Justice and Punishment
Many people are familiar with the term grace in connection with the Supreme Lord. Some of you will know the famous Christian hymn stating that it is amazing. Though there is a certain amount of ambiguity surrounding its true form and meaning, it is a power that is universally accepted. For example, the Gita 18.62 states, “O Arjuna! It is only by the grace of God that you can attain supreme peace and His eternally blissful divine abode.”
The first thing we must understand about grace is that it comes in many guises, including sorrow and suffering. Some people find this a bitter pill to swallow. “Why would God want to punish me? What did I ever do to Him?” Let us try and understand this through some simple analogies given by Jagadguruttam Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj.
Many of you reading this will be parents, raising your children to be good, law-abiding citizens embodying qualities such as compassion, kindness, truthfulness, and so on. But as a parent, what do you do when your child does something wrong? You first explain that what he did was not the right thing to do, and then you tell him not to do it again. But let’s say that he does. Now what do you do? You punish your child. The punishment you hand out can take a myriad of forms, but your motive behind doing so is only one, that is, love and care for your child. You have no enmity in your heart. You just do not want your son to grow up to become a delinquent, a criminal or even worse.
The Supreme Lord is all-loving and all-merciful, and when we — His children — do the wrong thing, He punishes us in the same way — as an expression of His love and care. Most of us do not understand this and instead blame God, curse Him or even disown Him. The suffering and sorrow we experience in life is God’s punishment for our wrongdoings, and therefore, an overflowing act of His kindness.
The police work round the clock to maintain law and order. Just imagine the pandemonium and chaos that would prevail if the criminal justice system and law enforcement agencies shut down for 24-hours. The criminal element lurking in our communities would seize the opportunity and the results would be disastrous — muggings, rapes, looting, and so on.
From this we can all see that even in the world punishment is issued for the betterment of society. If a person commits murder and surrenders before the court, promising to reform himself, no judge in the land would forgive him. The guilty offender will certainly face the consequences of his actions. But in God’s court, He forgives the countless sins of His fully surrendered devotees. He declares this in the Gita 18.66, “Arjuna, surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all your innumerable sins.”
In this way, the Supreme Lord showers His grace upon surrendered souls and takes their full responsibility, while for others He remains as a judge, awarding justice and punishment commensurate with their actions.
Jagadguru Kripalu Bhaktiyoga Tattvadarshan
The essence of Vedic wisdom, spirituality, and devotion in daily life
