All my life, I too wondered: why do bad things happen to good people? When I saw people suffering, I would wonder – these are such wonderful people, then why are they made to suffer? I was a devout believer in God and I must have prayed to God, hundreds of times when I saw people suffering.
I myself experienced misery so many times and I would cry out to God, “Why, O Lord, has this happened?” I was in love with a girl for many years and when I proposed to her, she refused. I couldn't understand why. I set up a big business and one day, just as I was going to sleep, I got a call that my store was on re. It was completely burnt down! Every now and then, misery struck my life and I could never understand why God is doing this to me. I always believed that God was in charge. “He is the Creator of the universe. He can do anything He wants. Then why am I suffering?”
My business grew several folds and I made millions. But misery never stopped attacking me. The problems grew. both in number and size, and while I made a lot of money, I spent sleepless nights worrying about my misfortunes.
It was much later in life that I was fortunate to meet my spiritual master. He taught me exactly how the law of Karma works and how we must learn to celebrate when something goes wrong, not regret it. My master was a genius. He not only taught me about Karma, but guided me how to live a life of surrender and acceptance. He led me on a path to realize the truth and this changed everything.
What did I realize? I realized that as human beings on earth, we perform certain actions. We cannot escape from these actions. Good or bad, they will return to us. What I further realized was that our actions are not redeemed immediately, just like some seeds grow into roots, shoots and fruits quickly, while others could take ages.
In my quest to realize the truth, I realized that what is returning to us in this life may not be the actions of this life, but rather, actions of the previous life or many past lives. I realized that the body will die, but the real ME – Mind and Ego, will be reborn based on my past actions. I also realized that we human beings cannot escape suffering. Whoever lives in this world, ultimately suffers and dies. The only way to escape such suffering is through liberation, being liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth. This happens when we realize that we are not the body or mind, but rather the Divine Soul.
My realization transformed my life. I no more worried about what was happening in the world because I knew it was a cosmic drama. When I realized that we are not the body that we seem to be, but rather energy, all my fear disappeared. Realization helped me profoundly in two phases. In the rst phase, the realization of the Universal Law made me understand that bad things cannot happen to good people. With God's Universal LawUniversal Laws in place, it is impossible for apples to grow on mango trees. God's programming of the world was perfect and we see it in our everyday life – as you sow, so shall you reap. While this was the rst profound realization in this context, the second realization, by far more profound, is the realization that I could transcend suffering. I could escape Karma and escape the cycle of death and rebirth. If only I lived as a realized soul, then none of the actions are mine. I live as a Divine instrument of the Lord, living and doing His will, seeking nothing for myself. This was a much larger realization and created a metamorphosis in my life. The rst instant, I only understood the law and lived blissfully, understanding the law. But in the second instant, I transcended the law, I went beyond it, to be liberated from Karma and unite with the Divine.
This realization which leads to Liberation was not easy to achieve. I had to go beyond my body and my senses, my mind and the ego and it was a big challenge and continues to be challenging every day as I live. After all, we live in a body mind complex, and till we are alive, the ME – mind and ego, pulled by the body, drags us into the clutches of this alluring world. My Goal was very clear – I wanted to go beyond all suffering and be liberated from a possible rebirth after death. I realized even now that it is possible, provided I live as the Soul, not the ego, mind and body.
As I look at the world today, I see different kinds of people. I see one set of people who are ignorant about the Law of KKarma. They just live and die. These are the kind of people who live without ethics and values and probably, they are the ones who seem to suffer the most, although their present actions maybe good. They are redeeming the bad deeds of their past. I see another set of people who understand the Divine Law of Action and Reaction. They are very conscious about their actions. They live ethically and follow moral principles in their day to day life. They live far more peaceful lives. Even if some bad things happen, they accept it gracefully and they do not suffer knowing very well it is their past coming back to them. I also see a small group of people, who realize that they are not the body or the mind. They are the Divine Soul. There is a war within and they struggle to live with the realization. The mind doesn't permit such a realization as it will destroy the mind.
What I see is that a small minority of people is visually blind where as the vast majority is spiritually blind. They struggle with life coping with what they call bad luck, crying and praying to God when misfortune strikes. It makes me sad to see such people and thus, after my realization, I have made it my mission to help people realize the truth.
This book, “Why bad things can't happen to good people”, based on the principle – apples can't grow on mango trees, is an effort to help humanity to understand the Universal Law. It aims to help people realize who they truly are, understand their purpose on earth and ultimately be liberated, not just from the misery of the world, but from the constant cycle of death and rebirth. This is the mission of my life.
