Krsna gave the individual marginal living entities (jiva-tattva souls) their free will because everything orignates from Krsna.

The jiva-souls have always had free will as part of their constitutional make up and like Krsna, the individual jiva-souls are beginningless and endless.

No two jiva-souls are the same, each are independent individuals with their own unique personality separate from Krsna's Personality.

Krsna (God) is not responsible for all the suffering in the material creation that many jiva-souls experience, even though the material worlds are all His creation.

The individual jiva-souls are responsible for their own actions as soon as they first chose to enter the material creation.

This is because of misusing their free will that allows them to act in anyway they desire.

However, the now trapped jiva soul eventually find themselves overwhelmed by the reactions from their own deeds.

Eventually becoming so entangled and covered by material nature, they lose their free will and become controlled by their own Karma, or the reactions to their own actions.

In the material world so many terrible things are continually happening because of mistaken selfish desire and the fact that the nature of the material creation is it is temporary and in a constant state of decomposition and decay.

This does not happen because Krsna personally allows such suffering to happen, no, Kṛṣṇa is technically not responsible for all the suffering in the material creation.

Even though the material worlds are His creation via Maha-Vishnu.

The suffering in the material creation happens because the individual jiva-souls continue to misuse their free will and independence, such free will is part and parcel of their eternal individual marginal constitution.

Krsna never gave the marginal living entities (jiva-souls) free will because the jiva-souls have always had free will.

And like Krsna, the jiva-souls are beginningless and endless.

So there was never a time when they never had free will.

And Krsna will never interfere with the jiva-souls free will either.

If the jiva-souls never had their free will, they would have no independent unique ability to contribute that enriches and expands one's relationship with Krsna, making them mindless drones or no better than dead stone Prabhupada has warned.

Without free will, the jiva-souls would not have the personal ability to accept and experiencing loving exchanges, choosing to serve in their own unique personal special way, in the mood of loving reciprocation. 

These are the characteristics that make the jiva-soul (marginal living entity) the individual person they eternal are.

Love is never a one-way street, it can only exist when there is an exchange of feeling between Krsna and His devotee.

Love can only exist between two living beings, never with just one.

Surrendering one's free will for Krsna to completely control is impersonalism, it is like one who controls a puppet by moving the strings, having absolute control that will only take away from the jiva souls their individual sense of self and ability to offer their own personal unique contributions that each jiva-soul has.

No two jiva souls are the same, each are independent individuals with their own unique sense of self.

On the other hand, if Krsna controls the jiva-soul in every way in Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavan, then that cold one sided relationship is empty poisoned impersonalism.

Such a nonsense one sided dictatorial relationship would simply make the jiva-souls no better than "mindless lifeless dead stone" Prabhupada has explained.

The jiva-souls in Vaikuntha and Goloka-Vrindavan in their natural full spiritual potential, always have free will as part of their individual marginal identity, that allows them to each have their own unique personal relationship of their choice with Visnu or Krsna that only they have.

In other words, each jiva-soul has their own special unique association and relationship with Krsna.

However, the material creation is different because those who enter it have chosen to reject Visnu or Krsna greatly losing their full expression of free will due to being embodied in a material body and coming under the laws of material nature (karma).

So why then does Krsna allow so much suffering in the material creation?

First of all, the jiva-souls have perpetual free will as explained above, which always makes them fully responsible for their own actions.

Entering the material creation is a mistake by those jiva-souls because it is not the real home of the jiva-souls.

However, each jiva-soul can make their own choices due to their eternal constitutional nature as an independent free thinking part and parcel expansion of the Krsna having 78.125% of Krsna's 64 qualities which is 50 of His qualities.

It is not that Krsna at any point allows free will, because there has always been free will. 

This "freedom" for the jiva-soul is part of their perpetual makeup because without free will, meaning the jiva-souls independent sense of self worth, individuality, having a unique character and personality, then there can never be reciprocal love between Krsna and the marginal living entity (jiva-soul)

Sadly, some jiva-souls make the wrong choices Prabhupada has told us, giving the figure at less than 10%

But the adds over 90% choose to never rebel or fall down to the material creation.

While in the material creation, their actions good and bad, come under the laws of material nature called karma, and they have answer for all they do.

This means the jiva-soul is fully responsible for their own actions, life after life after life in the material creation.

Krsna is not responsible for the choices the jiva-soul makes, the jiva's are fully responsible for their actions.

All suffering therefore is caused by the reactions of their own mistaken choices and actions.

In other words, the jiva-soul is punished or rewarded for whatever actions, good or bad, they have chosen to act out in this life that may not be paid for until the next life, or even the life after that.

It is important to understand and realize that each of us are responsible for our actions.

Then we will understand that we cannot blame God for the suffering of what even appears to be innocent young children dying of so many different diseases.

Many are blinded by the external bodily vessel and can only see the child's gross material body, and not the eternal jiva-soul within who has had many past lives in other material bodies, that all have accumulated a build up of pious and impious reactions (karma).

What many do not see is that the jiva-soul is eternal and has had many material bodily vessels as Bhagavad Gita As It Is teaches.

Therefore, all the suffering in the present material body of the young child, is coming from whatever the jiva-soul in that child's present young material body, did in a previous life time, or life times.

The bank balance of karmic reactions, good and bad, are stored in the subtle body that are accumulated from thousands of previous lives.

They are then carried at death in the subtle material body to the next gross material body in the womb of the new mother.

Such karma, good and bad, gradually unfolds to the present body one is now living, and continue to unfold to all future lives (material bodies) the jiva-soul enters within the material universe.

God (Krsna) is not the cause of the jiva-souls suffering, they are by the selfish exploitive choices they have made in a past material body. Past lives they have forgotten in their present material body. This is why we see children suffering, it is simply karmic reactions from previous material bodies (lives)

However, for advanced souls with transcendental knowledge, they can see that the child's suffering is caused by the many mistaken actions made over many, many previous live times.

And understand that in the material body the child has in this life, the jiva-soul within it, is reaping the good and bad karma from all those previous life times.

It is important to understand that we cannot blame God for our suffering, or anybody else, clearly we are responsible.

We get what we deserve, no more, no less, what goes around comes around.

The balance between punishment and reward and good deed and bad deeds (karma) in the material world is very strict.

Paintings description -

Without free will in Vaikuntha and Goloka-Vrindavan, which means the jiva-souls always have an independent sense of self worth, individuality, unique character and personality separate from Krsna's Personality, then there can never be reciprocal love between Krsna and the marginal living entities (jiva-souls)

Srila Prabhupada has said without free will and the ability to reciprocate as an independent individual servant of Lord Krsna, then we are all no better than a dead stone.

Compiled by Gauragopala Dasa ACBSP.