice detachment to transcend suffering.

And the answer is this life is a movie,but you will only understand that when you get enlightenment .then you can watch it as movie without experience it

poetry everywhere - found poetry - sent to the headmaster - the master of ones head - I want to see the manager