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rah" is a covenant, a solemn agreement between man and God whereby man acts as a partner of God in realizing His vision on the earth. Man's mission is to follow the Torah and live a life of commitment to the Ten Commandments to reach the 'Promised Land'. If man plays well his part of the contract, there is no way God can back out. So man and God are partners in the divine mission of the Promised Land. Any infringement of the Torah will result in suffering.
Sikhism considers evil as something that resides within the individual due to his own creation. God who created the world will remain a mystery that man will continuously try to unravel. The enlightened Guru, who has realized God, is the living God in the temporal world and man has to follow the Guru's teachings in letter and spirit. But because of his ignorance, man turns away from being a 'Gurmukh' (facing God) to becoming 'manmukh' (facing himself/self-centered). Haumai (egotism) makes a man consider only himself as good and great and does not let him think of others positively. Ego leads a man to project himself at the cost of others and dominate over others, crystallizing anger, lust, infatuation, greed and possessiveness. The cause of suffering is ego; so destroy ego to overcome suffering. Man has to surrender himself to the Guru and, thereby, to the will of God. Suffering therefore leads to the path of God-realization by destroying ego and vanity.
The atheist will still have some questions:
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Why should a man undergo pain (sadness) to know what pleasure (happiness) is?
Or, can not happiness be experienced without any element of sadness interpolating it?
Was God so helpless when creating the world that he had to use pain as a tool to save the world from suffering disorder due to man's indiscretion and to keep mankind under control?
In sum, how much evil should suffice to know what is divine, good and glorious?
Why should evil be looked upon as a blessing in disguise to make man more moral and religious? Is there no other alternative?
The only answer seems to be that the world is better with evil than without it, whether one accepts theism or follows atheism. Mankind would have become extinct but for the scientists, technologists and medical personnel who took up the challenge of neutralizing the diseases that man suffered in the past. Many societies would have ceased to be had not the human intellect discovered the laws and principles that govern the coming into to being,
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| SR No. | 007005 |
| Book Title | World of Philosophy |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave |
| Publisher | Shanti Prakashan |
| Publication Year | 2011 |
| Total Pages | 1002 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 30 MB |