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done willfully or out of ignorance.

Anything that distracts our a en on from God is illusory. Such distrac-
ons will occupy people in useless ac vi es that inhibit a empts to
become free from the bondage of birth and death.

Considering suffering as a message from God that we have forgo en
Him is the correct way to understand the perplexing reality of misery in
this world. It is like receiving a $500 cket for going through a red light
accompanied by a picture of you driving your car taken by a traffic vio-
la on camera. The driver thought that there would not be a witness
since he drove through the red light at 4 AM in the morning when
there were no other cars or pedestrians. He ignored the fact that there
could be a stealth traffic viola on camera.
According to the Vedic scriptures there are always witnesses to every
act we perform whether in private or public:

The sun, fire, sky, air, demigods, moon, evening, day, night, direc ons,
water, land and Supersoul Himself all witness the ac vi es of the living
en ty. (SB 6.1.42)

Bahk vedanta Swami Prabhupada comments on this verse:
The members of some religious sects, especially Chris ans, do not be-
lieve in the reac ons of karma. We once had a discussion with a
learned Chris an professor who argued that although people are gen-
erally punished a er the witnesses of their misdeeds are examined.
Where are the witnesses responsible for one's suffering the reac ons
of past karma? To such a person the answer by the Yamadutas is given
here. A condi oned soul thinks that he is working stealthily and that no
one can see his sinful ac vi es, but we can understand from the
sastras (Vedic literatures) that there are many witnesses, including the
sun, fire, sky, air, moon, demigods, evening, day, night, direc ons, wa-
ter, land and the Supersoul Himself, who sits with the individual soul
within his heart. Where is the dearth of witnesses? The witnesses and
the Supreme Lord both exist, and therefore so many living en es are
elevated to higher planetary systems or degraded to lower planetary
systems, including the hellish planets. There are no discrepancies, for
everything is arranged perfectly by the management of the Supreme
God (svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya ca)….
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