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Why do bad things happen to good people?

Heres an analogy to understand the answer. In

villages, grain is often stored in huge verticalcontainers; fresh grain is poured into the top, andold stored grain is taken out from the bottom. Afarmer may have produced poor quality grain of,say, brand Z for the past four years and stocked itin his container. This year he produces highquality grain of, say, brand A and stores it at the

top. He is therefore exasperated when he findsgrain of brand Z coming out from the bottom. Thisillustrates how seemingly innocent people sufferin this life: they have been doing good things inthis life, but have earlier done bad things whosereactions are coming to them now. What makesthe workings of karma difficult to appreciate is

that most people have a karmic record that isneither white nor black, but shades of gray. Thatmixed record leads to reactions that often appeararbitrary.

A question that vexes many when they see bad

things happening to good people is: If thesepeople were really so bad in their earlier lives,how could they have been virtuous in this life forso long? There are several possible answers. Weoften see even upright people occasionallysuccumbing to temptation and perpetratingabominable misdeeds. Of course, their virtuousnature rectifies them quickly, but still the factremains that they did commit a greatly sinful actand are therefore liable for a reaction. So the

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wrongdoing, like an ugly black spot on theirotherwise clean karmic slate, will result in asevere reaction in an otherwise happy future life.Shift this scenario one lifetime backwards and wehave the answer to the above question. The harsh

affliction coming to a good person may thus bedue to an occasional but grave transgression in aprevious life. Also, our behavior in this life is notdetermined only by our tendencies in the previouslife; upbringing and association in this life alsoplay a significant role. So if people with badinclinations are born into a good family because of

some good karma, their congenial upbringing andsurroundings may empower them to shed theirbaggage of negative propensities. Thus they maybecome moral in this life, but their misdeeds fromprevious lives will make them suffer despite theirrectified conduct now. Thus the principles ofreincarnation allow us to view life with a much

broader perspectivenot from the standpoint ofone brief lifetime, which is nothing more than aflash in time, but from the standpoint of eternity.With this broader vision we can understand howeach of us individual souls is alone responsible forwhat happens in our life.