GOOD & EVIL

Is there such a thing as evil in the world? If not, how does one account

for the atrocities committed both at the individual and the collective levels?
Answered by, His Holiness,Sri Swami Dhayanandha Saraswathi:
Evil cannot be a force. If it were, then we would have two opposites—a divine
force and an evil force, both of which would have to be resolved into another
Almighty. We would therefore have to create another force in which both of these
forces existed.
If we analyze evil, we find that it is, after all, within free will itself. There is no
other evil. For instance, we cannot say a person is evil. Evil is only the abuse of
one’s free will. Abuse of free will is possible only because the will is free,
meaning that there is choice in one’s actions. Therefore, behind every evil action,
there is an abuse of free will. This is something we have to accept.
There is, then, no such thing as an evil force opposed to éçvara the Lord. Some
people, because they imagine an evil force as something that we come under the
influence of, think that we should join éçvara and fight against the evil. This
suggests that éçvara is helpless in the face of this so-called evil force.
If all that is there is éçvara, the Lord, where is evil? The only evil is ignorance.
Free will itself is not evil. Because there is ignorance of the fact that there is only
éçvara, a second thing comes and, once a second thing comes, there is fear. When
fear is there, greed is there and when greed is there, evil force will also be there.
Evil and the abuse of free will exist because there is no understanding of dharma,
the order that is éçvara. This lack of understanding can be at the individual level
and at the collective level, also. If ten egos join together, they become one ego—a
collective ego. Then, there is a collective use or abuse of freedom. In all large
scale genocides, mass murders and colossal exterminations, there is a collective
abuse of freedom.
One’s karma can also be a consideration here. But once we say there is an abuse
of free will, we cannot bring in karma. This would be like saying that it is
someone’s karma to be murdered and the murderer is helping the person to fulfill
his or her karma. No one is going to commit homicide to fulfill someone else’s
karma.
There is definitely, however, such a thing as a collective use and abuse of free will
because there is a collective ego, a collective entity. There is a community ego,
religious ego, a group ego, a corporate ego—meaning a huge ego—and a national
ego. The national ego of a particular nation can abuse its collective free will and
destroy another nation. Similarly, the religious ego of a particular religion can
destroy another religion. The cultural ego of a culture can destroy another culture
and one community ego can destroy another community. The male ego can
destroy the female and female ego can destroy the male.
Any mass movement is a collective ego. You can identify with all females and a
collective female ego results. Students joining together is another example of a
collective ego. A collective ego is also seen in the pursuit of the murderer of a
police man. The entire police force develops one ego, collective ego, and pursues
the person who committed the murder.
The gods and demons, the Pandavas and Dhartarastras in the bhagavadgita also
represent the collective ego. A collective ego can be for good or bad. This, then,
is what we mean by good and evil.