Q. Why is there suffering?

A. The soul, although originally pure, is covered by illusion and ignorance when he comes to the material world. In this condition he forgets his eternal, blissful position with Krishna in the spiritual world and identifies with the material body.

When the soul thus identifies with the material body and material existence, he experiences the suffering inherent in matter. Here in the material world there is suffering from the body and mind, suffering from others, and suffering from nature. For the body there is birth, old age, disease, and death—all suffering conditions foreign to the soul.