Question: When the soul picks a particular family to be born into, is it because it is very fond of the members of that family?

Sri Chinmoy: On rare occasions it may happen that the soul decides four or five years before it incarnates that it will enter into a particular family for a special reason. It can be either because of fondness, or because it wants to do something special, or because in a previous incarnation the soul promised another soul that they would be together. Also, if two souls are together in the soul's world and one soul incarnates a number of years before the other, the soul that remains may promise the other soul, "When I come down I shall enter into your family. You will be my mother; I will come to you as your daughter." So sometimes there is a special reason, and sometimes there is no special reason why a soul enters into a particular family.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The soul's special promise, part 1, Agni Press, 1994
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