Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.2 4.1-5 Lecture 61 on 22 August 2026 Q&A

Discussion on Good, Evil, and the Karma Siddhanta

Question: Is Good and Evil Real in the Manifestation of Brahman?

Participant: Maharaj, you talked about comparing Brahman and music, and the expression of the general sound into different varieties of music, which is this whole world. There are rules in music for expressing it in a proper way.

Response (Maharaj): Yeah.

Participant: So there is good music and then there is bad music. So like that, with respect to manifestation of Brahman – is there good and bad? Is that the good and evil that we talk about?

Response: Yeah. So is it real that there is evil? Is it real that there is good? First of all, you have to understand that both go together – good and evil. Okay. Supposing a tiger eats up the young one of a buffalo. Let us see. From the viewpoint of the buffalo or the calf, is it good news or bad news?

Participant: Bad news.

Response: From the viewpoint of the tiger, good news or bad news?

Participant: Good news.

Response: So is there something called absolute evil and absolute good?

Participant: No, it doesn't seem like that.

Response: It is all relative, isn't it?

Participant: Yes, ma'am.

The Relative Nature of Good and Evil

Response: And that is actually from the ignorant point of view. When we think "I am separate from everything else," the calf is different from the tiger – then problem comes. But when we look from the existential point of view, who can destroy existence? Can you destroy the existence of the calf?

Participant: Maybe...

Response: No. It becomes – because the moment it eats, what does it become?

Participant: The tiger.

Response: And now, which is the better state? 100% tiger is a better state. Ahhh. So now the tiger – who knows – the calf may take revenge. It may cause some disease, who knows, to the tiger. We don't know. We think that the tiger only enjoyed. We are all doing it, isn't it? You eat sweet. What does this sweet do to you?

Participant: No telling.

Response: Eating you up, isn't it?

Participant: Sure.

The Karma Siddhanta as a Practical Philosophy

Response: So there is nothing called absolute good or evil. But so long as we do not know this truth, we have to have some philosophy to cope with life. Okay. For that, Hinduism has got this karma siddhanta. Yeah. So we have to develop – it is not to say that what I am seeing is the true truth. It is to make our lives as less worry as possible with the help of this philosophy. Because what you cannot prevent, you can't prevent – that's all. What is the point of saying "there is evil"? Is it going to become less by saying "there is evil"? No. We have to be – we have to be practical. There is evil and there is also good. The moment we recognise evil – how are you able to say this is evil? Unless you have an idea of what is good. Good, yes. So both are existing. We are not paying attention to the good that is happening.

Example: Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and the Problem of Evil

Response: That is why when you read – or rather, study the Gospel – Ishwar, such a great scholar as Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, could not understand how, when Jenghis Khan had ordered 100,000 people to be killed, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar lost his faith in God. "What is God doing?" Poor God, ignorant God. Had he known that after 20 – after 9 centuries – a man will be born in Calcutta called Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, I think he is going to judge me by this act. I better hurry and save these prisoners.

Example: The Mayan Civilization and Historical Context

Response: I will tell you something very interesting. Some scientists went and found out in Spain – some Spain, I think it is Mayan civilization there – they discovered some... what is called... where people were butchered, hundreds of them. That means somebody must have butchered them by breaking their skulls with a hammer or whatever it was. Later on, they discovered hundreds of other skulls, etc., butchered by those people who were butchered by these Spaniards. So we don't know – we thought that these were innocent people, but we don't know what they did.

The Role of Past Karma and Liberation

Response: So in India, so many fellows are born – this what is called – how much they tortured women, forced them to burn themselves. They were born in Shudra families and they became – they converted their religion. Yeah. So if we only have the knowledge to look back at what we did in the past, then our knowledge will be complete. Then we become liberated. But God doesn't want to – He wants to sleep peacefully. So He says, "Play the game for a long time."