What is the purpose of all the suffering and evil in the world?

Q: What is the purpose of all the suffering and evil in the world?

A: Your question is itself an outcome of the suffering. Sorrow makes one think of God. If it were not for the suffering, would you have asked the question? Except for jnanis [realised beings], everybody, from a king to a peasant, has a certain amount of sorrow. Even in cases where it seems to be absent it is only a matter of time – sooner or later - it comes.

Also, one may not question sorrow or God at the first blow, but one is likely to at the fifth. We have taken this vehicle [the body] in order to know our real state.

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What is this universe? When we think about events, they become so big for us, that existence loses it's significance. When existence becomes predominant in our awareness, events lose their value and significance.

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When you do good to people, do it out of your nature. Forget about it how they behave and their reaction towards you. Keep your mind free.

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When you are sleeping what and where are you? You lose your name and identity. You don't even know that your body is lying on the bed. You lose every identity. Sleep is sleep. Nobody is there - no name and no form. Consciously being aware, dissolving the 'I' in me; when 'I' ceases to exist, that is freedom; that is liberation.

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When you have doubts, do more sadhana or practice. This is called shraddha or faith, the opposite of doubt. It starts with self-doubt - doubting the self, doubting everything in the world and doubting the Divine. There are only three types of people who have faith, i.e. there are three types of faith - in the divine, in the universe and in the world.

Om Namah Shivay