Uploading image...Why Is a Good Person Suffering?
We often hear people say, “He is such a good person. Why is he suffering?” Sometimes, we ask the same question about ourselves: “I have not knowingly harmed anyone. I help others whenever I can. Then why am I facing so many problems?” Behind these questions lies an expectation that goodness should protect us from suffering.
From the perspective of karma, however, our present conduct is not the whole story. What we do now creates fresh karma, while some of the experiences we face now are understood as the results of earlier actions—our Prarabdha Karma. A person may be living rightly today while still passing through difficulties connected with the past.
Yet this understanding must never become an excuse to judge a suffering person. We cannot look at someone’s suffering and claim to know what they did in a previous birth. Their pain calls for compassion and help, not accusations.
As I have often explained in my practice as an Astrologer, planets do not cause our problems. They indicate the Prarabdha Karma unfolding in our lives. A difficult planetary period does not mean that a planet is our enemy or that God is angry with us.
The practical question, therefore, is not only, “Why am I suffering?” It is also, “How can I respond to this suffering without abandoning my goodness?” Goodness should not be treated as a bargain that guarantees an easy life. It can guide our choices, prevent us from causing further harm, and help us meet difficult circumstances with courage, wisdom and compassion.
Let's go back to the past to know the future
We have been born and reborn countless times. Across these many lives, we have performed both good and bad actions. According to the law of karma, good actions bring pleasant experiences and favourable results, while the sins we commit lead to suffering.
Many people assume that whatever happens in this life is connected only to the immediately preceding life. That is a misunderstanding. The karma unfolding now may come from actions performed several lifetimes ago—perhaps five births earlier, or even further back. Our present life may therefore carry the results of actions from many different past lives, not merely the last one.
Over time, we may evolve through the lessons learned across many lifetimes. This may explain why some people are good in their present life. Their nature, attitude and conduct reflect the progress they have made. However, becoming a better person does not automatically erase the consequences of earlier actions. According to the law of karma, even an action performed ten births ago may still await its result.
Pending karma unfolds when the circumstances necessary for its consequences to be experienced arise. Until then, it remains dormant. When those circumstances come together, the results emerge—even if the person has since changed and is now living a good life.
Such a person may understandably ask, “Why am I suffering when I have done nothing wrong?” Their goodness today is real, but the suffering they experience may be connected with actions from a distant past. Within this understanding, the concept of karma provides an explanation for why present goodness and present suffering can exist together.
An example of waiting for circumstances
Imagine a man who lived eight births ago. He abandoned his wife, leaving her to suffer, and moved to another town, where he married another woman. He went on with his life, but the pain he had caused remained an unsettled karmic account. In this illustration, the circumstances needed for him to experience its consequences did not arise during that lifetime.
Several births passed. Through the lessons of those lives, this conscious being gradually became a better human being. Now imagine that the same soul is born as a woman—kind, sincere and devoted to her marriage. She marries a man named Sarvesh, hoping to build a happy life with him.
Their horoscopes, however, show difficulties in marital compatibility. Their matching score is only 4 out of 36. In Sarvesh’s horoscope, the lord of the 7th house—the house of marriage—is placed in the 12th house, associated with loss, and occupies a dual, or double-bodied, sign. In the astrological interpretation of this imagined case, these factors suggest the possibility of separation and another relationship; they do not make either outcome inevitable.
Eventually, Sarvesh leaves her for another woman. The wife is devastated. “I have been faithful and loving,” she asks. “Why has this happened to me?”
Viewed through the concept of karma, the story connects her present suffering with the suffering she once caused in a distant lifetime. Her goodness today is real, yet an earlier karmic account has remained pending until the circumstances allowed it to unfold. The horoscope indicates the situation; the planets do not cause the abandonment. Sarvesh remains responsible for his choices.
This is an illustration of a karmic principle, not a claim that we can know the past-life actions of an abandoned wife. Her suffering deserves compassion, support and help.
Astrology without remedies
The Maharishis and Seers of ancient India did more than explain the workings of karma. They also offered ways to respond to it through prayer, charity, spiritual disciplines and other prescribed remedies. Within this tradition, these remedies are understood to help lessen the burden of past-life sins and soften the suffering arising from them.
This is why remedies hold such an important place in Astrology. An Astrologer’s work should go beyond identifying a difficult period; it should also guide the person towards meaningful action. Astrology without remedies is like a doctor diagnosing an illness but offering no treatment. The purpose is not merely to predict suffering, but to offer a path towards relief, inner strength and transformation.
By Guruji Dr E K Dhilip Kumar, M.Sc.,
Chennai - India
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