The Big Picture, Why Suffering Exists in a World Controlled by a Benevolent God
It is perhaps the oldest and most persistent question in human history. If God exists, and if God is all-powerful and all-good, why does suffering exist? Why do tsunamis wash away innocent villagers? Why do despots torment their countrymen? Why do good people suffer while bad people prosper? Why do even devoted believers endure pain and loss?
These questions have troubled philosophers, theologians, and ordinary people for millennia. They are the foundation of atheism for some, and the deepest mystery of faith for others. In a thoughtful exploration, spiritual teacher Ajit Kumar Bishnoi offers a comprehensive answer rooted in Hindu philosophical traditions—an answer that seeks to reconcile the existence of a divine controller with the undeniable reality of human suffering.
The Framework: God as Controller
Before addressing the problem of suffering, Bishnoi establishes a framework for understanding God’s role as the Controller. This is not a passive deity but an active force in the cosmos. God, by divine will, creates when the time comes to give a new start to Creation. God causes dissolution when the time runs out for the old Creation. In the interim, God maintains the universe by providing sufficient energy, light, fresh air, potable water, fertile land, and all the conditions necessary for life to exist and thrive.
In this period of maintenance, no one can destroy Creation. The fundamental order of the cosmos is preserved by divine power. But within that order, there is room for human action and choice.
Free Will: The Absence of Robots
The first key to understanding suffering is free will. Bishnoi argues that God allows all souls to exercise free will; otherwise, they would become robots. A creation in which every being was compelled to act in predetermined ways would be a creation without meaning, without love, without genuine relationship between the divine and the human.
Free will, however, comes with consequences. Humans can choose to act righteously or unrighteously. They can choose to help others or to harm them. They can use their intelligence, their strength, their positions of power for good or for ill. And God, having granted free will, does not intervene to prevent every harmful choice.
This is why a despot can torment his countrymen. He has reached his position of power through past good karma—actions that earned him privilege and authority. But if he chooses to misuse that privilege to trouble others, he creates bad karma that will be punished in the future. The punishment may not come immediately. It may come in this life or in a future life. But it will come. No one escapes the law of karma.
The Law of Karma: What You Sow, You Reap
The second key is the law of karma, which Bishnoi describes as the principle that “what you sow is what you reap.” This is not a mechanistic system of rewards and punishments, but a moral order built into the fabric of existence. Every action has consequences, and those consequences accrue to the soul that performed the action.
The law of karma operates across lifetimes. A bad man may be enjoying now because good karmas from past lives have manifested as present pleasure. A good man may be suffering now because bad karmas from past lives have manifested as present pain. Even devotees, who have taken shelter of God, may suffer because they have sinned before seeking that shelter. Their present devotion does not erase the consequences of past actions.
This explains why suffering is not evenly distributed according to present virtue. The ledger of karma is complex, spanning countless lifetimes. We see only a tiny fragment of the account—the current balance—without knowing the deposits and withdrawals that preceded it.
The Nature of the World: Duhkhalaya
The third key is the nature of the world itself. Bishnoi cites the Bhagavad Gita (8.15), which describes this planet as duhkhalaya—a place of misery. This is not a pessimistic view but a realistic one. Suffering is inherent in earthly existence.
Three types of miseries always exist: those caused by oneself (physical and mental afflictions), those caused by others (social and interpersonal conflicts), and those caused by natural forces (earthquakes, tsunamis, diseases). These are not anomalies or failures of divine protection; they are features of the world in which we live.
This is neither heaven nor Vaikuntha (the abode of God). It is a mixed realm where joy and sorrow coexist, where pleasure and pain alternate, where success and failure are both possible. To expect otherwise—to expect a life free from suffering—is to misunderstand the nature of the world.
Natural Disasters: The Tsunami Question
The tsunami that washes away innocent villagers is perhaps the most emotionally charged form of suffering. Unlike the actions of a despot, which can be attributed to human evil, a natural disaster seems blind and random. Why would God allow such a thing?
Bishnoi’s answer returns to the framework of divine control and the law of karma. God sets in motion material nature, which causes rain, summer, winter, and all the processes of the physical world. Within that framework, natural events occur according to physical laws. A tsunami happens when an undersea earthquake displaces water. The physics is predictable, even if the timing is not.
But the deaths that result are not random. Those who die in a tsunami do so because their karmic account required that ending at that moment. Their time was up. The tsunami was the instrument, but the cause was karmic.
This is a difficult teaching. It can seem to blame the victim, to suggest that those who suffered somehow deserved it. But Bishnoi’s framework does not assign blame in a crude sense. It sees the universe as operating under moral laws that are as precise and impersonal as physical laws. We cannot see the full account, but the account exists.
The Fate of Devotees
Perhaps the most troubling question for believers is why devotees—those who have dedicated themselves to God—continue to suffer. If God loves his devotees, why does he not protect them from pain?
Bishnoi’s answer is twofold. First, devotees, like all souls, have past karma that must work itself out. Taking shelter of God does not erase the consequences of past actions. A devotee who has sinned in previous lives will still experience the results of those sins, even as they seek divine grace in this life.
Second, devotees have a different relationship to suffering than non-devotees. They deal with sukha (pleasure) and duhkha (pain) with help from God. Their suffering is not meaningless; it can be a form of purification, a means of burning off old karma, a context for deepening devotion. They seek liberation—release from the cycle of birth and death—precisely because they are unhappy with being placed on this earthly planet. Their suffering reminds them that this world is not their true home.
The Big Picture: God’s Control Is Perfect
Bishnoi’s conclusion is unequivocal: “God’s control is perfect; He is absolutely fair. Everything is logical. Great devotees of the past are proofs of God’s kripa (grace). God’s will always prevails. There should be no doubts about it. This is the Big Picture.”
This is not an argument that will convince everyone. For those in the midst of acute suffering, philosophical explanations can seem cold and distant. The grieving parent, the starving child, the victim of violence—they do not need metaphysics; they need comfort, relief, justice.
But for those who seek to understand, who want to reconcile their faith with the reality of a world full of pain, Bishnoi offers a coherent framework. It is a framework that takes suffering seriously, that does not explain it away, but that places it within a larger moral order governed by a just and loving God.
The Limits of Human Understanding
Implicit in Bishnoi’s argument is a recognition of the limits of human understanding. We see only a tiny fragment of the cosmic order. We know only a few of the countless lifetimes through which souls travel. We cannot trace the intricate web of cause and effect that connects actions across millennia.
This is not an evasion but an acknowledgment of humility. The person who demands that all suffering be explicable in terms they can immediately grasp is demanding that the universe be small enough to fit inside their head. The traditions Bishnoi draws on suggest that the universe is larger than that, and that our understanding must be correspondingly humble.
Conclusion: Faith in the Face of Mystery
The problem of suffering will never be fully solved to everyone’s satisfaction. It is too deep, too personal, too bound up with the most intense experiences of human life. But the attempt to solve it is itself a form of spiritual seeking—a reaching toward meaning in the face of mystery.
Bishnoi’s framework, rooted in Hindu philosophy and the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, offers one path through this terrain. It affirms both divine control and human free will. It acknowledges the reality of karma across lifetimes. It accepts that this world is a place of mixed experience, not pure bliss. And it holds out the possibility of liberation—of ultimately transcending the cycle of suffering altogether.
For those who can accept this framework, it provides a way to maintain faith in a just and loving God even when the evidence of the senses seems to contradict it. For those who cannot, the questions remain—as they have for millennia, and as they will for millennia to come.
Q&A: Unpacking the Problem of Suffering
Q1: How does the article reconcile the existence of a divine controller with the reality of suffering?
A: The article offers a multi-layered explanation. First, God grants free will to all souls; without it, they would be robots. This free will allows humans to make choices that cause suffering to others. Second, the law of karma ensures that every action has consequences, which may manifest across lifetimes—a bad person may be enjoying now due to past good karma, while a good person may be suffering due to past bad karma. Third, the world itself is described as duhkhalaya—a place of misery—where three types of suffering (self-caused, other-caused, and nature-caused) always exist. God’s control is perfect, but it operates within this framework.
Q2: What role does free will play in the existence of suffering?
A: Free will is essential because without it, souls would be robots, incapable of genuine love, devotion, or moral choice. God allows humans to exercise free will, even when that will is used to cause suffering. A despot who torments his countrymen is using his free will to misuse the position he earned through past good karma. He will face the consequences of his actions through future karma. Free will thus explains the existence of moral evil—suffering caused by human choices—without attributing that evil to God.
Q3: How does the law of karma explain seemingly unjust suffering?
A: The law of karma operates across multiple lifetimes. A person suffering in this life may be experiencing the consequences of actions from previous lives that we cannot see. Conversely, a person enjoying undeserved good fortune may be reaping rewards from past good deeds. The ledger of karma is complex and spans countless lifetimes. This explains why suffering is not evenly distributed according to present virtue. The framework does not blame victims but places their experience within a larger moral order that is just over the long arc of existence.
Q4: Why do natural disasters like tsunamis occur if God is in control?
A: God sets in motion material nature, which operates according to physical laws. Tsunamis, earthquakes, and other natural events occur when those laws play out. However, the deaths that result are not random; those who die do so because their karmic account required that ending at that moment. The natural disaster is the instrument, but the cause is karmic. This is the most challenging aspect of the framework, as it can seem to blame victims. But from the perspective offered, it is about cosmic justice operating on a scale beyond human comprehension.
Q5: What hope or comfort does this framework offer to those who suffer?
A: The framework offers several sources of comfort. First, it assures that suffering is not meaningless or random; it has a place within a just moral order. Second, it offers the possibility that present suffering is burning off old karma, leading to purification and future betterment. Third, it reminds devotees that they can deal with suffering with help from God, and that this world is not their true home—they can seek liberation from the cycle of birth and death altogether. Great devotees of the past, who endured suffering while maintaining faith, are offered as proofs of God’s grace.
