Will there be free will in heaven? If yes, & no one ever sins there, then God can create beings who are free & never sin, so why didn't he just make that world from the start? If No, what is the justification for all the suffering on earth?

Vedic literature describes a spiritual world in which everyone has free will and no one sins. It’s eternal, and its residents are eternal living beings. The existence of free will doesn't mean that everyone must misuse it. Without free will, love isn't really love. If there is no possibility of not loving someone, then loving them isn't a choice. The spiritual world therefore has free will, which means there is the possibility of misusing it. Those who choose not to do so remain there, while those who use their free will to live independently from the Lord are given the opportunity to do so in the material world.

In this world everyone has the potential to break the law, but only a minority become criminals. In the spiritual world a small percentage use their free will to live separately from the Lord. That’s the reason for the material world. Those who don’t accept that the Lord is the only enjoyer, and want to enjoy separately from Him have the opportunity to do so in the material world.

Because the reality is that it’s not possible to enjoy separately from the Lord we have to be in illusion to think we can. So everyone in the material world is in this illusion which is brought about by receiving a material body which we then identify as ourselves even though it’s not. Under this illusion we have the opportunity to enjoy material sense gratification as if it were real.

Accepting a material body inevitably results in disturbing others, and as a result there are consequences. Those consequences are what we call suffering and extend over multiple births in different bodies.

If we give up our separatist mentality and accept the Lord as the supreme controller and enjoyer, and reawaken our dormant love for Him, we can return to the spiritual world where there is no sin and consequently no suffering. That means giving up all our desires for material sense gratification and having the sole desire to please the Lord.

Because we are subordinates, our function is to serve. If we serve our senses we will eventually suffer, but if we serve the Lord’s senses we automatically enjoy. Most people recognize that serving and pleasing someone they love brings them pleasure as a side-effect. This is one of the principles behind marriage and raising children, but it extends beyond that to any relationship where pleasing someone we care about is desirable.

The ultimate expression of this is loving and serving the Lord without any consideration for ourselves. Paradoxically, the result of caring only about the Lord’s pleasure and not our own, is that we experience the highest pleasure.

This has been expressed by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the last of eight verse He gave us. He exhibited levels of ecstasy that no ordinary human can achieve but nonetheless we can aspire to the principle behind His activities.

I know no one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly in His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipable Lord unconditionally. Shikshastakam text 8

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