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We see a lot of conflicts, accidents, diseases, poverty, pain and suffering around us in our day to day life.

I often wonder why god created so much misery and so little goodness.

What is His plan in all this (happiness & suffering) at the end?

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    Do you blame the government for making roads if an accident takes place on the road? God creates the infrastructure, what we do with it is up to us. And what do you mean by little goodness. There is lot of goodness happening daily, but it is not interesting so you don't see on the news that 10 lakh people went to a temple today, or 1 crore people took care of their parents and children etc.
    – mar
    May 29, 2017 at 18:55
  • What do you mean by the word " this" in the last sentence. Do you mean his plan in all the happenings in the world OR Do you mean by Pain & suffering.IMO its unclear what exactly you want to know. You can edit the question anytime.
    – SwiftPushkar
    May 30, 2017 at 7:17
  • Conflicts what you mention all because of people who around you, There is No pain No gain. As a Human we need all emotions if we have all then only you can feel Happy, Love and caring etc. God is a creator/Destroyer, we all can decide how we want to be. Until unless we are happy with what we have there is no Pain. So be Happy (Build positivity) and make others happy it will reduce most of all so called Conflicts. Here I haven't understand your Tag, I think you have to edit with suitable one.
    – CR241
    May 30, 2017 at 16:04
  • Same query by the Buddha, and the same answer today.
    – Narasimham
    Jun 8, 2017 at 13:19

2 Answers 2

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Why pain & sufferings?- It has been explained in Shiva Rahasya Chapter 2.

  1. Time is eternal and restrains everything from within. Hence, Time is One with the Supreme All-Knowing Lord. Indeed, Infinite Time is Eternal Truth Itself. It creates and destroys the finite time known to unawakened man. He who realises the power of Unending Time, for him limited time comes to an end. He attains Eternal Life.
  2. But he who is pray to finite time, knows not the Limitless. He is bound to the limited things of limited life. Thinking, What is now being perceived by me: this Mind, this Body, these Possessions; they belong to me, they are part of me, I am these and nothing else. By this way of thinking, the unenlightened Ego Mind leads the Soul to identify himself with these constituents of Material Reality.
  3. O you who are most wise! know that the Universe is a well-ordered Unity of interdependent forms. All things therein, rocks, plants, fish, birds and beasts dwell in harmony with each other and according to My World-Supporting Law. Of all creatures, ignorant men alone act not by My Command.
  4. For they are possessed by a vain Ego: not content with what I Myself allotted them, they yearn to be something else. Moreover, they lift themselves in pride above others and give themselves to works that are hateful and wrong.
  5. Possessed by a defective Ego they break the Sacred Bond of Unity and go to the Abode of Discord where Sin is their God and sorrow their lot. Therefore, well do the wise ones know that Ego is man's greatest foe.
  6. Thus, through association with the Ego, the deluded Sense of I, the Soul who is Pure Spirit comes to forget his true identity and succumbs to the conviction that he is non-Spirit.
  7. Having forgotten that he himself is Pure and Perfect, Self-Shining Light, the Soul deems himself to be as dull and lacklustre as the material substance he identifies with. In this dull condition, having once shined like a Great Star in the midst of the Infinite Vault of Consciousness, he becomes dependent upon outer, physical light.
  8. Having once soared like an Eagle in the Radiant Sky of Spiritual Reality, he now stands helpless upon the hard ground of physical existence, enveloped in gloom.
  9. Due to this blind darkness that separates them from the Light of Spirit, the heart of unEnlightened Souls is ever-restless, tormented and suffers all kinds of pain.

Summary- Identifying ourselves with something which we're not is the ultimate reason of sufferings.

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The explanation for pain and suffering is that Jivas live in duality where there is both pain and pleasure, both happiness and misery. You can't have only pleasure and no pain since this world is in a state of duality. Only in the non-dual state is there no such pairing.

Brahman is beyond vidya and avidya, knowledge and ignorance. It is beyond maya, the illusion of duality. The world consists of the illusory duality of knowledge and ignorance. It contains of knowledge and devotion, and also attachment to 'lust and greed'; righteousness and unrighteousness; good and evil. But Brahman is unattached to these. Good and evil apply to the jiva, the individual soul, as do righteousness and unrighteousness; but Brahman is not at all unaffected by them. One man may read the Bhagavata by the light of the lamp, and another may commit a forgery by that very light; but that lamp is unaffected. The sun sheds its light on the wicked as well as on the virtuous. You may then ask, 'How, then can one explain misery, and sin and unhappiness?' The answer is that these apply to the jiva. Brahman is unaffected by them. There is poison in a snake; but though others may die if bitten by it, the snake itself is not affected by the poison.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

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