Editing Problem of evil in Hinduism (section)

==Problem of Injustice in the Brahma sutras==
A version of the problem of evil appears in the ancient ''[[Brahma Sutras]]'', probably composed between 200 BCE and 200 CE,<ref name=nvisaeva36>NV Isaeva (1992), Shankara and Indian Philosophy, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1281-7}}, page 36</ref> a foundational text of the [[Vedanta]] tradition of Hinduism.<ref name=jamesloch124>James Lochtefeld, Brahman, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0823931798}}, page 124</ref> Its verses 2.1.34 through 2.1.36 aphoristically mention a version of the problem of suffering and evil in the context of the abstract metaphysical Hindu concept of [[Brahman]].<ref name=sradha30>S Radhakrishnan (1960), [https://archive.org/stream/Sarvepalli.Radhakrishnan-Brahma.Sutra-The.Philosophy.of.Spiritual.Life/Radhakrishnan-Brahma.Sutra-The.Philosophy.of.Spiritual.Life#page/n361/mode/2up Brahmasutras: the philosophy of spiritual life], George Allen, pages 363-365</ref><ref name=sharma2008p31>{{cite book|author=Arvind Sharma |title=The Philosophy of Religion and Advaita Vedanta: A Comparative Study in Religion and Reason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QxSrc6rkvzAC |year=2008|publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |isbn=978-0-271-03946-6 |pages=30–32 }}</ref> The verse 2.1.34 of ''Brahma Sutras'' asserts that inequality and cruelty in the world cannot be attributed to the concept of [[Brahman]], and this is in the Vedas and the Upanishads. In his interpretation and commentary on the ''Brahma Sutras'', the 8th-century scholar Adi Shankara states that just because some people are happier than others and just because there is so much malice, cruelty and pain in the world, some state that Brahman cannot be the cause of the world.<ref name=sradha30/> Shankara attributes evil and cruelty in the world to [[Karma]] of oneself, of others, and to ignorance, delusion and wrong knowledge,<ref name=sharma2008p31/> but not to the abstract Brahman.<ref name=sradha30/> Shankara develops the argument that God is not the Brahman, and that "a loving and good God could not have created the universe", a position held by Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism.<ref name=sharma2008p23>{{cite book|author=Arvind Sharma |title=The Philosophy of Religion and Advaita Vedanta: A Comparative Study in Religion and Reason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QxSrc6rkvzAC |year=2008|publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |isbn=978-0-271-03946-6 |pages=23–24 }}</ref>

{{Quote|
For that would lead to the possibility of partiality and cruelty. For it can be reasonably concluded that God has passion and hatred like some ignoble persons... Hence there will be a nullification of God's nature of extreme purity, (unchangeability), etc., [...] And owing to infliction of misery and destruction on all creatures, God will be open to the charge of pitilessness and extreme cruelty, abhorred even by a villain. Thus on account of the possibility of partiality and cruelty, God is not an agent.
|[[Adi Shankara]]|Translated by Arvind Sharma<ref name=sharma2008p23/>}}

In other words, in the ''Brahma Sutras'', the formulation of problem of evil is considered a metaphysical construct, but not a moral issue.<ref name=sharma2008p31/> [[Ramanuja]] of the theistic [[Sri Vaishnavism]] school – a major tradition within Vaishnavism – interprets the same verse in the context of Vishnu, and asserts that Vishnu only creates potentialities.<ref name=sradha30/>

According to Swami Gambhirananda, Sankara's commentary explains that God cannot be charged with partiality or cruelty (i.e. injustice) on account of his taking the factors of virtuous and vicious actions (Karma) performed by an individual in previous lives. If an individual experiences pleasure or pain in this life, it is due to virtuous or vicious action (Karma) done by that individual in a past life <ref name=Gambhirananda1965>{{cite book|author=Swami Gambhirananda |title=Brahma Sutra Bhasya Of Shankaracharya |year=1965|publisher=Vedanta Press & Bookshop |isbn=978-8175051058 }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2016}}

[[Ramanuja]] of the theistic [[Sri Vaishnavism]] school interprets the same verse in the context of Vishnu, and asserts that Vishnu only creates potentialities.<ref name="sradha30"/> According to Arvind Sharma, Shankara's [[Advaita Vedanta]] school does not attribute the evil and suffering to the abstract concept of Brahman, but to ignorance, delusion and wrong knowledge.<ref name="sharma2008p31"/> The universe and all existence is without a beginning or end, and Brahman is everything before and after that beginning, before and after the end.<ref name=sradha30/> Further, in Hindu thought, neither evil nor error are final, all happiness and suffering is impermanent, and truth ultimately triumphs.<ref name=sharma2008p31/>