LEARNED philosopher Tusta Krishna Das wrote a wonderful thesis on the existence and nature of the Supreme Being. A question he discussed was: Could the Supreme Being not have used His power to create people who would carry out His orders and do His will infallibly, and never acting wrongly?

Tusta’s answer: “Yes. Being all-powerful, the Supreme Being can accomplish anything He chooses. However, because He is all-wise and merciful, He did not preprogram all living beings this way. Rather, he endowed them with free will. That He did so can be seen as merciful because He made it possible for living beings to experience love for Him. Love is based on freedom. Without freedom, there’s no question of love.

“That it is the natural function of the soul to serve the Supreme is also due to His wisdom and mercy. God wants the living entity to serve Him, not because He’s on a power trip and enjoys having others do His will, but because He relishes the love that motivates the service offered to Him by His devotee. And even more than this, He relishes the devotees’ love. Thus, the exchange of love between God and His servants is relished by both.

Service

“If rendering service to God is beneficial to the individual soul, why do many people—even the religious—seem to be living for themselves more than for God?

We should not expect to see the majority of earthly citizens engage in devotional service to God. Just as a person wouldn’t expect to find many sane people in an insane asylum, or honest men in a prison.

But, what lies beyond the walls of a prison? Indeed, while the material world has been created for those who have chosen not to serve the Supreme Being, the spiritual world is solely inhabited by the Supreme Being and His servants.

We can always choose to accept the invitation to leave prison and go home to our loving Best Friend.