The classic question; if God exists, why is there so much suffering?
The answer to this problem is ultimately free will, but it also is complex than the version of Abrahmic religions. Such religions give simple answers because the intricacies of karma and the nature of the spirit soul were far beyond the comprehension of the intended audiences that the great preachers, viz. Jesus Christ and prophet Muhammad delivered their respective messages to. Instead, for such simple people as shepherds and the like, a simple free will to decide between heaven and hell would do. However, from the point of view of the Vedic scriptures and the explanations of the acaryas, the aspect of the free will of the Jiva, or minute soul, is a key point in understanding the very nature of our present material existence. First and foremost, according to the Bhagavad-gita, the spirit soul is eternal. And we
are not talking about eternity in the ananta sense, which translates from the sankskrit language as that which has a beginning, but no end. If you ask most practitioners of the various other religions, specifically the Abhramic ones, you’ll find that most if not all of them agree on the point that the soul is created with the body and only remains eternal in heaven or hell. This is descibed in such scriptures for the same aformentioned purpose of keeping things straightforward for time, place and circumstance. However, the people of the modern age are more advanced in technology and science and are ready for the most mature and full explanation; therefore a more advanced and reasonable description can be found in the 2nd chapter, 13th verse of the Gita, wherein
Lord Sri Krishna says: dehino ‘smin yatha dehe. This is a proof for the existence of the soul that goes beyond the jurisdiction of any sectarian religion or group or even philosophy. This is a science; it applies to everybody. The body is changing, But we don’t change. That means we are not the body, but rather an eternal principle, referred to in most religions as a soul. Krishna also elaborates that the soul is hanyamane sirire; it is eternal, not just separate from the body. The full description of the soul thus described is one of the features of knowledge that distinguishes Bhagavad-gita from other scriptures of the world.
This simple understanding of ones own position as an eternal entity solves practically all existential problems posed by philosophers for so many years. The soul being eternal, and almost eternally liv
ing within the material world, there is a system of law governing how the living entity takes varieties of forms within the material world. This is referred to as karma in the Vedic literature. One does something, and one gets an equal and appropriate result for that said action, whether he feels the affect in the present life or the next. Therefore, whatever we see happening around us is simply the result of the cumulative reactions to everyone's past deeds an misdeeds. A creature is eaten from the bottom up by a komodo dragon because he himself ate some poor komodo dragon is the previous life. This is actual justice and absolute goodness. A living entity has the free will to desire in multifarious ways, and Krishna will fulfill any one of his desires; the living entity simply has to pay the consequence, whether in this life or the next.