ABSTRACT
Every religion or system of philosophy has to deal with the problem of evil-and unfortunately it is a problem which is usually explained away rather than explained. Vedanta philosophy disagrees with both these answers—with the second even more radically than with the first. The Vedanta doctrine of karma is a doctrine of automatic justice. The circumstances of our lives, our pains and our pleasures, are all the result of our past actions in this and countless previous existences, from a beginningless time. Good and evil, pain and pleasure, still exist, but they seem more like the ropes and vaulting-horses and parallel bars which can be used to make our bodies strong. All such actions and motives belong to what is known as ethical goodness—just as all selfish motives and actions belong to ethical evil. The words ‘sin’ and ‘virtue’ are somewhat alien to the spirit of Vedanta, because they necessarily foster sense of possessiveness with regard to thought and action.
