The Role of Satan in God's Creation - Part 3

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The Nature and Origin of Evil

 

(p.133) Many modern scriptural interpreters, unable to understand why a perfect

Christ would acknowledge the existence of Satan and Satan's power to tempt him,

have tried to explain away the old concept of a devil by saying it is obsolete

and metaphorical. (p.134) God is the Source and Essence of all things, they

point out, therefore evil does not exist--how could evil exist in a world

created by the Deity who is only good? Others say that the good God does not

know evil, for if He did He would surely put an end to it.

 

To see God in everything and to deny the power of evil to influence one's life

has its good points; for even if it is conceded that a conscious evil force or

Satan does exist, it cannot influence human minds unless they mentally accept

it. However, it is quite contradictory to deny the existence and temptations of

evil while remaining subject to suffering and succumbing to desires unbefitting

the God-image within one. If one inhabits a body, he has tacitly acknowledged

the duality of the world of matter. Philosophy can play an intricate word-game

with truth, but what each individual has to deal with in fact is the obstinate

mindset of his present state of consciousness. It is better to know the wiles of

evil and the ways to combat them than to be caught unaware in blithe denial.

Knowledge only, and not assertion without realization, can produce final

emancipation.

 

Though it cannot be denied that God is the Source of all that exists, and that

evil is a part of His creation, it must also be acknowledged that what we call

evil is relative. Certainly it is terrible that violence, accidents, and

diseases kill billions of people every century. But death itself is necessary to

the renewal and progress of life. Also, earth is not meant to be " heavenly " ; if

it were, no one would want to leave the comfortable physical body and

pleasurable world to go back to God. Misery, in one sense, is man's benefactor,

because it drives him to seek sorrow-transcendence in God. Thus it is hard to

fix a boundary line between good and evil, except in a relative sense. To God

Himself nothing is evil, for nothing can diminish His immortal, eternally

perfect Bliss. But for the myriad beings trapped in the crucible of mortal

existence evil is all too real; and to say that God does not know their

suffering as evil would imply that He is a very ignorant God!

 

The subjective nature

of evil--arising from

man's thoughts and actions

 

There are various causes that can be put forth to explain evil occurrences in

the world. Some people say that the responsibility for them lies neither with

God nor with any objective Evil Power. They reject as medieval superstition the

view that Satan is an actual being, like a dragon who has to be slain by the

sword of the conquering knight; and try to explain Satan away by saying that the

origin of evil is subjective, arising from psychological factors, from the

thoughts and actions of man himself. (p.135) This can perhaps be granted in the

case of heinous acts perpetrated by villainous souls who cause suffering for

their fellow beings; but what about the pain of disease, injury, and premature

death? According to the view that evil is subjective, even these sufferings

result from man's erroneous choices and actions--his lack of harmony with

universal laws.

 

In this sense it is certainly true that evil in man's life is self-engendered:

If a man hits a stone wall with his knuckles, the resulting undeniable evil of

pain would not be created or willed by the wall, but would be the result of his

ignorance in striking the naturally unyielding hardness of the stones. Likewise,

it can be said that God is a stone wall of Eternal Goodness. His universe

subsists on the workings of just and natural laws. Anyone foolish enough to

misuse his intelligence to act against that goodness will inexorably produce the

evil of pain and suffering--not because of any intent or wish of God, but

because of pernicious ways of life colliding with the eternal good principles

underlying all things in God. Man possesses the divinely given gift of free

choice to tune in with God's goodness, peace, and immortality. Those who use

their will contrarily and act out of tune with Him, breaking His laws, are bound

to suffer from the recoil of their misdeeds, according to the law of cause and

effect.

 

A little boy endowed with reason may enjoy perfect health and protection under

the strict discipline of his mother; but when he grows up, he says: " Mother, I

know I am safe in your care; but I wonder why you fostered my intelligence and

gave me the power of free choice if you are always to decide how I am to behave?

I want to make my own choices; I will find out for myself what is good or bad

for me. "

 

The mother replies: " Son, it is fitting for you to demand the right to use your

free choice. When you were helpless and your reason had not yet budded forth, I

nurtured you through the protection of maternal love. Now your eyes of reason

are opened; it is time for you to depend upon the guidance of your own

judgment. "

 

Thus the youth ventures into the world unguarded, with only a semideveloped

discrimination. He abuses health laws and becomes ill. He chooses wrong company

and gets into a fight, resulting in a black eye and a broken leg.

 

It is the Divine Mother [1] who tries to protect each baby through the

instinctive love of parents. (p.136) But there comes a time when the baby grows

up and has to protect itself by the exercise of reason. If guided rightly by

discrimination, the maturing individual becomes happy; but if reason is misused,

then an evil outcome is precipitated.

 

From the foregoing analysis of evil, it would appear that the cause of evil is

more subjective than objective, that much of it is due to the ignorance and

wrong judgment of man, not to some malicious force in the universe. The power of

habits presents an apt example: The consequent evils of physical overindulgence

or indiscretion--ill health, being held in the grip of temptation--do not arise

until man, by an act of erroneous judgment, forgets himself and by repeated

transgressions allows the wrong indulgence to become a habit in the

consciousness. All habits, good or bad, control and enslave the mind only after

the will has allowed itself to be overcome by repeated good or evil actions born

of good or evil judgment.

 

Why, then, are some children born with special tendencies of self-control and

some with tendencies of weakness, before they have had any opportunity to

exercise their reason and free choice? Some intellectuals confidently assert

that heredity is responsible for good or bad traits in a child. But why would an

impartial God endow one child with a good heredity producing a good brain

inclined only to good tendencies, and another child with a bad heredity and a

dysfunctional brain inclined only to do evil under the compelling influence of

evil physiological instincts?

 

An answer is found in the law of reincarnation and its corollary of karma--the

cosmic dispenser of justice through the law of cause and effect which governs

the actions of all persons. According to this law, the soul attracts to itself a

good or bad heredity, and a good or bad mentality, according to desires and

habits formed in past earth-existences, which being unexpurgated are carried

forward from the last incarnation into rebirth in one's present life. (p.137) A

person's good or bad judgment of all incarnations, working through the law of

cause and effect, creates good or bad inclinations, and those inclinations

attract him to rebirth in a family with good or bad hereditary tendencies (or

beyond the effects of heredity, to an environment and life experiences

consistent with his karmic propensities). Thus it may be said that evil in man's

life arises from his own wrong judgment.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 7, pg. 133-137

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Note:

 

[1] The aspect of God that is active in creation; the 'shakti', or power, of the

Transcendent Creator. In this context, the reference is to the personal aspect

of God embodying the motherly qualities of love and compassion. The Hindu

scriptures teach that God is both immanent and transcendent, personal and

impersonal. He may be sought as the Transcendent Absolute; but as the Bhagavad

Gita XII:5 points out, " Those whose goal is the Unmanifested increase the

difficulties; arduous is the path to the Absolute for embodied beings. " Easier

for most devotees is to seek God as one of His manifest eternal qualities, such

as love, wisdom, bliss, light; in the form of an 'ishta' (deity); or as Father,

Mother, or Friend. Other terms for the Mother aspect of Divinity are 'Aum',

'Shakti', 'Holy Ghost', 'Cosmic Intelligent Vibration', 'Nature', or 'Prakriti'.