When you look at the horrific war crimes committed by the terrorist state of Israel, isn’t it clear that there is no God? If God actually existed, he would have intervened by now.

 Anyone who feels that God is obliged to ‘do something’ every time something we don’t like happens probably doesn’t have a clear understanding of how this world works.

We observe that our universe operates according to cause and effect. Science has successfully mapped many of these relationships and can predict their results. Its greatest strength has been in understanding the interactions of gross matter, although it is now also examining cause and effect at subtler levels, including human behaviour.

The laws of karma, operating through the three modes of material nature upon an eternal soul, take the principle of cause and effect to a level that modern science does not yet understand in detail.

What we want to happen has very little effect on the operation of cause and effect once a chain of causation has been initiated. We cannot simply wish that fire will not burn something it has already touched. Likewise, we cannot simply wish that the consequences of an action will disappear once the action has been performed.

The gross laws of nature and the subtle laws of karma are stringent, and it is not easy for us to circumvent or oppose them. Expecting God to remain constantly on standby, interrupting these causal chains whenever we dislike their consequences, is unrealistic.

It would be akin to a small child discovering that many people are locked in prison and then expecting the government to release them all immediately because being locked up is not nice.

Expecting God to constantly suspend the laws He has established misunderstands His relationship with creation. He established the framework within which the material world operates so He does not dismantle that framework at every whim.

The fact that God can intervene does not mean that He is obliged to intervene whenever we think He should.

The laws of karma are not independent of God. They are part of His material energy, and He can release a person from their consequences. The question is therefore not whether God can override karma, but whether we understand why He ordinarily allows the system to operate according to its established laws.

Sri Krishna gives us the answer in Bhagavad Gita. Rather than asking God to repeatedly rearrange the material world according to our desires, He advises us to transcend the material system altogether:

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”
Bg. 7.14

He repeats the same principle in His concluding instruction:

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.”
Bg. 18.66

Seeing people suffer is unpleasant, even when we understand that actions have consequences. There is nothing compassionate about being indifferent to suffering simply because we understand its causes.

But the deeper point is that the material world itself is not designed to provide permanent happiness. Birth, disease, old age, death, separation and the consequences of our actions are built into the system. Therefore it has been said, “the material world is no fit place for a gentleman.”

So the ultimate solution to suffering is not to demand that God continually suspend the laws of material nature for our convenience. It is to take the opportunity He has given us to leave the system altogether.

Sri Krishna describes the destination beyond this cycle:

“From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.”
Bg. 8.16

It shouldn’t be about: Why doesn't God do what I want?

But rather: Why do we expect God to make this temporary world permanently comfortable when He has explicitly stated that it is designed for the opposite? Why not take that to heart and avail ourselves of the opportunity He provides to leave it?

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