Who doesn't feel sad when they see a newborn battling with life? It is an innocent young child who has done nothing wrong to anybody. It is just born. But it is blind. It can't see. Just the thought of its miserable life can break anybody's heart. What is the cause of this suffering?
Susan and Rocky were in love and after 4 years, they were blessed with a baby. They were very good people, helpful to the community and connected to God. The baby was adorable but within months, sad news hit them. The child had muscular dystrophy. This meant that the muscles would degenerate and become weak, leading to a life in a wheelchair. It was not just that, there would be all kinds of complications in breathing, swallowing, and ultimately, an early death. Why was this young child suffering? They couldn't understand. They made an appeal to God with tears, but the suffering did not cease.
Rahul was a lovable and handsome child. Unfortunately, while he was in primary school, the family realized that he had some form of dyslexia, a learning disorder which meant that he could not read and learn as normal children would do. It would mean having a poor memory and growing up being clumsy. What wrong had Rahul done? He was such an innocent young boy but he was fumbling and mumbling.
Shiva was born to a middle-class couple. They were struggling to live. Their struggles peaked when they realized that Shiva was both physically and mentally challenged. After much deliberation, the couple decided to leave Shiva in a charitable home. “What wrong had Shiva done?” the parents cried. But they had no option. They could not manage their work along with taking care of this child.
If we look at all these children, it confuses us as to why these young kids are going through such pain. After all, these kids have not done any harm to anybody. But they suffer. Why do bad things happen to innocent young babies? If the one who is suffering is an adult, we can accept the Law of Action and Reaction, Cause and Effect, unfolding in their life. Bad things are happening to them because they must have done something bad. But what about these young kids? They have not done anything to anybody. Then why do they suffer?
If we ponder deeply into the suffering of young kids, we will realize a profound Truth. These young kids may look tiny in size, but there is a history that they carry with them which is very long. How is this possible? These children may appear to be just born, but they have an account of their previous actions that have not been redeemed. The suffering that we see in these children is not by chance, nor is it God's choice. These children have created Karma, actions in their previous life those are causing this suffering to unfold. Why would, otherwise, suffering envelop these children but let other children live in fortune and luxury? It is because of an unsettled negative account that the young children are born with and hence, suffer.
The Law of Action and Reaction doesn't close the account so easily. It tracks every action of every person, not only when we are alive but even after death and our karmic score is carried forward life after life. What does this mean? This means that the suffering of these young children seems to be a suffering of the one who was alive in an earlier life and has committed certain deeds. While the action was over in the previous life, the reaction was incomplete. The deeds were completed, but the reward or punishment was not. The seeds were planted in the previous life, but the suffering that we see are the fruits of those seeds that we cannot see. There is no other possible inference. It is not that God is incapable of stopping this, nor is the Creator cruel as some people may seem to think. What is unfolding is nothing but the Universal Law that doesn't understand the meaning of death.
According to the Law of Action and Reaction, if I commit some actions in America, and I shift base to India, I will not escape from my actions. The law will inict upon me what I deserve. It is the same ME – Mind and Ego, that deserves the fruit of my actions. Sure, I might have dropped my previous body, but the one who is alive is the same person, the same mind and ego.
This law is very complex and beyond common understanding. Those who contemplate the suffering of young children realize through inference that if I was a young body, my body was not suffering, but it was ME – my Mind and Ego that was suffering in the new body that appeared on earth. It was not a new story that started at birth, but a rather a continuum of several lives that had all its actions and reactions accounted in the karmic law that caused suffering to these young children.
Those who are ignorant about the Universal Law, continue to suffer pain looking at a young child suffer. This is because they do not realize that this young child is not suffering without reason. They do not understand that the body of this young child carries within a Mind and Ego, ME, that has a 'carry forward' account. If this carry forward account is negative and is lled with evil deeds of the past, it cannot escape the negative score that it carries. The negative Karma has to be redeemed and since it cannot be redeemed due to death of the Mind and Ego, ME in the previous body, the suffering is carried forward to the ME in a new body that seems to unjustly suffer at birth. Those who understand the law, realize that there can be no injustice in this law. It works on a universal principle of action and reaction. Nobody can manipulate this law.
When we see a young child suffering, the suffering is not just of the child, but of everybody around, including the mother and father. The suffering of the parents must be due to an unsettled account apparently unknown to them. Even to the child, the suffering is that of the Mind and Ego, it is not the young child that seems to suffer. Suffering can't just happen to anybody without reason. It is the result of something and this is not an assumption, but rather presumptions based on Universal Laws that exist on earth. The Law of Cause and Effect makes us understand that there cannot be an effect without a cause. If we light a re, then there will be smoke. Similarly, when we see smoke, we understand there must be a re somewhere. While we are clear about re and smoke, our ignorance stops us from realizing why a young child suffers. If the young child is suffering, there must be a cause. Just because we are unaware of the cause, we cannot condemn the suffering as unjust and unfair. Instead, we should use our intellect to realize that the suffering we see only goes on to prove that there is some unsettled negative balance accompanying the one who is born as this little baby, due to past bad actions that may have been committed sometime in the recent or distant past.
Why else would some children be born in fortunate circumstances and some in unfortunate ones? Why is there disparity in the fate of young children who have done no harm to anybody? Obviously, this is not some random act of the Creator. If such was the law of the Divine, then one would see apples on mango trees, just as one would see pineapples, cherries, and strawberries growing on every other bush. The Universal Law tells us otherwise. It is a very specic law, easy to understand for those who observe and accept it. They do not question when the law unfolds with its just redemption. The law is not cruel or unkind. The law is just making sure that there are apples on apple trees and there are mangoes on mango trees. The law ensures that good deeds beget good rewards, just as bad things fall upon those who commit bad deeds. The law does not know how to execute reverse actions. That is why apples cannot grow on mango trees.
If children are suffering, there is no doubt that parents, family, and anybody who sees the suffering will feel sad. But if we want to realize the Truth behind the misery, we must understand how this Universal Law of Action and Reaction works. It cannot be changed or manipulated – it is a Universal Law! If I throw an apple in the sky, can somebody stop it in mid-air? Normally not, because the Universal Law of Gravity will pull it down. As the earth rotates, causing day and night, can someone stop night from happening? The Universal Law of Cycles is unstoppable.
Just as these Universal Laws can't be changed, controlled or stopped as they unfold on earth, children will continue to suffer if they carry with them an account of bad deeds that have not been redeemed. This does not make this world a cruel place, nor the Creator unjust and harsh.
If we want to understand the source of this suffering, then we must get into the details of who actually suffers, what exactly is death and what is meaning of life thereafter.
