The Role of Satan [a.k.a. 'Apara-Prakriti'] in God's Creation-Part 11

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The Role of Satan [a.k.a. 'Apara-Prakriti'] in God's Creation-Part 11

 

Man's place in the

conflict between God's

goodness and Satan's

temptations

 

(p.150) God in His omniscience must surely have anticipated the origin of evil

in the outgoing powers of His creative archangel. But even though delusive

duality was the only means by which God could organize a cosmic play in order to

enjoy Himself through His many selves, He assured that no convolution of His

design would be outside the embrace of His Goodness reflected ubiquitously

[everywhere] in the Christ Consciousness. This magnetic power of God's love

would in time attract all beings back to Him through evolution into divine

awakening.

 

(p.151) By an infinite display in nature and the life of man, God's Goodness

advertises itself to impress man and influence him to turn of his own free will

toward the Abode of Bliss. Satan counteracts in every instance with deceptive,

charmingly pleasant contrivances of temporary satisfaction to dupe gullible man

into seeking permanent happiness in impermanent materiality. People succumb to

Satan's offerings because he puts honey in his evil pleasures; they taste nice

in the beginning but end in dire consequences.

 

The Almighty could annihilate Satan in an instant. By divine fiat He could

wholly subjugate the Satanic Force. Various world scriptures speak of partial

dissolutions of the earth because of excessive evils. As described in Genesis,

much of the earth during Noah's time was devastated by a flood. But God does not

illogically use His omnipotence to arbitrarily destroy His self-perpetuating

creation, for that would contradict His own laws and the independence of action

given by Him to Satan [Apara-Prakriti], empowering that Force to use these

principles of manifestation.

 

Since God gave independence to man as well as to Satan, He can free souls only

with their permission and cooperation. Satan has created such a delusive

attachment to the instrumentality of a physical body that even if God were at

this moment to offer liberation to the masses, I daresay not many would be eager

to depart this merry playground--to leave behind their accustomed bodily

residence with its possessions and sensory opportunities. To most persons even

the concept of an existence in heaven is of a familiarly similar, though far

more glorious, sentient bodily form and habitation. The body-identified

sense-oriented are rigidly unconvinced that it is worthwhile to forgo known

pleasure for the arcane bliss of Spirit. So many learning experiences must be

undergone before man is ready to use his free will to choose God above all else.

Earth, in the meantime, is the schoolhouse in which he must pass examinations in

how to discriminate and choose between the soul-binding delusive patterns of

Satan and the liberating patterns of God.

 

Man rebelliously protests: If God knows that we are suffering, why does He,

being almighty and eternally blessed, allow weak mortals to suffer from the

temptations and scourge of evil? It should not be assumed that God is enjoying

His eternal blessed state in selfish happiness; He is suffering the tragedies of

man's existence, delayed evolution on earth, and belated return to Paradise

through all-emancipating wisdom. His compassion is not elsewhere expressed more

munificently than in His incarnate sons, divine saviors, through whom His silent

Voice speaks audibly to man. (p.152) Jesus, as a manifestation of God, came to

speak for God of the eternal kingdom of Heaven, upon whose threshold no sorrow

can tread. His message of God's love is that permanent happiness can be found

only in God: " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and

rust doth corrupt " (Matthew 6:19).

 

Possessing Christ Consciousness, Jesus realized fully the tug-of-war between the

perfect, universally intelligent Holy Ghost Vibration manifesting Divine

Goodness and Satan's pull of imperfection toward the evil in finite creation. He

exemplified the love of God the Father, and that Father's eagerness to alleviate

man's suffering and ignorance, as God's power flowed through him to heal the

maladies of body, mind, and spirit. He represented God's love for erring

humanity in acts and sermons of forgiveness and compassion that showed how God

is continuously trying to use the superior force of Divine Love expressed as

parental, friendly, filial, and all-surrendering pure conjugal love to coax man

to forsake his cooperation with Evil's forces of hate, anger, jealousy, lust,

and selfishness. And he exhorted those he blessed to repent of their past wrong

actions that had caused their suffering: " Go and sin no more. "

 

Man cannot be held responsible for being tempted: Satan interjected into the

perfect makeup of man's sentient being the potentials for terrible physical

enticements that constantly urge him to transgress morally and spiritually.

Satan thereby tries to keep human beings deluded by greed, anger, fear, desire,

attachment, and ignorance; so God uses the psychological counterparts of

self-control, calmness, courage, satisfaction, unattached divine love, and

wisdom to bring man to His Divine Kingdom. Though temptation is Satan's doing,

man is responsible for not using his reason and will power to conquer evil by

knowing and following God's laws of happiness.

 

The gauntlet flung at the feet of Everyman is to face Evil, battle it with the

armaments of wisdom, and win the victory. [1]

 

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

You) Volume 1, Discourse 7, pg. 150-152

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] " Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles

of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against

principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this

world.... " (Ephesians 6:10-12).