Among many questions raised against theism, few are as persistent as the question of suffering. If the Supreme Person is all-powerful, why does suffering exist at all? Why should innocent beings endure pain in a world created by a compassionate and omnipotent God? These are neither trivial nor irreverent questions, but they arise naturally from the experience of suffering itself.
I accept suffering as a tangible reality, whether experienced physically, mentally, or spiritually. I will therefore set aside views that avoid the central question by dismissing suffering as merely a mental construct, a transient physical interaction, or something that has no reality in the spiritual realm.
Often in debates between atheists and western theologians, innocent suffering is a common point of contention which questions why God allows innocent people to suffer without any fault on their part. Congenital disorders and severe disabilities from birth are often regarded as the strongest examples of innocent suffering. Western theology does not satisfactorily explain these cases beyond stating that it is a fallen creation and that suffering is meant to be reformatory.
The Vedic philosophy describes a continuity of life as a cycle of birth and death as opposed to the one-life theory, along with the laws of karma governing each action that implicates the individuals for their own suffering. In the Bhagavad Gita Kṛṣṇa says he does not interfere with the actions of the people and the resulting reactions they face due to them (na kartṛtvam na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhu). People are therefore held accountable for their own actions, the reactions to which, good or bad, may materialise between multiple lifetimes.
However, the idea of accountability in itself presupposes that an individual can cause suffering to oneself or other living entities, and this may happen knowingly or unknowingly. In reality, it is impossible to perform any action without causing some disturbance within the environment. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam – one life is the sustenance of another. Moreover, birth, death, old age and disease are all unavoidable realities of life that naturally produce suffering. Suffering is therefore inevitable if one wants to live in the material world, which is described by Kṛṣṇa as duḥkhalayam aśaśvatam — an abode of suffering & transience.
In light of the inevitability of suffering, how should one understand the compassion of God? There are examples of people in this world who are extraordinarily virtuous, who possess a compassionate and forgiving nature. They have no desire to cause suffering to others, rather they are affected by seeing others suffer. If there are such godly people even amongst us, fallen humans, then it is only logical to expect that God is much more virtuous than we can imagine —
yat kiñca loke bhagavan mahasvad
ojaḥ-sahasvad balavat kṣamāvat
śrī-hrī-vibhūty-ātmavad adbhutārṇaṁ
tattvaṁ paraṁ rūpavad asvarūpam
Anything and everything which is exceptionally possessed of power, opulence, mental and perceptual dexterity, strength, forgiveness, beauty, modesty, opulence, and breeding, which is either in form or is formless—may appear to be the specific truth and the form of the Lord, but actually are not so. They are only a fragment of the transcendental potency of the Lord. (SB 2.6.45)
Since God is supremely compassionate, then either we are mistaken to attribute the origin of suffering to Him, or we have misunderstood the true nature of suffering itself. Since everything that exists ultimately derives its existence from God, the latter appears to be the more plausible case.
If one is even a little self-aware, sooner or later the fleeting nature of material pleasures and the inevitability of death make one realize that much of our suffering comes from the lack of any lasting meaning in material life. This lack of meaning makes suffering feel more real than worldly happiness, even though pain and pleasure are really two sides of the same coin, the inherent duality of the material world.
In traditional Hindu society, contemplation on suffering often diffuses into the idea of karma. Many resign themselves to their circumstances, accepting that they are reaping the fruits of their own past actions performed across many lifetimes. Although this encourages good actions, preserves faith in the goodness of God, and guards against deeper forms of despair and nihilism, it can also limit deeper inquiry into the nature of suffering and its ultimate cause. Weary of the tribulations of human life, the idea of impersonal liberation, or mokṣa, captures the simple imagination of much of the Hindu population as the ultimate destination of eternal peace and happiness. But suffering has deeper lessons to teach than simply awakening the desire for this kind of mokṣa. To see it only in this light risks reducing spiritual life to a form of passive escapism.
Western thinkers largely influenced by Christian theology have no conceptual guardrails like karma or mokṣa, and often freely question the justice behind suffering. Dostoevsky, in particular, takes this questioning of suffering into a deeper question of freedom. In The Grand Inquisitor, he asks whether people really want the freedom that God has given them, when that freedom also means uncertainty, responsibility and suffering. The Inquisitor argues that most people would rather give up their freedom for bread, security and someone else to tell them what to believe. Dostoevsky therefore points to a difficult problem: in trying to escape suffering, people may also be willing to escape the burden of freedom itself. The Inquisitor offers relief from making the wrong choices; God offers freedom with the possibility of suffering. Dostoevsky sides with God because only freedom makes genuine love of God possible.
Free will is perhaps the most fundamental attribute that makes us truly alive; without it, we are little more than inert matter. Throughout the Vedic literature, the free will of the ātma is implicit and forms a fundamental premise of its teachings. If the ātma has free will, it must also have some purpose for exercising it; otherwise, there would be no motive to exercise that freedom. The Vedānta-sūtra aphorism ānanda-mayo ’bhyāsāt indicates that the ātma, by nature, is always seeking ānanda—happiness or bliss.
The realization that material life offers no deeper or lasting meaning is significant, for it points to the fact that material existence can never provide real happiness. It is at this point that the search for our eternal situation, in which the ātma can be completely satisfied, begins. The Bhāgavata describes real liberation, or mukti, as muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ—giving up one's false, acquired identity and becoming established in one's original nature.
The Bhāgavata also announces the highest dharma of the ātma in the following verse which identifies its original nature—
sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati
The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order to completely satisfy the self.
Loving devotion to the Supreme Person, who is transcendental to all material estimations, is thus established as the eternal function (paro dharmaḥ) of the ātma. By being reinstated in that position, the ātma is completely satisfied.
Bringing all the points above together, one might wonder why we would ever renounce our svarūpa of loving devotional service to the Supreme Person and accept an acquired identity within the material world—the very cause of our suffering. The answer is that we were never situated in our perfected svarūpa to begin with, because, as the above verse states, the ātma is completely satisfied in that position, and therefore could have no reason to renounce it. Such unalloyed loving devotional service surpasses even the bliss of mokṣa (mokṣa-laghutā-kṛta), what to speak of anything in the material world, which is ultimately an abode of suffering. Moreover, the attraction to Kṛṣṇa would be insurmountable to ever be able to exercise our free will to move away from Him. On the other hand, to think that we have always had an acquired identity within this material world would also be erroneous, because that would mean the Supreme Lord was inconsiderate, and we never had the choice to begin with—again the very choice through which we exercise our free will.
The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas explain that, at some point in eternity, every individual ātma was in an unmanifest, inactive state before becoming active. Upon becoming active, they manifested a tendency either to serve Kṛṣṇa or to become enjoyers themselves. Those inclined toward service realized their original nature (svarūpa) as servants of Kṛṣṇa, while those inclined toward independent enjoyment drifted towards the material world, where Kṛṣṇa’s material energy covered them with false ego, giving rise to an assumed identity that enables them to enjoy the material world in a state of forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa.
The Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is supremely independent, whereas all other living entities are dependent upon Him for their existence. The Lord owes us nothing, yet He accommodates our desire to turn away from Him by providing the material world. He thus makes an arrangement in which we can pursue our independent desires, but that does not mean we can become free riders. Here, happiness and suffering appear as fleeting and opposing experiences, both of which ultimately remind us of the limitations of material existence and may, in time, turn us back toward Him. Our enjoyment in the material world depends on our actions. Even the highest forms of material enjoyment, attained through pious actions, remain temporary and ultimately subject to the reactions of karma.
trai-vidyā māṁ soma-pāḥ pūta-pāpā
yajñair iṣṭvā svargatiṁ prārthayante
te puṇyam āsādya surendra-lokam
aśnanti divyān divi deva-bhogān
te taṁ bhuktvā svarga-lokaṁ viśālaṁ
kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti
evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā
gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmā labhante
Those who are conversant with the three Vedas worship Me indirectly, and by drinking soma they become purified and attain the higher planets. By their pious activities they reach the abode of Indra where they enjoy the celestial pleasures of the demigods. After they have experienced the extensive pleasures of the higher planets, their pious credits become exhausted and they again enter the mortal plane. Therefore, the results of those who perform Vedic rituals to obtain material enjoyment are fleeting. (BG 9.20-21)
The Lord instituted the principle of yajña, or sacrifice, by which human beings perform their actions as offerings to Him. He warns that actions performed for selfish ends bind us to a cycle of action and reaction, ultimately leading to suffering—
yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ
tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara
All activities are meant for sacrifice (yajña) to Viṣṇu. Other than that, all other activities bind one to this material world. O son of Kuntī, work for Him alone and be free from any attachment. (BG 3.9)
evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ nānuvartayatīha yaḥ
aghāyur indriyārāmo moghaṁ pārtha sa jīvati
O Pārtha, one who lives in this world but does not accept the Vedic system, lives an impious life in pursuit of sense pleasure—thus he lives a life in vain. (BG 3.16)
dharmasya hy āpavargyasya nārtho 'rthāyopakalpate
nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ
kāmasya nendriya-prītir lābho jīveta yāvatā
jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ
All occupational engagements (dharmas) are certainly meant for ultimate liberation. They should never be performed for material gain. Furthermore, one who is engaged in the ultimate occupational service (dharma) should never use material gain to cultivate sense gratification. Life's desires should never be aimed at gratifying the senses. One should desire to live only because human life enables one to inquire about the Absolute Truth. This should be the goal of all works. (SB 1.2.9-10)
These, and volumes of other profound instructions for the welfare of humanity, have been revealed by the Supreme Lord through the Vedic scriptures—from the Upaniṣads and Bhagavad Gītā to the Bhāgavata and the works of the great Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas. They explain not only the causes of suffering in the material world, but also how to live in a way that mitigates its effects, frees us from the cycle of karma, and ultimately restores us to our eternal relationship with the Supreme Person. Indeed, association with scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gītā and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, as well as with those who sincerely follow their teachings, can itself mitigate the suffering of material life by giving us knowledge, purpose, and shelter. The knowledge has been given, the path has been shown, and the choice remains with us.