The general advantages and handicaps of an incarnation are always determined by the specific sanskaras the individual soul has accumulated in the past. The needs involved in the further development of the soul are related to the nature of its accumulated sanskaras. Therefore these accumulated sanskaras really determine whether the soul takes its incarnation on the earth in the East or in the West, in a male form or in a female form, in one cycle of existence or in another. The facilities afforded by a specific incarnation are dependent not only upon whether an incarnation is in the male form or female form but also upon whether it takes place in one cycle of existence or another cycle of existence, and whether it matches the tenor of earthly life in the Eastern Hemisphere or in the Western Hemisphere.
-Discourses 7th Ed., p321