Does a sudden tragedy in the lives of God’s worshipers indicates that God is too busy in his own kingdom to protect?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKEoFempnVk

Hare Krishna question if a sudden tragedy befalls in the lives of those who are worshipping God does that mean that God is too busy to care for his worshippers answer no not at all God is not only just engaged in his own freedom he is also present in our own heart and he is present as the Paramatma so the question from the philosophical point of view of God being too busy doesn’t arise at all because God is always with us and he is with us in the heart for us sarvasya chaaham hrithi sannivishtho he is present in our heart closer than the closest person can be to us even if that person holds us in a tight embrace so philosophically this may be a very difficult concept to understand when we are emotionally devastated because of some tragedy such as the loss of a loved one now the emotional feelings are understandable they are natural to us as human beings and we don’t have to suppress them and if at times we feel abandoned by God that sort of feeling in a transitional way is understandable we see that in the Mahabharata when Abhimanyu was brutally slaughtered by the Kauravas Yudhishthir was mortified devastated and even greater was the devastation of Arjuna who felt that he could have protected his son because Arjuna also knew how to break the Chakravyuha but he had been diverted elsewhere and so when Arjuna got the news he started blaming everyone he blamed his brothers initially he said that all your weapons are just ornaments for show couldn’t all of you protect a 16 year old boy and then he blamed himself he said that actually I should be blaming myself that I entrusted the protection of my son to all of you and instead of being there I went elsewhere to fight in the pursuit of glory and thus neglected fulfilling my duty to my son he blamed himself for that and then he turned to Krishna and he said to Krishna and Krishna surely you knew what was happening atleast you could have told me and then I could have come to the rescue of Abhimanyu and now we see normally when some terrible thing happens in our life there are these three normal tendencies one is to blame others the other is to blame oneself and the third is to blame God so outward, inward and upward these are normal three ways in which we try to assign blame so now what is Krishna’s response over here when Arjuna speaks like this now Krishna he is God but he is in his leela playing as a friend of Arjuna playing the role of a friend and he simply actually he puts his arm around Arjuna’s shoulder draws him into an embrace and in a very compassionate way he says Arjuna, can’t you see that your brothers are already afflicted by distress and don’t increase their distress by words such as these the duty of a Kshatriya is difficult and at times Kshatriya has to endure such needs and remember the path of duty and instead of causing distress to those who are distressed he says that plan to take revenge for the death of Abhimanyu so basically what does Krishna do, Krishna expresses I am just paraphrasing the speech over here, Krishna does not condemn him for blaming even himself, blaming God he does not say that you are wrong but he gently reminds him of his duty the simple fact of life is that life goes on, no matter how great the tragedy happens life goes on so we also need to move forward in life and so that’s why just like in many other situations in life when emotions come the emotions may overwhelm us temporarily but over our period of time as those emotions become calmer then we work on recognizing things from a more rational, logical philosophical, scriptural perspective so before this Krishna’s consoling of Arjuna there is in the Mahabharata Yudhishthir’s consoling Yudhishthir being consoled by Vyasadeva after the death of Abhimanyu so at that time Vyasadeva tells him that actually no living being is exempt from the law of death Yudhishthir is told by Vyasadeva that Abhimanyu was virtuous but there were many kings who were much more virtuous than Abhimanyu and still they too had to die so no one is exempt from death and the important thing is that the destination that one gets depends on the way one has lived so the important thing is that Abhimanyu has lived virtuously and now he has attained a glorious destination so rather than lamenting for one who has attained such a glorious destination we should lament for ourselves because we still are caught in the world of temptation and distraction then Vyasadeva concludes by saying that the inscrutable will of the lord is surely for the good of all living beings if we do his will then we will understand it in due course of time the inscrutable will of the lord that means we can’t understand why Krishna does certain things and sometimes even if Krishna is not doing certain things sometimes some people themselves commit terrible mistakes or some terrible crime happens against someone so even in those situations Krishna is not the doer over there but Krishna is allowed that to happen and why that is particularly there? we don’t have to at the time of when we are emotionally overwhelmed go into the question of karma but philosophically we understand that many things that happen are reactions to our past karma and important thing in the principle of karma is that we always have the choice to create a bright future for ourselves so Krishna is not somewhere up there negligent of us he is right in here with us and he is ready to give us shelter and solace and strength if we just turn towards him so now when our emotions are hurt philosophy can often be just cold comfort initially but over a period of time as the emotions cool down then the philosophy can give us a different perspective now we may say that my life is in tatters and what is the idea that God is present in my heart? how is that going to help me? but then we can connect with God in our heart through meditation, through chanting, through kirtans we will find in whatever situation we are in we will get a deep sense of solace and comfort and peace if we just try to connect with God through these ways so yes there are many problems which can come in life but they happen at a material level and as long as we are at the same material level we will be overwhelmed by those problems but by connecting with Krishna through devotion our consciousness raises upwards, upwards, upwards and the higher our consciousness raises the lesser we are overwhelmed by the problem so Vyasadev tells you this that grief achieves nothing except to sap the energy of those who indulge in it so there is a time for grieving no doubt and to give vent to our natural human emotions is just a natural reaction but then we understand that our emotions are natural to us but they are not the only thing that is natural to us we are also rational beings and our rationality is also natural to us in the sense that it is a gift given to us by God through nature, so we use our rationality and then we think okay now life has to go on what is the best way of living, what is the best way of thinking, what is the best world view and lifestyle that can enable me to go on in life so if I adopt the idea that everything is finished at the time of death then my loved one is gone and I’ll be gone and if I think God is negligent then I am all alone in this big world which often turns to be bad and I have to battle things myself now first of all is such an idea true we see that there is so much organization and design and coordination in nature that it could not have come by chance so there is a designer in this world and anyway the idea that everything happens by chance reduces life to a cosmic lottery and if we just happen to be on the wrong side of the lottery that’s our bad luck so it basically is a doctrine of hopelessness on the other hand if we consider that whatever happens ultimately God is still there when we see in the Mahabharata that when Draupadi is summoned to the court after she has been lost in the gambling match by Yudhishthir’s misconceived attempts at gambling so then what is her response essentially her response can be embodied in the phrase ask not why this but how now not why this okay why did this happen why did this happen ultimately the why questions have no answers how now what can I do now life may not be logical but life is teleological teleological means that there is an ultimate purpose being served by whatever happens so no matter what the tragedy is and no matter whose blame it is why that tragedy happened Krishna can expertly orchestrate things in a way for our growth and our well being in the long run so we just need to cooperate with him a doctor may do a surgery that may temporarily increase the pain of a patient similarly sometimes things may happen that worsen our suffering but if we stay in the treatment that means stay connected with God and stay under his protection through prayer through meditation through devotee association through study of scripture through chanting of the holy names then by that we will eventually see that Krishna has worked things out for the good so rising to a spiritual level of consciousness where we can better feel Krishna’s presence and protection that is the best solution to such unfortunate tragedies in life and especially in this Kali Yuga Krishna makes himself very easily accessible through chanting of the holy names so if we chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra in japa as well as in kirtan whatever one feels most comfortable with that will also help one to feel Krishna’s presence and protection and that will give one strength to go on in life in spite of the tragedy so we will find that our response may go through three levels first is that we are overwhelmed by the tragedy, second is if we connect with God then we are able to rise to a higher level of consciousness where we are able to put aside the tragedy, we are not overwhelmed by the tragedy and we get strength to go on in life and then in due course of time we will understand how what was a tragedy at one time eventually has been worked out by Krishna for everyone’s ultimate good so we need to be patient, we need to be perseverant association of devotees, study of scripture can help us to see that God is far from negligent being busy in his own work he is actually very vigilant being busy in our work our work in the sense that he is working for our ultimate redemption, our ultimate well-being and liberation and just as a person who has closed the eyes cannot see the sun, all the sun is overhead similarly as long as we are at the material level of consciousness it is difficult for us to perceive God’s presence and protection and love but if we raise ourselves to the spiritual level of consciousness that’s like opening our eyes and when we open our eyes then when we raise ourselves to the spiritual level of consciousness then we can actually feel Krishna’s presence, protection and love and that is actually life’s supreme protection rising to the spiritual level of consciousness then no matter what disasters or tragedies happen at the material level of consciousness we will not be disturbed by them, we will be equipped internally, fortified spiritually to face them and move onwards in life and it’s not that tragedies will happen, even in normal course of life if we are connected spiritually then we will be able to respond to life’s ups and downs with greater maturity with greater intelligence and we will be able to overall become more effective in our life so raising ourselves to the spiritual level of consciousness is the way to feel Krishna’s presence, protection and love Thank you Hare Krishna