Ananda Sangha of Portland--Why Do Not the Great Masters Stop This War? by Paramhansa Yogananda

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Questions and Answers: Why Do Not the Great Masters Stop this War? (World War II)
by Paramhansa Yogananda
from Inner Culture Magazine, May 1940

Question: What puzzles me is that with all the truths that enlightened holy men have, why have they not done something about this war?”–J.E.H.

Answer: There are good and evil in the world and God has given man the power of free choice, to accept or reject good and evil.

The nations of the world, according to the development of their understanding and quality of mass civilization, create war or desist from it. War among nations shows that civilization is imperfect and that the peoples of the world are misusing their free choice to create wars and use brute force instead of solving their problems by a parliament of mutual discussion and understanding.

Since God has given all individuals the power of free choice to do their own thinking and initiate their own actions, God or holy men who understand the divine plan do not in any way interfere with individual freedom. The nations of the world and individuals, being endowed with freedom of choice, must reap good or bad results of their actions initiated by the use or misuse of their free choice.

Since God, as the Creator of the universe, gave the nations of the world freedom to remain in peace or in war, He cannot be an autocrat by interfering with the freedom of nations when they choose to exist in war.

Free Choice Must Be Granted

When a mother tells her grownup child, “Son, I free you from my discipline and the imposition of my will now that you are a grown man. You must go out in the world, get your own knocks, and from your own mistakes learn to properly use your reason and free choice.” If the son goes out and becomes engrossed in evil, the mother cannot come to the son and beat him, trying to force him to be good.

Likewise, God and the holy men filled with divine power do not come out of the clouds and use magnetic force to electrocute the wrong-doers in these wars. If God did this, He would contradict Himself and nullify His endowment of free choice to His children; the power of human beings to act freely would be meaningless. God, being almighty, has the power to forcibly stop these wars, but since He does not do it, how could one expect the holy men who know Him and are in tune with His wishes to stop these wars by miraculous powers and by going against the divine plan of evolution of man through his free choice?

When I first entered this spiritual path, my understanding rebelled against the injustices of the world. Later, as I tuned my wishes with God in divine meditation, I began to understand the apparent incongruities in life; the most puzzling problems of life were explained to me from within.

Remember that God is the Author of this cosmic drama. Every page of this book of cosmic drama is filled with inexplicable mysteries, which will ultimately be solved in the last act of the cosmic play. Only devotees who are in tune with God are allowed to read this final page which solves all mysteries of life and death. Only those who are in tune with God understand the mysteries of human life and of the cosmos and are in a position to know the cosmic plan and the divine wish in regard to nations and human lives.

I have witnessed many wonderful powers of the holy men of India. When I asked them to use these powers to stop evils in the world, they replied, “When you are in tune with God and when He lets you know about his cosmic plan, you will do exactly as we are doing.”