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Mode of goodness (Letters)

Correspondence

1968 Correspondence

That one should be occupied in activities in the modes of goodness and associate with spiritualistic persons, that will make one's advancement very quick.
Letter to Sivananda -- Los Angeles 11 November, 1968:

Regarding your question, about living alone, living alone is a general tendency for a person who wants to get disassociated with the materialistic persons. That is also recommended by the Goswamis in their instructions. It is better to remain alone than to mix with materialistic persons. But this is not applicable when we have the opportunity to get the association of pure devotees. Our program is negative and positive simultaneously. We want to negate the materialistic side and make positive the spiritual side, it is not one sided. If you have no positive standing, negating only will not make you successful. Therefore it is better to remain positively within the society of pure devotees. That is also recommended by the Goswamis. That one should be occupied in activities in the modes of goodness and associate with spiritualistic persons, that will make one's advancement very quick.

The foodstuffs in the modes of goodness are wheat, rice, pulse (beans, peas), sugar, honey, butter and all milk preparations, vegetables, flowers, fruits, grains.
Letter to Kris -- Los Angeles 13 November, 1968:

I have noted your questions carefully, and regarding your question about the Prasadam recipes; Krishna is offered foodstuff in goodness. The foodstuffs in the modes of goodness are wheat, rice, pulse (beans, peas), sugar, honey, butter and all milk preparations, vegetables, flowers, fruits, grains. So these foods can be offered in any shape, but prepared in various ways by the intelligence of the devotees. The ingredients are always the same as above, whether you fry them, boil them, bake them, powder them, or whatever way they are combined or cooked, the idea is that they must come from this group of foodstuffs. So you can make your own recipe if you like, so long as the ingredients are within this group. This foods group is stated by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita, and we follow accordingly.

1969 Correspondence

In the Bhagavad-gita the religious principles are divided into three categories: in the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance.
Letter to Satsvarupa -- Tittenhurst House, England 31 October, 1969:

In the Bhagavad-gita the religious principles are divided into three categories: in the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. Generally, all so-called principles are in the modes of passion and ignorance. Maybe there are some moral instructions, but moral instructions without God-consciousness is impossible to follow.

1970 Correspondence

When one is fixed up in the modes of goodness and devotional service of the Lord, he can factually understand his constitutional position, and that is his liberation. According to authorized Vedic Scriptures liberation means to be fixed up in one's original position.
Letter to Barindra Babu -- Los Angeles 22 January, 1970:

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu very mercifully reclaimed the fallen souls especially in this age by this short-cut method of chanting Hare Krishna Mantra. By repeated chanting of this transcendental sound vibration, dirty things in the materialistic mind become cleansed. The dirty things in the materialistic mind are the modes of passion and ignorance. When the modes of passion and ignorance come in, although the process of cleansing is not yet completed the modes of goodness become prominent. This means that the propensity of being lusty and greedy diminishes and one can be fixed up in the devotional service of the Lord. When one is fixed up in the modes of goodness and devotional service of the Lord, he can factually understand his constitutional position, and that is his liberation. According to authorized Vedic Scriptures liberation means to be fixed up in one's original position.

When one thus becomes jubilant on account of awakening the modes of goodness by dint of devotional service, at that time he becomes liberated from material contamination and is able to understand the science of God.
Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 28 April, 1970:

Anyone who gives aural reception to the transcendental message about You, which are always auspicious, by hearing and chanting, for him You become special well-wisher, and thus remaining within his heart You clear up all inauspicious understanding. When such inauspicious understandings are almost clear, at that time one realizes the importance of devotional service. In that stage of understanding, the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion becomes almost nil, and the resultant action of passion and ignorance cannot anymore attack the heart, and thus he becomes joyful being situated on the platform of goodness. When he thus becomes jubilant on account of awakening the modes of goodness by dint of devotional service, at that time he becomes liberated from material contamination and is able to understand the science of God.

1972 Correspondence

In the material mode of goodness there are sometimes tinges of the modes of passion and ignorance, but in the suddha sattva stage there is only pure love of God or pure mode of goodness, that is the difference.
Letter to Caturbhuja -- Mayapur 28 February, 1972:

You enquire about the mode of goodness, and why such people do not worship Krishna. Actually, this is not the final stage, one has to go further ahead to suddha sattva. In the material mode of goodness there are sometimes tinges of the modes of passion and ignorance, but in the suddha sattva stage there is only pure love of God or pure mode of goodness, that is the difference.

1973 Correspondence

By the influence of the modes of passion and ignorance he becomes weak and by the influence of the mode of goodness he becomes strong. But by the association with the pure devotee he becomes strongest.
Letter to Caturbhuja -- Los Angeles 9 May, 1973:

Your third question is: does the soul ever become weak or strong on account of its association and contact with material nature? It is not the spirit soul that becomes weak or strong but it is his determination to become Krsna Conscious that me become weak or strong. By the influence of the modes of passion and ignorance he becomes weak and by the influence of the mode of goodness he becomes strong. But by the association with the pure devotee he becomes strongest.

Page Title:Mode of goodness (Letters)
Compiler:MadhuGopaldas, Ingrid
Created:24 of Apr, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=7
No. of Quotes:7