Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler

By MARK BITTMAN
A SEA change in the consumption of a resource that Americans take for granted may be in store ? something cheap, plentiful, widely enjoyed and a part of daily life. And it isn?t oil.
It?s meat.
The two commodities share a great deal: Like oil, meat is subsidized by the federal government. Like oil, meat is subject to accelerating demand as nations become wealthier, and this, in turn, sends prices higher. Finally ? like oil ? meat is something people are encouraged to consume less of, as the toll exacted by industrial production increases, and becomes increasingly visible.
Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years, encouraged by growing affluence and nourished by the proliferation of huge, confined animal feeding operations. These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world?s tropical rain forests.
Just this week, the president of Brazil announced emergency measures to halt the burning and cutting of the country?s rain forests for crop and grazing land. In the last five months alone, the government says, 1,250 square miles were lost.
The world?s total meat supply was 71 million tons in 1961. In 2007, it was estimated to be 284 million tons. Per capita consumption has more than doubled over that period. (In the developing world, it rose twice as fast, doubling in the last 20 years.) World meat consumption is expected to double again by 2050, which one expert, Henning Steinfeld of the United Nations, says is resulting in a ?relentless growth in livestock production.?
Americans eat about the same amount of meat as we have for some time, about eight ounces a day, roughly twice the global average. At about 5 percent of the world?s population, we ?process? (that is, grow and kill) nearly 10 billion animals a year, more than 15 percent of the world?s total.
Growing meat (it?s hard to use the word ?raising? when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it?s a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth?s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation?s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world?s greenhouse gases ? more than transportation.
To put the energy-using demand of meat production into easy-to-understand terms, Gidon Eshel, a geophysicist at the Bard Center, and Pamela A. Martin, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago, calculated that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan ? a Camry, say ? to the ultra-efficient Prius. Similarly, a study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.
Grain, meat and even energy are roped together in a way that could have dire results. More meat means a corresponding increase in demand for feed, especially corn and soy, which some experts say will contribute to higher prices.
This will be inconvenient for citizens of wealthier nations, but it could have tragic consequences for those of poorer ones, especially if higher prices for feed divert production away from food crops. The demand for ethanol is already pushing up prices, and explains, in part, the 40 percent rise last year in the food price index calculated by the United Nations? Food and Agricultural Organization.
Though some 800 million people on the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, the majority of corn and soy grown in the world feeds cattle, pigs and chickens. This despite the inherent inefficiencies: about two to five times more grain is required to produce the same amount of calories through livestock as through direct grain consumption, according to Rosamond Naylor, an associate professor of economics at Stanford University. It is as much as 10 times more in the case of grain-fed beef in the United States.
The environmental impact of growing so much grain for animal feed is profound. Agriculture in the United States ? much of which now serves the demand for meat ? contributes to nearly three-quarters of all water-quality problems in the nation?s rivers and streams, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Because the stomachs of cattle are meant to digest grass, not grain, cattle raised industrially thrive only in the sense that they gain weight quickly. This diet made it possible to remove cattle from their natural environment and encourage the efficiency of mass confinement and slaughter. But it causes enough health problems that administration of antibiotics is routine, so much so that it can result in antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threaten the usefulness of medicines that treat people.
Those grain-fed animals, in turn, are contributing to health problems among the world?s wealthier citizens ? heart disease, some types of cancer, diabetes. The argument that meat provides useful protein makes sense, if the quantities are small. But the ?you gotta eat meat? claim collapses at American levels. Even if the amount of meat we eat weren?t harmful, it?s way more than enough.
Americans are downing close to 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish per capita per year (dairy and eggs are separate, and hardly insignificant), an increase of 50 pounds per person from 50 years ago. We each consume something like 110 grams of protein a day, about twice the federal government?s recommended allowance; of that, about 75 grams come from animal protein. (The recommended level is itself considered by many dietary experts to be higher than it needs to be.) It?s likely that most of us would do just fine on around 30 grams of protein a day, virtually all of it from plant sources.
What can be done? There?s no simple answer. Better waste management, for one. Eliminating subsidies would also help; the United Nations estimates that they account for 31 percent of global farm income. Improved farming practices would help, too. Mark W. Rosegrant, director of environment and production technology at the nonprofit International Food Policy Research Institute, says, ?There should be investment in livestock breeding and management, to reduce the footprint needed to produce any given level of meat.?
Then there?s technology. Israel and Korea are among the countries experimenting with using animal waste to generate electricity. Some of the biggest hog operations in the United States are working, with some success, to turn manure into fuel.
Longer term, it no longer seems lunacy to believe in the possibility of ?meat without feet? ? meat produced in vitro, by growing animal cells in a super-rich nutrient environment before being further manipulated into burgers and steaks.
Another suggestion is a return to grazing beef, a very real alternative as long as you accept the psychologically difficult and politically unpopular notion of eating less of it. That?s because grazing could never produce as many cattle as feedlots do. Still, said Michael Pollan, author of the recent book ?In Defense of Food,? ?In places where you can?t grow grain, fattening cows on grass is always going to make more sense.?
But pigs and chickens, which convert grain to meat far more efficiently than beef, are increasingly the meats of choice for producers, accounting for 70 percent of total meat production, with industrialized systems producing half that pork and three-quarters of the chicken.
Once, these animals were raised locally (even many New Yorkers remember the pigs of Secaucus), reducing transportation costs and allowing their manure to be spread on nearby fields. Now hog production facilities that resemble prisons more than farms are hundreds of miles from major population centers, and their manure ?lagoons? pollute streams and groundwater. (In Iowa alone, hog factories and farms produce more than 50 million tons of excrement annually.)
These problems originated here, but are no longer limited to the United States. While the domestic demand for meat has leveled off, the industrial production of livestock is growing more than twice as fast as land-based methods, according to the United Nations.
Perhaps the best hope for change lies in consumers? becoming aware of the true costs of industrial meat production. ?When you look at environmental problems in the U.S.,? says Professor Eshel, ?nearly all of them have their source in food production and in particular meat production. And factory farming is ?optimal? only as long as degrading waterways is free. If dumping this stuff becomes costly ? even if it simply carries a non-zero price tag ? the entire structure of food production will change dramatically.?
Animal welfare may not yet be a major concern, but as the horrors of raising meat in confinement become known, more animal lovers may start to react. And would the world not be a better place were some of the grain we use to grow meat directed instead to feed our fellow human beings?
Real prices of beef, pork and poultry have held steady, perhaps even decreased, for 40 years or more (in part because of grain subsidies), though we?re beginning to see them increase now. But many experts, including Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, say they don?t believe meat prices will rise high enough to affect demand in the United States.
?I just don?t think we can count on market prices to reduce our meat consumption,? he said. ?There may be a temporary spike in food prices, but it will almost certainly be reversed and then some. But if all the burden is put on eaters, that?s not a tragic state of affairs.?
If price spikes don?t change eating habits, perhaps the combination of deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and fewer animals.
Mr. Rosegrant of the food policy research institute says he foresees ?a stronger public relations campaign in the reduction of meat consumption ? one like that around cigarettes ? emphasizing personal health, compassion for animals, and doing good for the poor and the planet.?
It wouldn?t surprise Professor Eshel if all of this had a real impact. ?The good of people?s bodies and the good of the planet are more or less perfectly aligned,? he said.
The United Nations? Food and Agriculture Organization, in its detailed 2006 study of the impact of meat consumption on the planet, ?Livestock?s Long Shadow,? made a similar point: ?There are reasons for optimism that the conflicting demands for animal products and environmental services can be reconciled. Both demands are exerted by the same group of people ... the relatively affluent, middle- to high-income class, which is no longer confined to industrialized countries. ... This group of consumers is probably ready to use its growing voice to exert pressure for change and may be willing to absorb the inevitable price increases.?
In fact, Americans are already buying more environmentally friendly products, choosing more sustainably produced meat, eggs and dairy. The number of farmers? markets has more than doubled in the last 10 years or so, and it has escaped no one?s notice that the organic food market is growing fast. These all represent products that are more expensive but of higher quality.
If those trends continue, meat may become a treat rather than a routine.. It won?t be uncommon, but just as surely as the S.U.V. will yield to the hybrid, the half-pound-a-day meat era will end.
Maybe that?s not such a big deal. ?Who said people had to eat meat three times a day?? asked Mr. Pollan.
Mark Bittman, who writes the Minimalist column in the Dining In and Dining Out sections, is the author of ?How to Cook Everything Vegetarian,? which was published last year. He is not a vegetarian.

Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

 

(The following is a reproduction of a lecture given by Premananda dasa, ISKCON BOSTON, who was to speak on this topic to conclude the temple's recent two-day

Spiritual Formation Seminar.)

 

One of the reasons I like this topic is that I don’t like the question.

Well, let me clarify that.  When this question is asked about

difficulties or tragedies in the lives of others, it can bring out the

best in us.  Especially if it’s coupled with the question, “How can I

help?  How can I console their suffering?” 

 

When we ask this question when trouble comes into our own lives, I worry

that we may be unwilling to accept what has happened, or stuck in a long

history in which we have come to see ourselves as victims of fate.

 

As much as we are inclined to seek and demand instant gratification, we

must understand that we live in a world of opposites.  We want happiness,

so we must also experience misery.  The temporary happiness that we may

derive from worldly things pales in comparison to the soul’s need – our

need –  for eternal joy experienced through divine love.  Because nothing

else can measure up to this, we are constantly disappointed. 

 

Bhagavad-Gita (8.16),

Hence, Lord Krishna explains in the that the soul

is more likely to suffer than find happiness here.  “From the highest

planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery

wherein repeated birth and death take place.”

 

To put it simply, bad things happen to good people.  Bad things happen to

bad people.  Bad things happen to everybody.  Trauma and loss in the

forms of disease, aging and death come to visit and take us all.

Suffering is a fact; it is simply a matter of degree.  However, for

individuals and society as a whole, these degrees of difference are

relevant and much can be learned and gained in the effort to understand

those forms of suffering that are avoidable.

 

In discussing sensitive matters such as these, I try to find underlying

spiritual themes that are vital to all of us.  I believe that our

inability to answer or recast this question – why do bad things happen to

good people – is rooted in a crisis of wisdom and strength (or power).  I

would like to address each of these in turn.

 

A Crisis of Wisdom

 

There’s something about this question – why do bad things happen to good

people – that begs for meaning, but it always seems to elude us.  We

become perplexed.  The conclusion that the world is cruel and chaotic

offends our sense of order and justice.  

 

Perhaps the problem lies in the assumptions we’ve built into the

question.  What is a bad thing?  Who is a good person, and what makes her

good?  What assumptions do we bring to the definitions of what is fair,

good and bad?  With clearer, thoughtful definitions perhaps we will learn

to see method where otherwise we would believe there is only madness.

 

Usually implicit in the question – why do bad things happen to good

people – is the feeling that some injustice has been perpetrated or

allowed to take place.  Based upon what we know about someone or their

circumstances, we make a value judgment.  We assume good things will or

should happen to people we like, and bad things will or should happen to

those whose behavior we don’t like. 

 

If something good happens to someone we like, that makes us happy.  If

something bad happens to them, we are saddened.  When bad things happen

to someone we don’t like, we feel that justice has been served – they got

what was coming to them.  When something good happens to someone we don’t

like, we may feel that life is unfair. 

 

But what is happening here?  When things go as we expect them to, does

that mean that justice is really being served, or are we using a certain

idea of justice to reinforce our sense of someone else’s worth?

 

Our human sense of justice is – in the scale of things – relatively

short-term.  The secular view of justice implies that we should be

quickly rewarded or punished for our deeds.  These according to the

Bhagavad-Gita, however, there are larger forces of universal fairness at

play.  The universal standards do not exactly mimic human justice because

these systems operate at different levels and aim at achieving differing

goals.  While the human justice system governs our adherence to socially

accepted ethical standards, the laws of karma govern the soul’s adherence

to the principles of divine love. 

 

According to the laws of karma, our current human life is the result of

the soul’s long journey through many bodies.  The body we now possess is

the result of past-life desires and actions that have transgressed and

promoted the spiritual laws of love.   

 

From this point of view, none of us is all good or entirely evil.  Each

of us is a mixed bag.  We have our strengths and weaknesses.  We have

knowledge and blind spots.  There are ways that we need to improve – to

become stronger and wiser.  The laws of universal justice, therefore, see

us less as good people or bad people, but as souls meant to evolve to

higher levels of eternal love and compassion. 

 

When we view the question – why do bad things happen to good people –

from a strictly human point of view, we speak about judgment, reward and

punishment, or condemnation.  This has an air of rigidity and finality to

it.    However, when we see the world from a spiritual perspective, we

see the laws of karma in terms of evolution (not judgment), encouragement

(not reward) and discouragement (rather than condemnation).  This

evolutionary view implies a man- or woman-in-the-making whose free will

is valued and respected.

 

We are students throughout our lives.  There are lessons we need to

learn.  Some of those are do-this lessons; some are do-not lessons.  Life

is not just about being an ethical person.  Life is about learning well

the things we need to love Krishna, His creation, and our brother and

sister souls in all species.

 

 

The laws of karma are designed to assist each individual in this

evolutionary journey. 

According to the Gita, there are natural forces governing ignorance and

knowledge, weakness and strength.  They are called the gunas, or modes of

nature:  goodness, passion and ignorance. 

 

Through distress, the modes discourage us from transgressing the laws of

love.  Through positive experiences, we are encouraged to embrace the

principles of responsibility, service, sacrifice, charity, and

self-control that lead to a fuller expression and experience of the love

of God inherent within us.

 

While all three modes are simultaneously present (Bg 14.10), in the

modern age of Kali, the Vedas explain that the mode of ignorance forms

the backdrop of society.  This can be seen in our obsession with securing

and refining the means of survival (food, rest, sexuality and defense) at

the expense of our spiritual development.  Srila Prabhupada explains (Bg

18.22 purport), “The ‘knowledge’ of the common man is always in the mode

of darkness or ignorance because every living entity in conditional life

is born into the mode of ignorance. One who does not develop knowledge

through the authorities or scriptural injunctions has knowledge that is

limited to the body.”

 

Let’s take a look at each of the modes and how they shape our experience.

The mode of ignorance is characterized by disrespect for the well-being

of ourselves and others.  Symptoms include violence, laziness and

irresponsibility, procrastination, moroseness, mental illness,

intoxication, meat eating, and destructive habits.  Such actions

themselves arise from unhappiness and cause only misery.  Unpleasantness

visits more regularly and more painfully those whose lives are so

disempowered they can’t control themselves.  She who harms herself or

others blatantly transgresses the universal principles of love to which a

human being should aspire.

 

Those whose lives are more influenced by the mode of passion are

ambitious and self-serving.  They are overwhelmed by desires for profit,

prestige and adoration.  They are judgmental and competitive.  They will

sacrifice for a tangible goal, but if they do not attain it quickly,

they’ll move rapidly to the next thing.  They are religious, but they are

focused on the tangible goods of virtue.   In the mode of passion, we

exhibit some degree of responsibility and self-control, which certainly

helps alleviate some of the misery of the mode of ignorance. 

 

But unpleasantness still comes to those whose self-control is

self-serving because they are motivated by lust rather than love.  At

first, it appears as though they achieve the objects of happiness, but

the mode of passion is a double-edged sword.  Due to a lack of

self-control, we discover that the same object that brought us happiness

sooner or later gives us trouble (Bg 18.38):  “That happiness which is

derived from contact of the senses with their objects and which appears

like nectar at first but poison at the end is said to be of the nature of

passion.”

 

 

 

The mode of goodness is found in the cultivation of knowledge,

non-attachment to the results of action, dedication to duty,

spirituality, and self-control.  Srila Prabhupada explains (Bg 14.6

purport) that the mode of goodness shields one from many forms of

suffering, “The effect of developing the mode of goodness in the material

world is that one becomes wiser than those otherwise conditioned. A man

in the mode of goodness is not so much affected by material miseries, and

he has a sense of advancement in material knowledge.”  As a result of

this knowledge, the person in the mode of goodness has an additional gift

– the strength and wisdom to take unavoidable trouble in stride. 

 

So bad things will happen to each of us to the degree that we do not live

by principles of divine love that uplift human conscience.  Indeed, the

first steps on this path are knowledge and renunciation of the fruits of

our actions (Bg 12.12).  The path of the spirit and freedom from

suffering is based on wisdom and power (whether you call it discipline,

self-control or willpower). 

 

It’s not difficult to see how a person in the mode of goodness is less

inclined to suffer.  There are three sources of suffering:

 

·           adhidaivika-klesa – difficulties wrought by natural disasters

·           adhibhautika-klesa – suffering caused by other beings

·           adhyatmika-klesa – troubles arising from our own mental and physical

                                            infirmities

 

People in the mode of ignorance cause much of their own suffering because

they do not take care of themselves.  They are often undereducated, so

they are more inclined to live on the economic and geographic fringes of

society where they are more vulnerable to a variety of threats.  They are

envious and violent, so they often come into conflict with others.  They

are susceptible to all three forms of suffering.

 

Driven by lust, people in the mode of passion experience a variety of

problems of their own creation – heartburn, stress and related medical

disorders of a Type A personality – and face stiff competition from

others.  However, they do not suffer as much as those in the mode of

ignorance because they have more self-respect.  They take better care of

themselves (e.g. they are vegetarian) and because they possess some

degree of self-restraint, they are less likely to harm themselves through

addictive or unhealthy habits.  They are attentive to their social

responsibilities, so they are better respected in society and typically

earn enough to live in relative safety from the elements.

 

A person in the mode of goodness will suffer the vagaries of age and

death like everyone else, but because they lead very healthy lives, they

are less likely to contract diseases that result from unhealthy

lifestyles.  By their sober and detached nature, they do not seek any

more than their basic needs.  Hence they do pursue conflict or

competition. 

 

 

 

 

 

The person in the mode of ignorance suffers most from trouble of her own

making.  In the mode of passion, there is a heightened state of

competitive conflict with others.  In the mode of goodness, suffering of

one’s own making or caused by others is minimized.  And because natural

disasters are rare, one in the mode of goodness leads a relatively simple

and happy life.

 

 

The Crisis of Strength

 

Even people who lead lives in the mode of goodness will see some bad

times.  In seeking meaning in difficulty, we should go beyond the idea of

reward and punishment implicit in human justice, and think of ourselves

and others as evolving beings, as students in the school of divine love

that is called life.  Difficult times offer us the opportunity to grow

wiser and forge a stronger relationship with Krishna.  In spiritual

wisdom and empowerment, we find the means to understand what forms of

suffering we can avoid and alleviate.  They can also give us the grace,

the strength, to accept those miseries that are inevitable.   

 

“Bad things” would include traumas or losses related to divorce or

infidelity, death of a loved one, loss of work, disease or disability, a

dramatic reversal of income, a natural disaster, or violent crime.  At

the very least, they can affect our daily lives in fundamental ways.  One

or more of these can set off an identity crisis and affect our

self-esteem. 

 

To search for meaning or wisdom is to search for strength, to seek

empowerment.  When dark clouds hang on the horizon of our lives, we can

either run for cover, or face the storm.  The English Poet John Milton is

credited with coining the phrase ‘every dark could has a silver lining’.

This means that good things can emerge from difficulty.  I am reminded of

one of my favorite verses from the Srimad Bhagavatam (10.14.8):

 

"My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless

mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his

past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisance with his heart, words

and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his

rightful claim."

 

We can derive meaning and strength from on high in difficult times.  But

we will not find meaning or empowerment by hiding in the cellar, huddled

against the earth with our eyes shut tight.  Denial is the inability to

face reality.  Empowerment comes from facing reality with one eye looking

toward God seeking guidance. 

 

When we introduce Krishna into the picture, our place in the scheme of

things becomes much clearer.  Jivera ‘svarupa’ haya krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’

[Cc. Madhya 20.108], we are His eternal servants.  Krishna’s role in the

Bhagavad-Gita is that of the Supreme Power and the Supreme Teacher.  He

displays His divinity and speaks His instructions for our benefit,

because, you see, we often forget that we are His dependents, His

students. 

 

 

Krishna declares His divinity to show us that we are not alone in our

struggles.  He assures us that His compassion and power are available to

us for the asking.  A teacher has the responsibility to test and tutor

her students.  A good student likes feedback from the teacher, invites

and acknowledges positive criticism and requests assistance.  The

greatest teaching and learning are done precisely when the student is

unable to apply the appropriate tools to solve a problem.  This is why

there is more honor in receiving an award for “Most Improved Student”

than there is in being the valedictorian for whom everything comes

easily.

 

Every single one of us – whether we acknowledge it or not – is being

tested.  Do we accept and promote the principles of divine love?  We are

given the Lord’s teachings and we are given tests to demonstrate how well

we have internalized them.  Bad things are tests – by which we show the

Lord and others the depth of our morality, the depth of our faith, and,

most importantly, the depth of our need for Krishna’s mercy and company.

These things are not tested when times are good.  Adversity breeds and

reveals greatness.

 

A Good Person Makes Good Come of Bad Things

 

We live in a turbulent world.  The seed of bad lay in good; and the seed

of good lay in bad.  Let me give you an example.  I have good news and

bad news.  I’ll start with the good news:

 

· Good things happen to good people:  A 24 year old woman, Suzie Pell,

gets an internship at a prestigious insurance company in its fine art

division.   After getting all dressed up to look nice on her first day,

she borrows her mother’s pashmina scarf.  Filled with nervous excitement

at the prospects of her first job after college, she hugs her mom and

says, “Let’s hope it’s a good day.”

 

· Now the bad news:  It is July 7, 2005.  The underground train Suzie is

taking to her internship at Lloyd’s is bombed as it pulls out of Edgware

station in central London.  Glass shatters in her face; smoke fills the

car.  She cannot see or breathe.  As the smoke clears someone hands her a

handkerchief.  She wipes blood from her face.

 

But let us not forget that good lay in the seed of bad.  The explosion

came from the car behind hers.  Despite her injury, fear and confusion,

she immediately goes to the aid of passengers in that car.  Here’s how

she describes the scene to a reporter from MSNBC:

 

"People were crying out for medics, and for people who knew first aid,

and doctors. I just felt so helpless. I was hearing people cry out. I

thought there must be something I can do. So I got past obstacles and got

just into that other carriage… I saw dead bodies, people who’d had their

clothes blown off them, mangled metal and bodies. I couldn’t see halfway

down the carriage. I just heard people crying out.

 

 

 

 

 

"I helped the people I could directly access — one person had a broken

leg, and he was screaming out for help, that’s the person I’d heard. You

could see lots of lacerations in his leg, huge gaps in the skin, but I’m

not a doctor so I presumed it’s badly damaged.

"He was saying 'What do I do?' He was really panicky really terrified. He

said 'I’m bleeding I’m bleeding, got to stop the bleeding what should I

do, anyone know, anyone can help?'"

 

Suzie removes the mangled metal from his leg and elevates it.  She makes

a tourniquet out of her mother’s scarf to reduce the bleeding.    She

tries to console the panicked man, assuring him – despite her own

uncertainty – he’s going to be okay.

 

She leads two shocked passengers out of the car, and onto the tracks,

where the survivors wait for perhaps half an hour in the dark, airless

tunnel.  When authorities arrive to guide everyone out, Suzie helps one

man make the harrowing 200-yard trek along the electrified tracks.

 

When Suzie Pell was asked how she remained so calm, she replied, “I’m

surprised at myself. You really don’t know how you’ll respond in these

situations until you’re tested.”

 

This horrible trauma brought out the best in her.  No matter how wounded

she may feel now or later about this tragedy, she can console herself

that she did the best thing she could under the circumstances.  That

empowered act of selflessness and compassion will help her recover from

the fear the explosion caused.  In light of Suzie Pell’s story, I’ve

learned to redefine what I think a good person is.  A good person makes

good things come of bad by how she responds to them.  Adversity makes a

good person even better.   

 

Conclusion

 

In this essay, we’ve taken a broader look at the question – why do bad

things happen to good people?  We’ve redefined the terms justice, good

and bad in light of the teachings of Bhagavad-Gita.  We’ve also learned

that the Gita offers us tangible consolation in the face of hard times –

a pathway to wisdom and empowerment. 

 

The world in which we live is the Lord’s creation.  God comes from the

German word Gott, meaning ‘the good one’.  God is all-good.  So the

lessons He sends us are also good, if we learn and choose to see them

that way.  Krishna does not want us to suffer, but He doesn’t force us to

not suffer, either.  He respects our freewill.

 

We can reduce suffering by thinking and acting in the mode of goodness.

Just as we value education in society, nature rewards knowledge.  So the

mode of goodness begins by learning about the difference between the self

and the body.  The path of devotional service laid out in the scriptures

and in the lineage of saints, encourages us to imbibe qualities of

goodness.  Lord Krishna explains (SB 11.13.6), “Until one revives one’s

direct knowledge of the spirit soul and drives away the illusory

identification with the material body and mind caused by the three modes

of nature, one must cultivate those things in the mode of goodness. By

increasing the mode of goodness, one automatically can understand and

practice religious principles, and by such practice transcendental

knowledge is awakened.”

 

Voluntary adoption of lifestyle regulations such as avoidance of meat

eating, intoxication, gambling and illicit sex are meant to help us avoid

some of the most dangerous activities in the modes of ignorance and

passion.  Continued practice of devotional service should further elevate

our conscience, helping us internalize compassion, discipline, truth,

cleanliness of thought and transparency of deed.  As we lose our

infatuation with the allure of material happiness, the barking dogs of

misery hound us less.

 

When necessary lessons present themselves as troubles, we should seek the

seeds of wisdom and empowerment that lay within them.  Empowerment begins

with responsibility.  When bad times come, we should ask ourselves what

we need to learn. 

 

Sometimes people use the laws of karma to condemn themselves.  “This bad

thing has happened to me.  I must have been a horrible person in my past

life.  I really did something bad to deserve this.  I’m a bad person.”

Confession and regret can be purposeful steps toward empowerment, but the

old blame-and-shame game is a one-way ticket to powerlessness.  Remember,

Krishna is not interested in punishing us.  His primary goal is healing

us, delivering us from the cycle of birth and death.  This means that

Krishna does not condemn us; He loves us – no matter what we’ve done.

 

So it is far better for us to pray, “Whatever I may have done in the past

to bring this obstacle in my path, I take responsibility for my actions

now.  My Lord, I wish to understand what I need to learn at this stage in

my development so that I can serve You better.  Please give me insight

into the obstacles in my heart that prevent me from living more fully in

Your love and presence.”

 

Most of us have a pretty good idea of what our shortcomings are.  We know

what’s packed in our “baggage”, though we are often unaware of how deeply

we have allowed our losses to define us.  We are not aware how we

reinforce our weaknesses by investing our strength in them.  We have

allowed loss to shrink our self-esteem, to co-opt and weaken our power.

 

I have found that the greatest means to enlightenment and empowerment has

been  open-hearted, prayerful introspection on my own and in the company

of a trusted counselor.  I ask the Supersoul for guidance as I delve into

my heart, to hold my hand as I observe the negativity there.  Are those

emotions rooted in powerlessness, helplessness or the fear of being

unlovable or unacceptable?  What is the cause of these feelings? 

 

Taking responsibility means fearlessly searching for whatever pain in the

heart that needs healing, having faith that the Lord wants it done and

therefore that it can and must be done.  Healing begins by giving voice

to our broken heartedness and not giving in to fear (mode of ignorance)

or judgment and shame (mode of passion). 

 

 

 

 

Healing is a process of integration in which we learn to honor our loss,

honor who we were when the loss took place, and honor who we are now in

light of the servant of God whom we wish to consciously become.   By

connecting the traumas of our lives to the person they made us, and the

person we seek to be, we make our lives whole. 

 

This approach allows us to let go of the negativity (the modes of

ignorance and passion) that have blinded us and splintered our lives.

This letting go is the act of forgiveness, the giving forth of our pain

and the redirection of our strength and energy into productive and

desirable endeavors. 

 

Healing work is challenging – it takes courage and tolerance to observe

the pains that harbor in our hearts, but the process of healing is filled

with rewards.  Something wonderful and palpable happens when we forgive.

The clouds of fear and condemnation part.  Rays of enlightenment stream

into our conscience, and joy like a rainbow arcs gracefully through the

heart.  According to the Bible, the rainbow is a sign from God.  It means

that we have successfully met the challenge of tragedy, that we have

passed an important test and that we have come to a more vivid place in

our relationship with Him. 

 

Good times or bad, everything in our lives can be used as a vehicle to

realize our spiritual nature, and reawaken the love for Krishna that

alone can satisfy our innate need to give and receive unconditional love.

 That love is so strong, so selfless, that it overflows to encompass

everything that belongs to Krishna, including this world and all living

beings (SB 2.9.36):  “A person who is searching after the Supreme

Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, must certainly search for it

up to this, in all circumstances, both directly and indirectly, and in

all space and time.”

 

Even bad times