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The Problem of Evil in Indian Religions



In this article, the approaches of Indian religions that exhibit a polytheistic structure will be discussed. By naming Indian religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, which are born in the Indian Peninsula and show similarities in terms of certain features, are meant. Having a polytheistic understanding, Hinduism hosted many different god conceptions during the formation process. Hinduism reveals to its believers a circular view of the realm. According to this, the universe consists of four successive periods. Each period gets worse in the context of moral principles than the previous one. The world can only be reborn by preparing the ground for extinction at the end of the fourth period. The cyclical realm view thus continues forever. Time fiction includes the belief of “samsara and karma”. Expressing spiritual migration, samsara states that the spirits continue to exist in this cycle until they reach ultimate salvation, namely "moksha". How people will be embodied in the next form of depending on the so-called "karma" principle. People necessarily encounter the consequences of voluntary verbs (good-bad) in other forms of life. It is possible to read on how the evil-devil problem is approached in Hinduism through two basic texts. The most important collection of Hinduism that includes all the basic principles is “Vedas”. In the time of the Vedas, where polytheistic belief prevailed, evil was attributed to metaphysical beings, basically called "demons," which had characteristics similar to gods. Therefore, in such an understanding, "evil" ceases to be a problem. Indeed, there are gods that can be described as good and bad, so evil does not turn into a problem that will undermine the belief in god in such an environment. The “Upanishads”, which constitute the final part of the farewell collection, have an important place in the formation of the Indian philosophical culture. In these texts where an abstract narrative is preferred, unlike Vedas, the causative agent of evil is not superhuman evil beings/gods. In these texts, the problem of evil is explained by the concept of yeast, that is, “the ignorance of the human and the deviation from the truth”. Unlike the Vedas, evil is reduced to an abstract concept and, as we have stated above, is considered as the result of the actions of people within the framework of the law of karma. If we come to Buddhism, just like in Hinduism, the concept of the realm consists of successive periods and is repeated forever. Buddhism explains the process of the formation of beings with the "law of dependent existence" and does not include the idea of creative god. Buddhism, without mentioning God, includes a human-centered theory of truth and salvation. According to mixed teaching, people's current lives are a result of their past actions, their future lives will also be shaped by the results of their current actions. Therefore, the process of the incarnation in various forms is called “samsara” until it reaches enlightenment-nirvana. 
In Buddhism, where there is a human-centered understanding of truth, salvation is also in the hands of man. Therefore, one should follow the eight-slice path by embracing the four fundamental truths discovered by the Buddha. Four basic truths in Buddhism; It is built on the concept of evil, such as pain and suffering. According to this, evil is an essential feature of worldly life, from which modest life is full of evil. The Buddha attributes worldly pain and suffering to the ambitions and desires of individuals. The person who wants to reach nirvana should overcome these swearing feelings and follow the eight-slice path. As can be seen, evil is an essential feature of existence in Buddhism. Therefore, if a person can get out of his self- being, he can overcome the problem of evil. 
 In Jainism, as in other Hindu religions, an eternal and eternal view of the world is advocated. According to this, the realm consists of successive periods. Sometimes “rise” and sometimes “collapse” are observed in these periods. The atmosphere of peace and peace prevails during the ascension, and evil prevails in the periods of collapse. According to Jainism, during these periods when evil prevails, spiritual leaders called “Tirthankara” go down to the world of matter and organize the Jainism doctrine. My mind is not explaining the doctrine of creation and salvation through the creation of a supreme transcendent being. As in Buddhism, ultimate liberation is linked to individual efforts. Jainism talks about “karmic substance” in the context of mixed teaching. Accordingly, pure souls unconsciously become greedy, anger, etc. in the samsara-loop. It combines with karmic embers. These elements are the main reasons behind the actions of people. Depending on whether people's actions are good or bad, the cycle continues until the ultimate salvation. Man is responsible for his actions, and the way to happiness is through the control of desires and passions. As can be seen, truth and salvation are in the hands of the individual, as in Buddhism. The person of evil is the person himself. The way to get rid of the suffering-evil and rebirth due to karma is hidden in the life of life and exquisite finishing. In Sikhism, the realm shows a cyclical feature, eternal and eternal. However, unlike other Indian religions, it is believed to be a creator of the realm. The existence and continuity of the realm are in the hands of the mighty God. Sikhism was influenced by Islam at the point of God's imagination. In Sikhism, the soul comes to life in various forms of existence until it reaches eternal salvation. How a body exists depends on one's own good or bad actions. 
In Sikhism, the birth-death cycle is basically defined as the state of “pain-suffering” in the sense of being separated from God. The way to get rid of this cycle is hidden in a real understanding of God and staying away from evil. As can be seen, in Sikhism, goodness, or evil are the elements that people encounter as a result of their voluntary acts. As a result of voluntary acts, a person can be trapped in the cycle of birth and death, or he can find a body in the presence of God by getting rid of it.
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