GOOD AND EVIL

[Guest guest]

Thank you Girish for your lead.

 

However, doesn't this passage refer to the WHY of evil rather than what it

is.

 

i do find clarity in what Swami Yogeshananda and Bob Rose posted as Evil

being anything that takes us toward ignorance and Good being anything that

leads us toward God.

 

Even Good that is limited in scope can be extremely heinous, in this

respect. For example ( and i may be wrong in my thoughts) the Nazis believed

they were doing 'good' for the German race. Only a good that encompasses all

of humanity and indeed all life is truly good.

 

i s'pose though that this is implied in both Swami Yogeshananda's and Bob

Rose's emails.

 

 

 

 

----Original Message Follows----

Girish <girishsv

Ramakrishna

ramakrishna

Re: [sri Ramakrishna] Vivekananda Mailing List-7/6/04

Wed, 7 Jul 2004 19:17:40 -0700

 

The Problem of Evil

by Swami Prabhavavananda and Christopher Isherwood

 

http://www.vedanta.com/getpage.cfm?file=what_is_evil.html

 

Every religion or system of philosophy has to deal with the problem of

evil - and unfortunately it is a problem which is usually explained

away rather than explained. " Why, " it is asked, " does God permit evil,

when He (or She) is all goodness? "

 

One of two answers is usually given to this question by Western

religious thought. Sometimes we are told that evil is educational and

penal. God punishes us for our sins by visiting us with war, famine,

earthquake, disaster and disease. He employs temptation (either

directly or through the agency of the Devil) to test and strengthen

the virtue of the good. This is the answer given by the Old Testament.

It repels many people today and has become unfashionable-although, as

we shall see in a moment, it contains a certain degree of truth,

according to the philosophy of Vedanta.

 

The other answer, now more generally accepted, is that evil does not

exist at all. If we view Life sub specie aeternitatis we shall know

that evil has no reality; that it is simply a misreading of good.

 

Vedanta philosophy disagrees with both these answers-with the second

even more radically than with the first.

 

 

 

 

 

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 10:53:26 -0400, jairam seshadri

<jairamseshadri wrote:

> Has Swamiji or any other branch of philosophy or philosopher defined "

Good "

> and defined " Evil " in a way that we can relate to?

>

> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>

>

> Evil thoughts, looked at materially, are the disease bacilli. Each

> thought is a little hammer blow on the lump of iron which our bodies

> are, manufacturing out of it what we want it to be. We are heirs to all

> the good thoughts of the universe, if we open ourselves to them.

>

>