Divine Justice & the Law of Reincarnation

Paramahansa Yogananda: "You may or may not believe in the law of reincarnation but if this life is the beginning and the end of human existence, it is impossible to reconcile the inequalities of life with a divine justice. Why is one man born in a rich family, whereas another child arrives in a poverty-stricken home, only to die of starvation? Why is one person healthy enough to live 100 years and someone else sick all the time? Why are Eskimos born in the cold north and other peoples in moderate climates, where the struggle to survive is easier? Why are some babies born blind, or dead? Why? Why? Why? If you were God, would you do such unjust things? What is the use of reading and living according to the scriptures, if life is predestined by a whimsical God who deliberately creates beings with bodies or brains that are imperfect?

According to the law of cause and effect, every action creates a commensurate reaction. Therefore, whatever is happening to us now must be the result of something we have done previously. If there is nothing in this life to account for previous circumstances, the inescapable conclusion is that the cause was set in motion at some prior time; that is, in some past human existence. Your strongest moods and character tendencies did not begin with this birth; they were established in your consciousness long before. Thus we may understand how some persons show early childhood certain definite talents, or weaknesses, and so on.

Source: pg. 230, Man's Eternal Quest