Pain and Suffering

The day was very tiring for the Ashram community. There was a great deal of work that had to be done for the forthcoming annual Satsangh. “Why does God allow suffering?” asked Dayanand to their guru. "Creation is God's Self-expression bound with time and space. God expresses Himself through His creation. God is Love Infinite. Love by its very nature is also creative energy. Hence creativity is an attribute of God. He cannot but be creative at all times. "Pain and suffering are essential parts of creativity that leads to greater joy. The greatest creativity is giving birth to a child. The mother goes through very many difficulties from the time of conception. She also has to go through a great pain and suffering to give birth to the child and to nurture it, and to bring it up. 'No pain, no gain' and 'No resurrection without crucifixion' are adages with great divine wisdom in them. "God does not give us pain and suffering. Some of them are part of the reality of life, like the pain associated with child birth. It leads to greater joy. Some are caused by our own ignorance, lust, anger, jealousy, sloth, pride, selfishness, greed etc. Some are reactions to our evil thoughts, words and deeds. Some of them are caused by natural calamities. Once we understand this truth, we can also use our pain and suffering creatively for our individual and collective growth and development. That is what Gandhiji, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and such other great men and women all over the world demonstrated to us. They suffered willingly and consciously for the good of others. This is what every good mother does. Love motivates us to suffer for the beloved. True love, divine love, is forgiving, enduring and self-sacrificing", explained the master to his beloved disciple.