If there was a God?

An important question has resurfaced since the passing of my neighbour (refer previous post). Put simply, the question is, ‘If there was a God, how do you explain such a death?’ The question begs some elaboration.

Death in itself is inevitable. It is just as natural as birth and essential for the balance of things. So, a similar question with regard to, say my 85-year-old grandfather who died of old age may not be pertinent. To a certain extent, even heart attacks and cancers are explained off as an outcome of our lifestyle: the food we eat, the kind of work we do, pollution, stress, etc. But how does one explain a death at a New Years party?

Shockingly, one of my friends held the view that it was a punishment (by God?) for abandoning our cultural values. But we’ll not digress.

Let us examine the facts: Anand was in hospital for a week and discounting all conspiracy theories, was under the best medical care possible. His family spared no prayers for his recovery. A few well-wishers in the apartments organized special prayers each day: chanting Vishnu sahasranamam and arranging for special offerings in the temple.

My point here, I rush to clarify, is not to belittle the goodwill shown by everyone. It is in fact, my very point that all these prayers were sincere and the goodwill genuine.

Our assumption (or if you are uneasy with that word, faith) is that there is a benevolent Almighty God who listens to our prayers and if our prayers are sincere (reasonable and not selfish) he grants them.

So why did he not recover? Their prayers, I am sure were (unambiguously) for a speedy recovery. The normal explanations of ‘Your prayers weren’t fervent enough’ or ‘Your faith wasn’t strong enough’ are hollow and inadequate.

There is a trump card up His sleeve and I have received them a few times in my time. For instance, the girl I was fervently hoping to marry got married to someone else. Or the college transfer I was counting on was denied. I was told that it was all for the good. God had a special plan for us that we do not know and cannot know (but it is all good baby). Our disappointment is based on an ignorance of what is in store for us.

Tell that to Anand’s parents. Try that ‘It was for the good’ argument on his sister. Whose good are we talking about here? What could possibly be a good outcome for his bereaved family? Oh no! there is a different card for young deaths. That is called, ‘Those He holds dear, He calls them back soon’. Who signed up for that, not Anand?

There is another card that infuriates me more. That is the Karma card. Maybe he was a nice bloke in this life but what about his previous lives. (More on Karma soon)

Brings the oft repeated doubt… if God is benevolent, then he is not omnipotent or he would have intervened (I wish I could and if I could I would but…) or he is omnipotent but not truly benevolent, choosing his intervention based on a rigid set of conditions (oops! Sorry but you were 5 short of the critical number of prayers required to qualify) or simply His whims (Nothing too weighty before coffee please. Not a morning person).

So, my question is very simple. Is there an explanation? A reason or higher purpose for this wasteful death. I cannot find one justification that passes muster. If the right answer exists, I do not know it. However, if my question was to be framed as ‘Is there a God?’ (a God who willfully participates in the daily running of the universe and fiddles with the fates of humans), my answer seems evident.