Good work (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"good or evil work" |"good work"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 6, 1972:

For mischievous activities, it also requires good brain. And similarly, for pious activities, that also requires brain. But those who are applying their brain for mischievous activities, they are called duṣkṛtinaḥ. So duṣkṛtinaḥ... Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. Why they do so? Because they are mūḍhāḥ, rascals. If one has got good brain, he should apply it for good work, but sometimes they are utilized... Just like a thief, he has got good brain. A rogue, he has got good brain, but he's applying for mischievous activities, for making people unhappy. That is not the right use. Jñāna-khala. They are called jñāna-khala. One who has got nice knowledge, it should be utilized for better purpose.

Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:

And if you do that, then there is no reaction. Yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko yam. And if you do on your account, there will be reaction. Either you do good work or bad work, there will be reaction. If you do good work, you'll get good result, and if you do bad work, you will get bad result. That's all right. But within this material world... Suppose if you do pious activities. So what is the result of pious activities? According to śāstra, the effect of pious activity is that you can get birth in a very respectable, aristocratic family, you can get very nice wealthy position, you can become very beautiful, and you can become very learned. These are the four principles of pious activities, according to śāstra. And if you do just the opposite, you take your birth in abominable family or in lower, degraded animal species of life, no education, no beauty, no knowledge. There are so many things. So if you have to believe śāstra, these are the effects of bad and good works. Now for a person who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is not concerned with aristocratic family or abominable family. He wants to stop birth.

Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:

That means the people in the ordinary status, they are trying to acquire some good qualities, but in Kṛṣṇa conscious person you will find all the good qualities automatically. That is the difference. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa conscious person is not interested that this is good work or this is bad work. He is interested with Kṛṣṇa. Because his activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is all transcendental, better than good, śuddha-sattva, pure goodness. In the material world, the goodness, the quality of goodness is sometimes tinged with passion and ignorance. But in pure goodness, which is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no tinge of passion or ignorance. Automatically everything is good. Yes.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

That means if you learn the trick, how to work on the platform of yoga, then that is the highest technique of doing work. Buddhi-yukto jahā... And result of that work, what is that? Now, buddhi-yuktaḥ. When you work from the spiritual platform with your intelligence, then jahāti iha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte. Sukṛta-duṣkṛta. Now, for ordinary work, if you do good work, then you have to take good result. And if you do bad work, or sinful work, then if you have, you have to take the effect of such bad and sinful work. Sukṛta and duṣkṛta. But one who works from spiritual platform, he hasn't got to take the result of good work or bad work. Because he is transcendental. He has no good work and no bad work. Everything transcendental work. Everything transcendental work. That... Just like take the example of Arjuna. He was thinking that "Fighting of this nature is not good for me." That was his problem.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

And Lord Kṛṣṇa was inducing him to fight. So does it mean that Lord Kṛṣṇa was inducing him to the bad course? No. He was inducing him to a course which is beyond good and bad, transcendental. In the... From the material platform, even if you do good work, that is also not good. That is also not good.

Now, now according to scripture, now, one who does good work only, no sinful work, then what is the result of his good work? Oh, he gets birth in a good family, in a higher planet, or very rich man, or very educated man, very beautiful man. These are the result of good work. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī (SB 1.8.26). Four things are obtained by good work. You get very good birth, high parentage, janma. You get very good wealth in wealthy family, or you earn millions and millions dollars. You don't think that simply by laboring, one can earn millions and millions dollars unless he has got in the background very good work. You see? Otherwise, everyone is trying to earn millions and billions, but somebody's earning very quickly, without any effort, and somebody, whole life working, he does not get even sufficient for the maintenance.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

So these are the result of good work and bad work. So janma-aiśvarya-śruta. High education, to become very highly learned man, that is also due to good work. And to be very beautiful, that is also result of good work. Janma-aiśvarya-śruta-śrī. Śrī means beauty. And bad work is just opposite. Now, good work or bad work, now, when you take your birth in a good family, when you are very much educated, very much beautiful, but still, you have to accept the, I mean to say, triple miseries of material existence. That you cannot avoid. That you cannot avoid. Because you are very rich man, you cannot avoid your death. You cannot avoid your disease. You cannot avoid your old age. Similarly, as the man who is poor man, he is also cannot, he also cannot avoid old age, he cannot avoid death, he cannot avoid disease. Similarly, the troubles of material existence is there, both in good life and bad life. But when you work transcendentally, neither good nor bad, for the sake of the supreme consciousness, transcendental position, you don't get this material birth at all. Therefore that is real good. You are above this birth, death, old age and so many troubles, miseries of life.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

So Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that buddhi-yukto jahāti. If you work from the transcendental plane, or spiritual platform, then you get rid of all the results of good work and bad work. Don't be attached by, either by good work or bad work. That is the technique. A transcendentalist who wants to work from spiritual platform, he has no botheration, "Whether I am doing good or bad?" He has only to see, "Whether I am doing, acting on the platform of spiritual consciousness or material consciousness?" That's all. Even a apparently bad work by such person on the spiritual consciousness, is also good, supreme good. Not only good, but supreme good. Just like you see the example of Arjuna. From material point of view, he was right that "It is not good to fight with my brothers." That is right from material point of view. But when he learned Bhagavad-gītā, he fought with the same brothers. With the same brothers. That means that after learning Bhagavad-gītā, after taking lessons of Bhagavad-gītā, he did not become a bad man. No. He become a transcendental man. Transcendental man. Because that fighting, he accepted on the instruction, on the desire of the supreme consciousness, Kṛṣṇa. That is the technique.

Lecture on BG 3.1-5 -- Los Angeles, December 20, 1968:

The proof is that without the presence of the spirit soul there is no movement of the material body. The body is only a dead vehicle to be worked by the spirit soul and therefore it is to be understood that the soul is always active and cannot stop even for a moment. As such, the spirit soul has to be engaged in the good work of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise it will be engaged in the occupations dictated by the illusory energy. In contact with material energy, the spirit soul acquires material modes, and to purify the soul from such affinity it is necessary to engage it in the prescribed duties enjoined in the śāstras, or scriptures. But if the soul is engaged in his natural function of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whatever he is able to do is good for him."

Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:

That is the perfect action of the highest degree, recommended by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Vedic rituals, like prescribed sacrifices, are performed for purification of impious activities that were performed in the field of sense gratification. But a person who is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is transcendental to the actions and reactions of good or evil work. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person has no attachment to the result, but acts on behalf of Kṛṣṇa alone. He engages in all kinds of activities, but is completely nonattached."

Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:

In the battle of Kurukṣetra, Lord Kṛṣṇa advocated this fighting because it was absolutely necessary.

So anything—it does not matter what it is—when it is sanctioned by Kṛṣṇa, it has no reaction. That is the real work. Other, anything which we do, which may be very good work in the estimation of this material world, but that is bound to make you entangled in this material world. This secret one should learn.

karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaṁ

boddhavyaṁ ca vikarmaṇaḥ

akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṁ

gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ

Karmaṇo gatiḥ, the path of karma, is very intricate. Therefore one should understand what is actually karma and what is akarma and what is vikarma. And knowing this, one should perform karma. But one thing is that if we simply engage ourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then everything becomes clear. Otherwise, we have to make discrimination, "What I should do, what I should not do so that I may not be entangled."

Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:

We have to see what sort of acting he is doing. If he's acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if we can see a person is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we can understand that he's free from the reaction. And if he's not acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but externally, from our material estimation, we can see that "Oh, he is doing very good work. He's very doing good work..."

Just like Arjuna, when he first refused to work, refused to fight, that "My dear Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible for me to fight with my relatives, brothers. I am not going to fight," but from material estimation, this conclusion, this decision of Arjuna, is very good, very good. So materially, from material standing of, standpoint of view, that he is not going to commit nonviolence, violence—he is nonviolent—he's very good man. But from spiritual point of view, it is not so. From spiritual point of view, it is not so. So one has to see. Simply by external features, that one is working and one is not working, that we cannot...

Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:

Now, what is the binding reaction of good material work? Just try to understand. Good material work... Suppose you have done most charitable work, munificent work, and you have started so many, I mean to say, philanthropic institutions. That's all right. These are... From material estimation, these things are very good work. But you are being bound up. You are being bound up. In which way you are being bound up? That these things are called puṇya-karma, pious work. When you do pious work, you get four results. What are the four results? Janma-aiśvarya-śruta-śrī. Janma-aiśvarya-śruta-śrī. If you do pious work, you can get reaction in four ways. You can get your birth in a very nice family. Just like in the family of a brāhmaṇa, in the family of a rich man. For pious work, one can get his janma. And aiśvarya. Aiśvarya means you can become very rich man by pious work. Janmaiśvarya-śruta (SB 1.8.26). Śruta means you can become very learned scholar. These are the results of pious work. Janmaiśvarya-śruta, and śrī. You can become very beautiful by pious work. These are the results of pious work.

Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:

The repetition of birth and death is there also. Therefore your aim should be mad-dhāma... yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). "You have to go back to My planet, My kingdom. That will make you perfect."

So this work, good work or bad work from the material point of view, may be superficially very good. But what, how long I shall remain a rich man? How long I shall remain a beautiful man? This is not my permanent life. Suppose if my life is for hundred years, say. I can remain a rich man, I remain a learned man, I can remain a beautiful man, say, for fifty or sixty or hundred years, but your life is not for hundred years or sixty years or thousands years or millions of years. You are eternal. You have to attain your eternal life. That is the whole problem. So that problem you have to solve. That problem can be solved when you are Kṛṣṇa conscious so that by Kṛṣṇa conscious, when you leave this body, you will no more have to come to this material world and accept this material body or suffer and enjoy thereof. That is the point. The point is very difficult for common man, but this is the point. This is the point.

Lecture on BG 4.16 -- Bombay, April 5, 1974:

That instruction is still current. It is not that it is finished with the Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa, no. You can take also the same advice from Kṛṣṇa and mold your life. That is wanted.

So kurute vikarma, we are trained up simply to act, opposite direction. Instead of doing good work, we are educated to do bad work, just the opposite. And that is not good. That is the advice of Ṛṣabhadeva. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. What is that bad work? Bad work means sense gratification. That's all. Anything you do for the satisfaction of your sense, that is bad work. And anything you do for satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, that is good work. This is the division of bad work and good work. The same thing, if you do for your personal satisfaction, it is bad work. And the same thing, if you do for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, that is good work. We must first of all learn this.

Just like Arjuna was thinking in the beginning that "Fighting and killing is not good, especially fighting with the family members and killing them.

Lecture on BG 4.16 -- Bombay, April 5, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa inquired from him, "Now what is your decision?" Now, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73). "Yes, now I have decided." So what is that vacanaṁ tava? Kṛṣṇa asked him to fight. So same fighting, how he became good now? Because Kṛṣṇa wanted it. A good work.

So this should be our motto of life, that you should act if Kṛṣṇa is pleased. This is good work. That is confirmed in many places in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. Sūta Gosvāmī said in the meeting of great learned scholars and brāhmaṇas in Naimiṣāraṇya. He said, dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ: "O best of the brāhmaṇas who have assembled here to hear me..." Dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. Again that varṇāśrama. Without varṇāśrama, it is a rascal society. That's all. It is not even human society. It is animal society. But that we have lost now. Again it is said, varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ.

Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:

"Just like blazing fire, whatever you put into it, any fuel, that becomes turned into ashes, similarly," jñānāgniḥ, "when your fire of knowledge will be ablaze, then sarva-karmāṇi, all reactions of your work, will turned into ashes." Because the reaction of our karma, reaction of our work, is the cause of our bondage. There are good work and bad work. Here it is stated, sarva-karmāṇi. Sarva-karmāṇi means either good work or bad work. There are reactions of bad work, and there is reaction of good work. But a, a person who is going to be liberated from this material bondage, for him, both good work and bad work are reprehensible. There is no need of reaction of good work also. In this material world we are attached to perform good work. Not all. Those who are in the modes of goodness, they want to do some good work in the material estimation. And those who are in the modes of passion and ignorance, they do work, bad work, passionate work, work in ignorance. But those who are going to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, they have no need, either this good work or bad work.

Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:

Why? Now, either you enjoy the reaction of good work or bad work, your material bondage is there. Suppose by bad work I am born... Because, according to work, there are different position of life. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhir edhamāna-madaḥ pumān (SB 1.8.26). By good work we get good heritage, birth in a very good place, in a high family, in rich family, aristocratic family. And with bad work we may get our birth even in the animal kingdom or lower grade family, poor family. These are Vedic estimation of good work and bad work. But for a person who is going to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has no need either for good work or bad work because he has no need bondage again.

Suppose I am born in a very aristocratic family, very rich family. That does not mean that I am getting free from the material miseries. Just like we are sitting here. Some of you are very well situated. Some of you coming from rich family and some of you may not be so rich, from middle-class family. But the temperature of this day is equally heating. There is no consideration that "Here is a person who is coming from rich family, so the temperature should be lesser for him." No.

Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:

Therefore, either we enjoy the reaction of good work, either we enjoy the reaction of bad work, we have to accept this material body. And as soon as we accept this material body, we have to undergo the material miseries.

But our whole program is... Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Lord Kṛṣṇa says, mām upetya tu kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvataṁ nāpnuvanti (BG 8.15). You'll find in the Tenth Chapter. The Lord says, "Anyone who comes to Me or gets Me, mām upetya, gets Me..." We can get Kṛṣṇa in this life also by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like you get into touch with government if you are engaged in the government service, similarly, if you get into the transcendental service of Kṛṣṇa, then you get into Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, mām upetya tu kaunteya. Kaunteya means Arjuna. "O the son of Kuntī, after attainment of Myself by a person, the..." What is the result? The result is: mām upetya tu kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvataṁ nāpnuvanti: (BG 8.15) "He does not get any more to this place of miseries."

Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:

If that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is ablaze... That... Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). If we can surrender unto Kṛṣṇa and fully become Kṛṣṇa conscious—just the example Arjuna showed; he became Kṛṣṇa conscious—then our knowledge will be ablaze and all the reactions of our good work and bad work will be turned into ashes. We shall be purified. Na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ pavitram iha vidyate (BG 4.38). The Lord says again, "There is nothing purified things in this material world except jñāna, or knowledge." What is that knowledge? That knowledge is that, that "I am part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Therefore my business is to dovetail myself with the Supreme Consciousness. I am individual consciousness, and I shall be dovetailed with the Supreme Consciousness." That is jñāna.

Lecture on BG 4.39-5.3 -- New York, August 24, 1966:

The tree has millions and billions of leaves, and if you go on pouring water in each and every leaf, neither you'll be able to pour water to all the leaves, neither it is possible to maintain the tree by pouring water on the leaves. You have to pour water on the root. Similarly, our work, our endeavor, whatever we may do, good work or bad work, if it is not done on account of Kṛṣṇa, then that will remain always imperfect. Always imperfect. Therefore it is advised, yoga-sannyasta-karmāṇam: "You just give up your work or place your working capacity, energy..." We have got some energy. We'll work or we'll do anything with our energy. So spiritual self-realization means that energy should be transferred for Kṛṣṇa, or God. That's all. Energy. We have got some stock of energy. That energy should be transferred. You can transfer that energy in so many ways. In whatever way you can do it, it doesn't matter. You have to transfer your energy for Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 5.7-13 -- New York, August 27, 1966:

"Not a blade of grass moves without the sanction of God." It is a fact. It is a fact. Nothing can be done without His sanction.

Then you can ask, "Then why somebody is doing bad work and why somebody is doing good work? In both ways Kṛṣṇa has sanctioned?" Yes, in both ways Kṛṣṇa has sanctioned. Without sanction he cannot do it. But how both ways Kṛṣṇa has sanctioned? Now Kṛṣṇa has sanctioned in this way. He has given you liberty. He has given you independence. Not full independence, but... You cannot become full independent. But you have got independence. He does not touch on your independence. That is there. Because otherwise, if you, if you are bereft of your independence, if you are without independence, then you have no meaning as living entity. Every living entity has got his minute share of independence. So Kṛṣṇa has given every one of you independence to make your choice. Now why you are...? Somebody is doing bad work or somebody is doing good work, and Kṛṣṇa giving sanction? How is that?

Lecture on BG 5.7-13 -- New York, August 27, 1966:

Just like a rich man, he is sitting in his room and everything is going on. Similarly, the soul who is in pure consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is aloof from this body and everything is going on by Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ (BG 5.14). Now you can ask that "If Kṛṣṇa is giving sanction, then He is responsible for my bad work also. Good work, of course, He is responsible. So bad work He is also responsible." Now, here the answer is na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ. Prabhu. Prabhu means the Lord. The Lord does not create work for you, neither He creates the result for you. Na karma-phala-saṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate. Svabhāvas tu pravartate. As you have acquired your characteristics, so you create your own work and you create your result of own work and you become entangled. It is not the creation of God. You create. "How I create? If it is sanctioned, if it is controlled by God, then how I create?"

Lecture on BG 6.40-43 -- New York, September 18, 1966:

He takes his birth in a family, two kinds of families. One family, śrīmatām. Śrīmatām means very rich family, very rich family.

So one who takes his birth in a very rich family, it should be understood that he was certainly a very pious man in his previous life. By good work, by pious work, we get. In our next life, we get facilities, four kinds of facilities. What are they? Now, janma, aiśvarya, śruta, śrī. Janma, aiśvarya, śruta, śrī. Janma means to get birth in very aristocratic family, royal family, lord family, rich family, janma. Or acquires large extent of wealth, janmaiśvarya-śruta (SB 1.8.26). Śruta means becomes very learned scholar. So one who is learned scholar, it is to be understood that it is due to his past deeds. One who is rich man, it is to be understood that it is due to his pious acts in his last life. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī. Śrī means beauty. And one who is very beautiful, either male or female, it is to be understood that this is the result of his or her pious work in the past lives.

Lecture on BG 9.27-29 -- New York, December 19, 1966:

Because you are rich man, so you are not immune from the material miseries. That will affect. Therefore all these material affection will continue either you do good work, either you do bad work.

So here it is said, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, śubhāśubha-phalair evaṁ mokṣyase: "If you dovetail your activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you become liberated from all reactions, either good or bad." Transcendental. Because in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you are not achieving any future reactionary resultant... Your place will be transcendental. You will be transferred to the spiritual world. Therefore you are free from all reactions. Just this Bhagavad-gītā, beginning, Arjuna was thinking of so many reactions for his fighting, but when he understood that "If I fight for Kṛṣṇa, there is no reaction," then he fought. So here it is also clearly stated that if you act for Kṛṣṇa.

Suppose... Now, ordinarily... Now, dadāsi yat. Dadāsi yat means charity. Charity according to karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra, fruitive activities. Suppose if I give you some charity, say, hundred dollars I give you in charity, the reaction will be that I will have to realize four hundred dollars from you. That is the law of nature.

Lecture on BG 9.27-29 -- New York, December 19, 1966:

And janmaiśvarya-śruta. You can become a highly educated scholar, or you can become a very beautiful. You have a very beautiful body. These things are the result of good activities, result. Now, suppose I get all these things. That is not my liberation. But we are for liberation. We want to get out of this material contamination. So good work or bad work, that will not lead me to liberation. The bondage is there. But if you act for Kṛṣṇa or you act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you are liberated. And liberated means you are at once transferred to the spiritual world. Mām upaiṣyasi. Mām means "You can get Me. You can get Me."

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

So here the Lord instructs that buddhi-yukta. Buddhi-yukta means with the full consciousness that you are not this body. If we act in that way... Now, if I am, I am not body, then I am consciousness. That is a fact. Now, if we act on the consciousness platform, then we can overcome the fruitive result of good work or bad work. It is transcendental stage. It is transcendental stage. It is especially mentioned, buddhi-yukto jahātīha sukṛta-duṣkṛte. That means you are acting on other's account, on the supreme account. You are not liable for loss or gain. When there is gain, don't be puffed up. You should think that this gain is for the Lord. And when there is loss, you, you should know that "This is not my responsibility. It is God's work. He'll see." Then you'll be happy. That practice you have to do, everything on account of the Supreme.

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

So, from material point of view, it is all right. From material point of view. But the thing is that material point of view, if you do act good work, you have to enjoy the reaction. That is the point. As I have already explained that by your good work, you get good birth, you get good wealth, you get good education, good features of body. But that is not the solution of your problem. Here the whole thing is that how to act. If we act from the material platform, even in the modes of goodness, that is also not solution of my life. But even, even in the spiritual, from the spiritual platform, if we act which apparently may seem to be acts of passion, that is not reactionary. That is not reactionary. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna... Now, the Lord says that you become free from the reaction of your activities. That is the proposition. Now, at the same time, He's inducing Arjuna to fight. Now, fighting is on the platform, on the modes of passion. Does it mean that simultaneously Kṛṣṇa is inducing him to be entangled in the reaction of passion modes? No. That action, even apparently appears to be act, being acted on the platform of passion, it is transcendental because it is direction of the supreme consciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

It is, actually, it is good thing. You are doing good thing. That's all right. And you'll have the good result of it. But that, having that good result, does not mean that you are free from the reaction. Now, our problem is that we want to be free from the reaction. So long... Now... The same answer is there, that reaction of my good work, that I get good birth, I get good education, I get sufficient wealth or I get good features of body. These things are goodness of this material world. But that does not make solution of the disease in which... (break)...vyādhi, birth, death, old age and disease. The whole problem is that we have to get out of this material existence. So the, from the material point of view, or platform, any act, good or bad, that will have material reaction. And we are, we want to get out of this material reaction. That is our point of view. (end)

Lecture on SB 1.3.8 -- Los Angeles, September 14, 1972:

So Nārada Muni created this, thinking of the poor people of this age without perfect knowledge. Why this education is required? Because naiṣkarmyam, without producing fruitive result. What is that work? Any work you do, there must be some result. Either you do good work or bad work, it..., there is work, there must be some result. That is our experience. We cannot do anything which has no result. But if that result is offered to God, Kṛṣṇa, then it is without result. So that work is not stopped. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna's work was not stopped. He was a fighter; rather, he wanted to stop his work. He said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, what is the use of fighting? They are all my kinsmen; let them enjoy. I don't want this kingdom." He wanted to become a gentleman without working. No, that without working is work because he was considering in his own terms. But when he fought on the advice of Kṛṣṇa, that is naiṣkarmya—without result.

Lecture on SB 1.7.23 -- Vrndavana, September 20, 1976:

Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. If we are sincerely surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, immediately... Our, this material sufferings, why? Due to our sinful activities. Sinful activities mean anything you do without any purpose to serve to Kṛṣṇa, that is sinful. That is sinful. Not that "In the material calculation this is very good work, the opening of hospital or this or that, very good work. And Deity worship and going to the temple is bogus." You may think like that. But that, your opening of hospital is sinful. That is going on nowadays. One becomes very great philanthropist, rejecting... They say, "What is the use of this temple worship?" The daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā. Nārāyaṇa has now become daridra. Formerly Nārāyaṇa was husband of the goddess of fortune. And now he has become daridra. So serve this Nārāyaṇa. This, they're manufacturing, concoction. This is not... That means sinful activities. Because he has manufactured something, that is sinful.

Lecture on SB 1.16.13-15 -- Los Angeles, January 10, 1974:

That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. You read nicely. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Because even if you go to the Brahmaloka, the highest planet, either by good work or by your airplane sputnik... It is not possible to go there by sputnik (laughter), but you can go there by your pious activities. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ. Yānti (BG 9.25), you can go, but you have to adopt a means. But these are for the karmīs, those (who) simply want comfortable life of this body. They cannot understand that "However comfortably I may live, I have to give up this body. Then what is my next position?" They do not know. They are called karmī.

So when one comes to this point to understand that "This is simply futile, to work for this body," he is jñānī. He is jñānī. Jñānī means he is inquisitive to know the ultimate goal of life, "How I am eternal, how I can get eternal life." In this way, he tries for it. That is called jñānī. Karmī, jñānī, yogi, and bhakta. There are four kinds of men. So jñānī and yogi... Jñānī simply speculates, and yogi tries to practice. That is the difference. Their aim is the same. But yogi means he practically endeavors, and jñānī means he is simply theoretical. Just like everything, in science also, there is theoretical and practical. So karmī is in the darkness. Actually, nicely dressed cats and dogs.

Lecture on SB 5.5.6 -- Vrndavana, October 28, 1976:

Three multiplied by three equals nine. Nine multiplied by nine, eighty-one. So therefore there are so many varieties. So human civilization should be so arranged that never mind, it is so mixed up, you have to gradually draw him again to the sattva-guṇa. That is human civilization. Not that drag him again to the tamo-guṇa. Somebody, by pious activities, by good work, he's already in the sattva-guṇa, but the arrangement The social, political, economical arrangement is so bad that one is dragged to the tamo-guṇa. This is not civilization. This is degradation. Civilization means elevation. The aim is how to become disconnected with this material body. This is civilization. Otherwise that is not civilization. It is animal life. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kunape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13).

Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- Honolulu, June 15, 1975, Sunday Feast Lecture:

Others' sympathy is not perfect. They are planning so many things—opening hospitals or charitable dispensaries, schools, lunatic asylum. These are all public sympathetic activities. But they are not... They are, of course, good to some extent. If a man is suffering from the bodily ailments, if he is given some relief in the hospital, or if the society is not educated, give him education, this is all good work undoubtedly. But the ultimate good work is not known to them. They are taking care of the external symptoms. Why a person, a living entity, is put into that condition? And if that condition is ended, that is real sympathy. A person is suffering from some disease. He goes to the doctor, physician. He gives some medicine—immediate some relief from the pain. This is one sympathy. And there is another sympathy, that "Why the man is getting such disease and suffering? Why not stop the cause of the disease?" That is real sympathy.

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- New York, August 1, 1971:

Action and reaction. Action and reaction. There must be some reaction. Whatever you do, there must be reaction. And that reaction you'll be entangled. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). Either you do good work or bad work, if it is for sense gratification, then you'll be entangled. But yajñārthe karma, if you do for kṛṣṇa-yajña, then you are free. So this process, recommended by Śukadeva Gosvāmī—kevala-bhakta—take to devotional service, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and everything, all other things will be automatically adjusted.

Lecture on SB 6.1.44 -- Los Angeles, July 25, 1975:

So anyone who has got this material body, he cannot stop even for a moment working something. Na hy akarma-kṛt. This is the nature. He must do some... Just as child. Child is always restless. Similarly... "Child is the father of man." One who becomes father, the same restlessness because that is the nature. Na hi dehavān akarma-kṛt. So if you are not engaged in good work, then you must act badly. That is natural. You have to work. Therefore idle brain is devil's workshop. If you are sitting idly, then brain also will work, mind also will work. The bodily function will go. So if you don't engage yourself in good work, then you must be engaged in bad work. And if you are not engaged in good work and if you are engaged in... There are two things, good or bad. So in one of them we must be engaged.

So if we are not instructed or trained up to act in good work, then we must be doing bad work. Bad work means māyā and good work means God.

Lecture on SB 6.1.55 -- London, August 13, 1975:

Simply like a madman you are thinking that you can serve the humanity. You cannot serve the humanity. You have no such power. What you can do? The example was... I was giving that if you want to give help a suffering in disease man, and bring some nice doctor, medical man to help him and bring some nice medicine, that is good work, but does it mean that it is guaranteed that he will be cured? No. Therefore you cannot do anything. You may think like that. Or you may act like that. But unless the Supreme Person sanctions, you cannot do anything. One is sure to suffer the material pangs of life. Nobody can stop it. So therefore we should not try. It will be automatically tried.

Just like we are distributing prasādam. Not that because he is poor man and we are giving prasāda, no. This is not our idea. To our eyes, the so-called poor man and rich man, they are all suffering, not that the simply poor man suffering and the rich man is not suffering. Therefore we give them prasādam or īśa-saṅga. That prasādam is also Īśa.

Lecture on SB 6.2.5-6 -- Vrndavana, September 9, 1975:

"So why you are dragging him, trying to take him to Yamarāja to punish him? You do not know that he is innocent. We have to..." The real purpose is that everyone... We commit sinful activities on account of ignorance. Therefore the best humanitarian work is to give knowledge to the humanity, not that one is suffering for want of food and... If I give some food, that is good work, but that is not sufficient. I may give food; that's all right. You give. We also give prasādam free. But that does not mean simply by giving prasādam, we are silent. We give knowledge also. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Food, automatically you have to give. That is... There is no prohibition. But at the same time: knowledge. Without knowledge-giving, if he remains ignorant... Just like the same example. If you have got some children, if you don't give them education, simply feed them, that is not your proper duty. You must give knowledge.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:

And adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. And if you are ignorant, then you go to animal life or lower grade of life. This is the law of karma. But instead of improving your karma, karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra, fruitive activities, if you take to devotional service and simply try to understand what is Kṛṣṇa, then you are no longer within the influence of this good work or bad work. You are transcendental. Immediately after death, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), you are no more subjected to this gross body... (break)

...understand Kṛṣṇa. You can understand Kṛṣṇa simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). Simply by your service attitude, to serve Kṛṣṇa, beginning with the tongue. It is very wonderful. But utilizing your tongue, you can achieve Kṛṣṇa very easily. By the tongue. By the tongue, if you simply chant, without any offense, Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and by the tongue, if you simply taste Kṛṣṇa prasādam, and by the tongue, if you speak about Kṛṣṇa, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128), you understand Kṛṣṇa.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 25, 1973:

These are the statements of the śāstras. Laws of material nature means karma. You act in a certain way and you get the result, good or bad; that is called karma. Sat-karma or asat-karma. Actually everything is asat-karma. Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23). So even taking, accepting that good work is nice, but it is also bondage. Suppose you give in charity. So the laws of nature is that if you give one by charity, you get four. So now to accept that four, you have to take birth again. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa sakali viṣera bandha. Karma-kāṇḍa means if you act very piously, next life you get good birth, good opulence, money, janma iśvarya-śruta, good education, beautiful body. These are the resultant actions of sat-karma. And asat-karma means you become poor, ugly, without any education, no riches, always hungry. These are the results of asat-karma. So this is called karma-kāṇḍa. And jñāna-kāṇḍa means to try to merge into the existence of the Lord, which, even if we do, but because you are under the impression of impersonalism, you again fall down.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.125 -- New York, November 27, 1966:

Without working you cannot live. But you work in such a way so that you may not be entangled. That is called work, karma. Now, this work is not the solution of your human life. You can get some morsel of bread and eat and drink and sleep and just enjoy your life and die like cats and dogs, that's all. And then you will take with you the result of your good work or bad work. That is karma. That is not solution. Then the next stage is, above this karma, this ordinary, general people, there is a class, they are thinkers. They are thinkers: "Whether this is the solution of life?" So thinkers, some of them are dry thinkers, they have no knowledge, but they think only. They do not get the source of knowledge from higher authorities; they manufacture their own way. So apart from that, those who are bona fide thinkers, they are called jñānī. Jñānī means that this process of karma cannot make solution of life. They push some philosophical thesis that "This is the solution of life." They are called jñānī.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 2-4 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1970:

If you know it that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, in this way if you live for hundreds of years and do your duties, there will be no reaction. The very thing is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). Except working for Kṛṣṇa, any work will bind you, good or bad. If you do good work, you'll have to enjoy, so-called enjoyment. And if you do bad work, then you have to suffer. But if you work for Kṛṣṇa, there is no such reaction. Na karma lipyate nare All right. Then next verse. (devotees repeat word for word)

Festival Lectures

Govardhana Puja Lecture -- New York, November 4, 1966:

And karmaṇaiva pralīyate: "And he is going to have his next birth according to the work, as he is doing here." This is called karma-mimāṁsā. The karma-mimāṁsā philosophers, they do not believe that "Oh, our liberation from this material world and entrance in the spiritual kingdom to be associated with God, that will make us happy." Their belief is that "You simply do good work. Then you gradually get your promotion." That is also a fact. That is not a misconception. If you do good work, then you get good birth. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī (SB 1.8.26). Four things: good birth, mean a good family or good nationality, and janma... Birth means... Janma means birth, good birth. Janma aiśvarya, and to become rich. Śruta, to become very learned; and śrī, and to become very beautiful—these are results of past good work. So here Kṛṣṇa says that "People are concerned with his work. A man is concerned with his work." Karmaṇā jāyate jantuḥ karmaṇaiva pralīyate: "He gets his facilities of life according to the past good work, bad work, and he is preparing his life, next, by that work." Sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ bhayaṁ kṣemaṁ karmaṇaivābhipadyate: "So therefore, either happiness or distress or fearfulness or poverty or economic question, everything on this karma, on this work."

Govardhana Puja Lecture -- New York, November 4, 1966:

So He is obliged. If we do nice work, He is obliged. So what is the use of flattering God? Let us do our duty nicely. Then He will be obliged." So Kṛṣṇa is following that argument. Asti ced īśvaraḥ kaścit phala-rūpy anya-karmaṇām, kartāraṁ bhajate so 'pi: "He also worships the worker. The worker has not to worship God. Because God gives you good result out of your good work; therefore, because you are doing good work, therefore God is worshiping you." Just see the argument. He says, kartāraṁ bhajate so 'pi na hy akartuḥ prabhur: "And one who does not do good work, even God does not like him. So there is no necessity of worshiping this heavenly god or any god, so let us have our duty done nicely. That will fetch us the desired result."

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival -- Philadelphia, July 11, 1975:

Prabhupāda: No. Caraṇe sarve varṇe kaye (?). A thief, if you speak to him, "My dear Mr. Thief, it is not very good work. You will be arrested. You will be punished. Why you are taking this risk?" so will he give up stealing? He knows himself, "Yes, I will be arrested and punished, but still I shall do." This is ignorance.

Kīrtanānanda: How was the Chicago festival?

Prabhupāda: Yes, Chicago is nice city. It is river?

Ravindra-svarūpa: This is called the Schuylkill River, Schuylkill.

Prabhupāda: It is a river?

Ravindra-svarūpa: Yes. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...nice, constructed very nice cities.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: This is right. This is right. This experience he has got very good work.

Hayagrīva: "God is an individual being just as man or any other finite is..."

Prabhupāda: And now he is coming to that.

Hayagrīva: "...only that He is infinite."

Prabhupāda: He is, He is person, but He is not a person like us. But sometimes, due to our poor fund of knowledge... That is explained, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). "These rascal, because I am here talking with Arjuna just like a human being, they are thinking that I am also a human being." No. He is infinite, Arjuna is finite. That is explained in the Fourth Chapter also, that "Arjuna, you are doubtful how I can remember that I spoke this philosophy to sun-god some millions of years ago." Naturally a finite man cannot remember how one can remember. "That is the difference between you and Me, that I know everything; you forget. So although you are living being eternal, I am also living being eternal, that is the difference between you and Me."

Hayagrīva: He says, "God's body is not spaceless nor timeless, for it is space/time itself."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything emanates from Him, so there is nothing separate from God. God includes everything. That is the conception of God. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Everything has emanated from Him.