Furthermore, there are two types of sins: those that have, so to speak, reached “maturity,” and those that have not yet. By “faults that have reached maturity” we mean those whose consequences we are currently suffering; the others are those that, many of them, have accumulated within us and have not yet produced their fruits of suffering. A person who commits a crime may not be caught immediately and condemned, but he will be sooner or later.

Similarly, we will have to suffer for some of our faults in the future, just as for still others, “faults that have reached maturity,” we suffer today.

So, sins and sufferings follow one another, plunging the incarnate soul, conditioned by material energy and the energy of illusion, into pain life after life. In its current life, it suffers the consequences of the actions committed in its previous life, and through its present actions, prepares itself for new suffering in the future.

“Mature” or “complete” sins can result in chronic illness, run-ins with the law, low birth, insufficient education, or poor physical appearance.

Our past actions burden us today, and our current actions prepare us for future suffering. But this chain can be broken in a single blow for one who adopts God-consciousness and serves Him with love and devotion. This means that devotional service offered to God is capable of reducing all defilements to nothing.

God also says to this effect: Devotional service offered to Me acts like a burning fire, infinitely capable of reducing to ashes whatever is thrown into it.

Every good we do, we will reap in benefits, and everything bad we do, we will also reap, but of exactly the same nature, in our next life in the form of suffering similar to that which we have inflicted or inflicted on one or more victims.

The cause of all illness is spiritual in origin. This cause is the forgetting of our loving relationship with Krishna, God, the Supreme Personality. The soul that loses contact with God forgets its own spiritual identity and indulges in countless material activities that entangle it in a web of karma, of actions and reactions. This karma causes suffering and instead of turning to God to alleviate its pain, the soul seeks material solutions, which unfortunately lead to other karmic reactions, and therefore other suffering.

How can we put an end to our suffering?

To stop this entire process, we simply need to surrender to Krishna, God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, love Him, do His divine will, live according to His teachings, and serve Him with love and devotion. All those who do this live in peace, under the protection of the Lord, and experience ineffable happiness.