Why do beings suffer so much?

Following is a quote from a weekly newsletter I receive from the Vedanta Society of St. Louis. I encourage all readers to subscribe to this very concise newsletter containing valuable weekly messages for our daily use.
Swami Arupananda wrote in his memoir:
I used to visit the Mother almost daily in her room. She would lie down on her bed and talk to me, with Radhu lying asleep by her side. An oil lamp cast a dim light in the room. On some days a maidservant rubbed her feet with medicated oil for rheumatism. One day she said to me during conversation: “Whenever the thought of a disciple comes to my mind and I yearn to see him, then he either comes here or writes a letter to me. You must have come here prompted by a certain feeling. Perhaps you have in your mind the thought of the Divine Mother of the Universe.”
“Are you the Mother of all?” I asked.
Mother replied, “Yes.”
“Even of the subhuman beings — birds and animals?”
“Yes, of these also.”
“Then why should they suffer so much?”
“In this birth they must have these experiences.”
Sri Sarada Devi: A Divine Life in Pictures
www.vedantastl.org

Above reflects the path of devotion, faith in God, seen here as the Divine Mother. It is the essence of Bhakthi Yoga, the pathway of faith. It is a pathway in which we see anything and everything as created by, protected by and cared for by God:
“Are you the Mother of all?” I asked.
Mother replied, “Yes.”
This pathway of devotion also implies faith in cycles of birth and death, suffering through various cycles of life and salvation or liberation as the end result.

When our mind and its analytical reasoning pose challenges to this unrelenting faith in God or a larger power, we resort to Jnana Yoga, the pathway of reflection and reasoning. In this pathway we realize that ALL our experiences are the result of three connectors (Guna) influenced by our connections to the “experience” through our Knowledge, Bias and Ignorance. Please see: Anatomy of our experiences. We learn that events happen as a course of nature. We recognize them, we experience them through the dualities of joy/suffering depending on our needs and wants (i.e.) our attachments. There is illness, loss of limbs and life all around us. We are not affected by most of them. Yet, when these occur close to us, like that within our family or friends we get affected. We “suffer” as a result. It is the result of our attachment. Please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTNKbMRHlOo&list=PLwk3-BGQQsfWIoIZG4RO3kix2sChgWEUE&index=4

Every medical doctor sees the illness and other happenings in their patients every day. They see them merely as natural events requiring treatment or follow-up. This equanimity – absence of duality of joy/suffering – is due to their objectivity and non-attachment. See “Objectivity as the end result”. Such a person of objective frame of mind, with equal disposition and analysis sees all observations as the interplay of prevailing Knowledge, Bias and Ignorance. He is considered a Yogi, an enlightened person. Bagawath Geetha identifies such an enlightened person as one “dear to God”. His qualities are listed in Chapter 12 of B.G. as follows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bNexVWlbvA&list=PLwk3-BGQQsfWIoIZG4RO3kix2sChgWEUE&index=13

We need to be cautious in reading the above. One should avoid the notion that Jnana Yoga suggests a callous dismissal of pain and suffering in others. Far from it. One with analytical reasoning will see the pain and suffering in others as his/her own pain and suffering. Under such unrelenting grief, the Jnana Yogi will seek the sources of such pain and suffering – the prevailing Knowledge, Bias and Ignorance – which “others” are not able to see. Then work with them and guide them in a way to lead their own thinking towards enrichment of their Knowledge (leading to Tranquility), while decreasing their bias and ignorance (and hence decrease their suffering in due course). Since this transformative effort of the Jnana Yogi is objective and un-attached, others see their coming out of their own suffering and grief and more towards embracing joy as self-initiated. Hence they feel uplifted for their perceived self-effort and progress. The Jnana Yogi enjoys this transformation in “others” like the droplet of water dancing on the lotus leaf in a pond, Objective and Un-attached!

What happens to the pain and suffering of a Jnana Yogi? Is he/she immune from it? Far from it. One pursuing the path of Jnana Yoga is no different from any one else – pursuing the path of faith (Bhakthi) or dedicated work/action (Karma) called upon as his/her duty. Jnana Yogi handles his own emotional set back (pain and suffering) though faith in a larger order or God, thus helps to recenter his mind on reasoning through objectivity and non-attachment. Such non-attachment is enhanced when the problems or issues of the self or externalized, (i.e.) seen as belonging to some one else. It is not “my experience or issue”; instead it is “Susan or John’s issues”. This externalized view of one’s own problem on hand leading to objectivity in analysis is also known as “Cognitive Behavior Managment”.