The blast in Delhi has sent shockwaves throughout India and beyond.
How do we make sense of such an atrocity?

The Bhagavad Gita teaches that the cause for every event can be seen at three levels—the human, the natural, and the divine.
These correspond to the three components of reality:
Jiva — the living being,
Jagat — the material world,
and Jagdish — the Supreme Lord.

When we reduce causality to just one factor,our understanding becomes fragmented—sometimes even distorted.
Let’s consider each of these causes one-by-one.

1. The Human Cause

The Gita (chapter 16) describes people with demoniac natures—those who delight in destruction (16.9),
who scheme devilishly to cause suffering (16.14),who consider such successful scheming as trophies to their smarts (16.15).

Such people must be restrained, resolutely and even ruthlessly.
Gentleness or forgiveness in the face of wickedness is foolishness that only feeds and furthers that wickedness.
As Draupadi told Yudhishthira during their conversation at Dvaitavana in the Mahabharata, the vicious equate kindness with powerlessness and become more vicious.

At the same time, the Gita (18.42) also honors protectors—those who preserve order and safety.
They must be trusted, empowered, and held accountable.
The fact that a nationwide conspiracy, where multiple attacks were planned, was thwarted deserves deep appreciation.

The Bhagavad Gita 3.20 teaches that, each of us must play our role in maintaining the world’s order —what the Gita calls loka-saṅgraha.
For citizens, this means being aware and alert, ready to report responsibly whenever something seems amiss.

2. The Natural Cause

The Gita puts specific incidents of distress in a broader perspective when it (8.15) calls this world duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam —a place of distress and impermanence.
The Bhāgavatam (10.14.58) adds, padam padam yad vipadām —there is danger at every step.

These truths are not meant to make us fatalistic.
They are meant to make us realistic.
They remind us that life has always been fragile,
that suffering is woven into material existence,
that brutality has always existed throughout human history.

Such awareness protects us from two extremes —fear and paranoia on one side, revenge and scapegoating on the other.

The balanced path is resourcefulness —to respond, not react.
To analyze carefully till we zero in on an actionable cause and to act courageously to neutralize that cause, firmly and forcefully.
That was the Pandavas’ path with the Kauravas:they neither caved in before injustice nor became consumed by hatred while opposing it.

3. The Divine Cause

The Gita declares that Krishna, the Supreme Lord, is never the cause of evil.
He is the comfort amid distress and the cure beyond it.

Evil arises not from God, but from the illusions that dominate when people turn away from him —and sometimes even justify that turning away by imagining a sectarian god who hates those whom they themselves hate.

That is not the God of the Gita.
The Gita reveals God to be the universal well-wisher of all beings, who seeks the upliftment of everyone (5.29).

God is our comfort amid suffering, the Gita assures in (18.58).
When we remember him, he steadies our mind and strengthens our heart.
His presence brings clarity amid confusion, and courage amid crisis.

God is also our cure, as he declares in (11.33):we are his instruments, and through our actions, his purpose unfolds.
When we do our part within our limits, he does his part beyond them.
That is the partnership between the human and the divine, as celebrated in the conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita (18.78) —our effort empowered by his grace can herald an era of greater peace, harmony and flourishing.

So, God is never the cause of evil.
He is the comfort through it.
And the cure beyond it.

Conclusion

The Bhagavad Gita teaches us to face atrocity not with despair but with depth, not by giving in to hatred but by growing to reciprocate rightly with both facets of humanity: demonic and divine.
May our devotion empower us to find comfort amid pain and progress toward a cure that uproots pain.