Does the incarnated spiritual soul choose its own destiny, as well as the body in which it will be incarnated?

Yes, the souls that have come into this material world have made this choice themselves. Therefore, no one can say, “I did not ask to be born.”

It is the soul’s interest that must be sought, not that of the body.

It is the soul’s needs that must be met, not those of the body.

Why did God create the minute spiritual sparks that are spiritual souls?

In truth, the Absolute Truth, which is none other than Krishna, God, the Supreme Person Himself, is perfect in every respect only when He is both infinite and infinitesimal. If He were only infinite, He would not be completely perfect.

His Infinite and Absolute aspect is God, the Supreme Being, while living beings, the individual and distinct spiritual souls of Krishna, constitute his infinitesimal aspect, being minute fragments of his Divine Person.

The infinite desires of the Supreme Lord bring forth the spiritual world, while the infinitesimal desires of God's distinct souls give rise to the material world.

It is to serve Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, that we were created; this is the primary reason for our existence.

The Supreme Lord, Krishna, the Sovereign Divine Person, is by nature overflowing with joy, and He multiplies in order to increase His spiritual and absolute happiness. And we, the distinct beings, already existed as minute parts of the Supreme Lord for the gratification of His divine senses. The living being, the soul embodied in a human, animal, or plant form, belongs to the Lord's inner energy and is therefore identical to Him, but it never equals or surpasses God, Krishna.

God and other beings each possess their own individuality. Spiritual beings distinct from God can also, through the use of material energy, exert a certain creative power, but none of their creations equal or surpass those of the Lord.

The reasons for the soul's imprisonment in matter.

Did spiritual souls who descended into the material universe make this choice of their own?

The Lord tells us: If the soul finds itself imprisoned in this way, it is because it harbors a false conception of its identity and considers itself the supreme beneficiary. It is this false ego in the living being (the human being) that compels it to experience incarceration within material existence. As the Supreme and Absolute Truth, I personally exist beyond the living being, as well as beyond its material form. Both energies, material and spiritual, act under my sovereign authority.