Q72. Why do we suffer?

When we suffer, we are facing the reactions to the bad actions we took in our past. In a prison, there will be many innocent looking prisoners and one will find it hard to understand why these people are in jail, but once we look at their past records, we can understand why they deserve to be in jail. Our actions include everything we do, including our physical deeds, our words and thoughts. There will be a reaction to all our actions. Taking good actions builds our good karma (joy and happiness in the future). Taking bad actions builds our bad karma (disease and suffering in the future).

Actions, which result in bad Karma: Eating meat, violence, hatred, ignorance, harshness, untruthfulness, lust, anger, greed, attachments, desires, gambling, ego, and alcohol. Actions, which build good Karma: Vegetarianism, non-violence, generosity, charity, self-control, truthfulness, simplicity, forgiveness, religiousness, cleanliness, free from attachment, desires, and ego. The reason why some people suffer more than others is that they sinned more than others in their past and thus they are now facing the bad reactions to the bad actions taken in their past.