Posted on: 30 May 2020
[Shri Surendra asked (through Shri Balaji): As stated even in the Bhagavad Gita, whenever sin increases in world, Bhagavān (God) descends on Earth in the form of Incarnations (Avatāras) to restore the balance. After accomplishing the divine mission, God returns to His divine abode. But Bhagavān Paraṣurāma Avatāra never went back to the divine abode, Vaikuṇṭha. It is said that He will remain on Earth until the end of the Kali Yuga. So, the question is, when Bhagavān Paraṣūrāma is already present on earth, why is injustice (adharma) still rising in the world. Also, why is there the need for other Incarnations of God? Not only Paraṣurāma, but also Lord Hanumān is an Incarnation and He is immortal (cirañjīvī). Then, why is injustice still on the rise?]
Swami replied: Even if we assume that Paraṣurāma and Hanumān are not present in the world today, God is effectively present everywhere in the world. God is not physically omnipresent in creation, but He is omnipresent in an effective sense. So, whether God is physically present as Paraṣurāma and Hanumān or not, is immaterial. God knows every bit of creation since He is omniscient. He can also control every bit of creation since He is omnipotent. He is indeed ruling over creation and He is certainly punishing all sinners in proper time. We think that God delays the judgment of sinners. The delay is not because God has to go through some long procedure to find out the truth in each case, like human courts. Since He is omniscient, as soon as the criminal commits the crime, God is ready with the correct judgment, in a fraction of a second. He does not need any witness, evidence, advocates or arguments.
After death, when a soul faces an inquiry for ten days, all the sins committed by the soul are already available and are played like a running film. That system which secretly records all the crimes as they were taking place is called Citragupta. The secret witness is protected in the form of that film-show (Citreṇa gopayati sākṣyam iti Citraguptaḥ). Hence, during that ten-day inquiry in the Preta Loka, which is the world of the dead, no other witness, no arguments and no lawyers are needed. The inquiry proceeds merely by running the recorded film show of the soul’s sins before the eyes of the soul, who is present in a subtle body.
Therefore, the delay in God’s judgment of sinners is not a procedural delay. The whole delay in the court of God is only an intentionally-given time for the reformation of the soul. God gives a sufficiently long span of time to the soul to get reformed through the three steps of realisation, repentance and finally, the non-repetition of the sin. When the wicked Kauravas, tried to disrobe Draupadi in the royal court, God Krishna protected her immediately by giving an unlimited supply of cloth to keep her covered. But He did not punish Kauravas immediately. God gave 13-years-time to the Kauravas during which He was observing whether they could realise the sin that they had committed and rectify it. Had they realised and got reformed, they would have given the rightful share of half the kingdom to the Pāṇḍavas. They could have at least granted them five villages, which was the bare-minimum demand of the Paṇḍavas. That way, they could have saved themselves.
The loss of a good victim is always compensated by God immediately. The victim need not get ferocious for revenge since he has already been compensated. He need not worry about the delay in the punishment of the sinner. If the victim does not get compensated by God, it means that the victim had harmed the criminal in the previous birth. So, the present sinner has only harmed the present victim in retaliation for a previous sin, as per the judgment of God. No compensation is due to the present victim, in such a case. Hence, My friend, why should you worry that there is injustice taking place in this world? You are getting emotional only due to your lack of knowledge of the overall background.
A criminal killed several innocent and good people previously, which you have not seen with your eyes. You are just seeing the criminal being hanged by the jailer and you are sympathizing with the criminal and abusing the jailer! The jailer is only killing him following the judgment given by the judge. Similarly, somebody is harming another, only based on the judgment of God. If you argue that you have not done any crime towards your criminal enemy, it is not correct because you only have the knowledge of the present birth. If you had really not harmed your enemy in the previous births, you would certainly have been compensated by God immediately. Your enemy would also certainly receive punishment from God, in due course of time, if your enemy fails to get reformed during the time-period granted by God. You should not worry about this delay in the punishment of your enemy because, even if the enemy were punished immediately, your loss would not get compensated in any way. Seeing your enemy getting punished only pacifies your vengeance; it does not bring any real compensation to you. What is the use of such mere pacification of your feelings, if your loss is not properly compensated? Hence, the delay in punishment should not be misunderstood as the victory of injustice. The judges gave the punishment to the criminals of the Nirbhaya gang-rape case after seven years. Do you criticize this as the victory of injustice? The delay in punishment is common in both the court of God and the court of human judges. But the reasons for the delay are different. In the human court, it is due to the long procedure needed to find the truth, whereas, the delay in the court of God is due to God’s patience in giving sufficient time to the criminal for reformation. Once your loss is well-compensated, you have no right to criticize God for His delay in punishing the sinner.
Keywords:
| Shri Datta Swami | When Some Immortal Incarnations Already Exist In The World, Why Is There Injustice And Why Does God Need To Incarnate Repeatedly? | Bhagavat Bhagwan Parashuram Vaikuntha Chiranjeevi Hanuman Chitrena gopayati saakshyam iti Chitraguptah