Are humans responsible for the suffering they endure?

We classify three types of existence according to the influence exerted by the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature: virtue, passion, and ignorance.

Thus, living beings can be classified as peaceful, feverish, and giddy, or as happy, unhappy, and somewhere in between, or as virtuous, impious, and semi-religious. We can deduct from this that, in the next life, these three kinds of material influences will continue to act in a similar manner. The influence of the three attributes of material nature and its consequences are visible in the present life.

For example, some feel very happy, others very unhappy, and still others somewhere in between. This is the result of past contact with the three attributes [virtue, passion, and ignorance. (Ignorance is understood to mean the absence of data relating to God, existential truth, and spiritual knowledge)]. Since these differences are evident in the present life, we can assume that, depending on their relationship to the different attributes, living beings will be equally happy, unhappy, or somewhere in between in their next life. Therefore, the best course of action is to dissociate oneself from the three attributes of material nature and forever transcend their contaminating influence.

However, this is only possible when one devotes oneself entirely to loving and devoted service to God.

This is confirmed by Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead: One who is completely absorbed in devotional service, without ever failing, thereby transcends the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature and thus attains the spiritual level.

Unless one is fully absorbed in the service of the Lord, one remains exposed to the defilement of the three attributes of material nature, such that one must undergo the sufferings associated with unhappiness or a mixture of happiness and unhappiness.

A life of happiness, unhappiness, or mixed feelings allows one to determine the proportion of virtuous and impious deeds in past and future lives. It is not very difficult to know one's past and future, for time reflects the contamination of the three attributes of material nature.

Currently, most incarnate spirit entities identify with their present body, the fruit of their past virtuous or impious deeds, and remain incapable of knowing their previous or future lives. Man indulges in sin because he is ignorant of the deeds of his past life that have brought him to his current condition, in a material body exposed to the three forms of suffering. He is seized by a desperate need for material pleasures, does not hesitate to sin, and commits reprehensible acts solely for the sake of satisfying his senses. All this is harmful, for as a result of his sins, he will have to receive another body in which he will suffer just as he now suffers from the consequences of his past sins.