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Good or bad (Lectures)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

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

Prabhupāda: People are starting vegetarian society to become vegetarian, a very uplifted society. But the persons who are in Kṛṣṇa conscious, they are already vegetarian. 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.

Devotee: "Anyone who acts for his sense gratification, either in goodness or in passion, is liable to the reaction, good or bad."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is explained.

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.

Lecture on BG 3.11-19 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1968:

Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa says, "You do this," we have no consideration whether material calculation, it is good or bad. That's all. But we cannot do on our own account. Then it is implication. That is the technique. Don't think that "We are now Kṛṣṇa conscious, we are Kṛṣṇa's persons, we can do anything." Just like if a policeman thinks that "I am government man. I can do anything, whatever I like." That is wrong. He cannot do that. But if Kṛṣṇa orders, then you can do. Yes.

Guest: Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna he can go to the sun planet in the Gītā. Why does He say that? I can't remember where. I remember reading that Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna he can go to the sun planet by worshiping Him. Why does He say that?

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

You are working? All right. What you have earned?" "One thousand dollars." "Give Me." Are you prepared? Kṛṣṇa is asking, kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam. So if anyone is agreed, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa, here is the money for You," then he's a karma-yogī. Otherwise he's a karmī. And the difference between karma-yogī and karmī means he has to suffer the result, good or bad, and karma-yogī has nothing to suffer because he's doing everything for Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna. In the beginning he considered that "If I kill my kinsmen and my grandfather I'll be sinful." Yes. But the same thing he acted under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wanted. So he's free. So karma-yogī means he is free from the reaction of activities. He is karma-yogī. Similarly jñāna-yogī. Somebody is addicted to work very hard. Somebody is addicted to speculate philosophically.

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

So in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that "Beginning from this indra up to that Indra..." That means "Beginning from the germ which is known as indra-gopa up to the point of the king who is also known as Indra, all of them are bound up by the reaction of his own karma, or his own work."

Every work which you are doing, good or bad, we have to suffer or enjoy the reaction of our work. And so long we have to suffer or enjoy the reaction of our work, as long as we shall go on like this, so long we have to accept this material body. This material body is just given to us by the arrangement of nature's law for the exact status of suffering or enjoyment. Just like you have seen different animals, they have got different process of eating.

Lecture on BG 4.17 -- Bombay, April 6, 1974:

And why you are hanging me just now?" "Because you are have done for your own sense gratification. And that you did for government sanction."

Therefore any karma, if you do it for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction, that is akarma it has no reaction. But if you do anything for your own sense gratification, you will have to suffer the resultant action, good or bad. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says,

karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaṁ
boddhavyaṁ ca vikarmaṇaḥ
akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṁ
gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ

It is very difficult to understand what kind of action you should do. Therefore we have to take direction from Kṛṣṇa, from the śāstra, from guru. Then our life will be successful. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 4.18 -- Bombay, April 7, 1974:
Therefore the program is, as it is stated, karmaṇy akarma yaḥ paśyed akarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ. This is intelligence, how we have to work, but without reaping any good or bad result. That means working for Kṛṣṇa. That is called akarma. I have already explained. In this way sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu (BG 4.18), if you work for Kṛṣṇa... The vivid example is Arjuna. He is working for Kṛṣṇa. So you can do also. Simply by fighting... Arjuna was not chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So you can do also. Because... Nowadays in the Kali-yuga because people are... (break) ...because they knew the duty, but at the present moment... (break) ...kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In the Kali-yuga, because there is no such division, so everyone is śūdra or less than śūdra. This is their yajña. This is also yajña.
Lecture on BG 4.24 -- August 4, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, if Kṛṣṇa has created everything and everything is submitted to Kṛṣṇa's will, can we really say what is good or bad?

Prabhupāda: There is no good or bad, it is mental concoction. But on the whole, in the material world means everything bad. Spiritual world everything is good. Material world means absence of spiritual world, that's all. You bring again spiritual world, it is good.

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

That energy also part and parcel. That energy also part of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has got unlimited energy, and our energy is just a part of energy. That's all, part of energy. Therefore our energy should be spent for Kṛṣṇa. Jñāna-sañchinna-saṁśayam. And that, I mean to say, utilizing the energy for Kṛṣṇa should be based on pure knowledge, pure knowledge that how... What is that pure knowledge? That "I am meant for Kṛṣṇa" or I am meant for God, so I should utilize my energy for that purpose." Ātmavantaṁ na karmāṇi nibadhnanti dhanañjaya. So anyone who is working in this way, then he hasn't got to suffer the consequence, good or bad, for any work. He is free from the reaction of this work.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Sydney, February 16, 1973:

Devotee: Any other questions? (break)

Prabhupāda: There is no difference between father and son. Just like there is no difference between you and your father. To become son is not bad, or to become father is not good or bad. Father and son relationship is very affectionate, so there is no difference between father.

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

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.

Lecture on BG 13.16 -- Bombay, October 10, 1973:

Just like money. Money you can utilize for duṣkṛtina and for sukṛtina. You can utilize your money for drinking wine, illicit sex, meat-eating and gambling. And you can utilize your money for Kṛṣṇa's service, for offering yajñas, for constructing temple, sacrifices, push on the saṅkīrtana movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So money is not good or bad. As you utilize it... Similarly, merit, merit also, there. You have got already merit better than the animals, but you have to utilize it for proper service. That is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Consciousness we have got, merit we have got. Simply we have to utilize.

Lecture on BG 13.35 -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

So this is knowledge, that "I have got this body as field." As one gets the land for cultivating his food grains, according to his labor, according to his choice, similarly, we have got this field of activity. Now we can make our future good or bad according to our choice. Idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram iti abhidhīyate (BG 13.2). This is called kṣetra, working land.

Just like father gives some capital to the son: "You do some business." Now, you lose the money or increase it hundred times; that depends on you. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa has given us. We wanted to enjoy this material world, and Kṛṣṇa has given us. The first beginning body is Brahmā, very exalted body. But on account of our abominable activities, from Brahmā, we come down to become the worm of stool. This is called karma, kṣetra.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.4 -- London, August 27, 1973:

When it is karma, you are bound up by the results of karma. But if you perform yajña, you are not bound up. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). Bhakti-bhājām, those who are engaged in devotional service, they have no more any karma. Karma means if you do something then it will have reaction, either good or bad. But here, because everything is done for Kṛṣṇa, I haven't got to enjoy or suffer for the resultant action. Karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu... This is philosophy.

Thank you very much.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Calcutta, February 23, 1972:

That is implication. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, yajñate karma: you work, but yajñate. Yajña means Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu. You work for Kṛṣṇa, yajñate karma. Anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. Otherwise you'll be entangled. Either the result will be good or bad, so you have to accept it. Generally we like that—there are good, bad. The sastric process is that whatever you're destined to get, you'll get it. Prahlāda Mahārāja said, sukhum aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām. You, you are destined to a certain standard of sukha, happiness, according to your body. Just like a man is born in a millionaire's family, family. He has got a type of body so the enjoyment is there, and it is..., and at the same time a man is born in a cobbler's family, he cannot expect the enjoyment of the millionaire's family.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

Guest: How are you to know that this act or that act is good or bad?

Prabhupāda: You do not know what is good or bad?

Guest: We do not know because (indistinct) somebody right or somebody (indistinct). We do not know what were our past karmas.

Prabhupāda: Well, everyone dies. Death is inevitable. Nobody can avoid death. "As sure as death". And therefore, I have already explained that we have to take information from the Vedas. Just like this body. It is said in the Vedas, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Karmaṇā, why we have got different bodies, different mentality?

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

So here, in the Bhagavad-gītā, just see how the Lord says that karma-jaṁ buddhi-yuktā hi. Karma-jam. Karma-jam means whenever you act, there will be some reaction. If you act good things, there will be a good reaction. If you act bad things, there will be bad reaction. But reaction, either good or bad, that is, in higher sense, all suffering. I have already explained to you another, some other day, that suppose by good action I get good birth, good riches and good features of the body, good education, all these thing I get, but that does not mean that I am free from the material pangs. The material pangs are janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi: (BG 13.9) birth, death, old age and diseases. Because you are rich man, because you are beautiful man, because you are educated man, because you are born in a aristocratic family, that does not mean that you have avoided death, old age and disease. So we shall not be concerned with pious activities or impious activities.

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

Because you are rich man, because you are beautiful man, because you are educated man, because you are born in a aristocratic family, that does not mean that you have avoided death, old age and disease. So we shall not be concerned with pious activities or impious activities. We shall be concerned with transcendental activities. That will save me from this bondage of birth, death, old age and disease. That should be our aim of life. We should not be hankering after good or bad things. Because everything here, in higher consciousness, everything material... Now, take for example... Suppose you are diseased, suffering from some disease. You are lying on the bed. And you are eating in that stage, you are passing your nature's call in that way, and taking bitter medicines, and always you have to keep by the nurses clean.

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

Whatever you are, that doesn't matter. But act it on the platform of consciousness. And that platform, acting on the consciousness, is, Lord Caitanya has made very easy. Just like there are some note-makers of school books, "Easy Study." So Lord Caitanya has recommended that "You may be engaged in whatever occupation. That may be good or bad. We don't mind for that. But you must hear the kṛṣṇa-kathā. You must continue to hear this Bhagavad-gītā." That is... For this, we are trying to organize this institution, that "You come. Whatever you do, that doesn't matter. Everything will be adjusted by and by." Because, as I have described in the beginning, that śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi (SB 1.2.17). Everything will be adjusted as our mind becomes clear, clear, clear, simply by hearing. Simply by hearing.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. Materially, you are responsible. Because materially you are responsible for all acts, good or bad. That I have already explained. So you may think that you have taken the responsibility of maintaining your brother, but at the same time, you are responsible for all the reactions.

Student: For all the?

Prabhupāda: For all the reactions out of that act. It may be bad or good. That doesn't matter. Our problem is not to be infected with the reaction. If you think that bringing up your brother... 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.

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

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.

Lecture on SB 1.2.21 -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1972:

How you can stop this karma? Yajñārthe karmaṇaḥ anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. If we simply act for Kṛṣṇa, then we get rid of the resultant action of karma. Yajñārthe karma. Whatever you do, you do for Kṛṣṇa. Yajñārthe. Yajña means Viṣṇu. Kṛṣṇa's the origin of viṣṇu-tattva. So whatever you are ordered to do for Kṛṣṇa, you are not bound up by the karma. Otherwise, good or bad, you are bound up by the resultant action of karma.

So when one is actually in the liberated stage... Liberated stage means to remain fixed up in devotional service, bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ... Otherwise it is not possible. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ (SB 1.2.20). You can stand liberated on the platform of devotional service. As soon as you deviate from devotional service, immediately the māyā is standing. She'll capture you. You can see practically. There is sunshine, and just next to the sunshine, there is darkness or shadow.

Lecture on SB 1.3.1-3 -- San Francisco, March 28, 1968:

So Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu as Paramātmā, He is witnessing the activities of the individual soul. And according to the activities of the individual soul, He is getting the necessary result. He is witness. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is confirmed, anumantā and upadraṣṭā. Upadraṣṭā means witness. Suppose you are doing something. I have nothing to do with your activities, but I can see..., I am seeing what you are doing. So He is upadraṣṭā. And anumantā. Anumantā means the individual soul cannot do anything without the sanction of the Supersoul. Either you may do something good or bad, but it has to be taken sanction from the Supersoul.

Lecture on SB 1.15.34 -- Los Angeles, December 12, 1973:

They will come and go. If it is intolerable, please tolerate, please tolerate. Then it will be all right. I have repeatedly said... Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, tāṅdera caraṇa-sevi-bhakta-sane vāsa. Why we have opened this society? I could have initiated, and let him remain at his home. No. The society required. So by association we become good or bad. If you associate with goodness, then you acquire goodness quality, and if you associate with bad, passionate, ignorant, then you get that quality. So according to that quality...

This Yadu-vaṁśa, they were Kṛṣṇa's descendants. Just like when a king comes, he comes with his associates. So when Kṛṣṇa appeared, He had to marry so many wives because it was a stage to show Kṛṣṇa's supreme authority, supremacy. So the demigods came down also from different planets to help Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Bombay, March 25, 1977:

This is the... Action and reaction, there are two things. But under both headings, action and reaction means you become bound up. Yajñārthe karma anyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanam. This is the statement, that if you work if you work for yajña... Yajña means Viṣṇu. Then it is all right. Otherwise you become under the laws of karma, good or bad. You have to suffer or enjoy. There is no question of enjoyment; there is suffering. Therefore one should be taught not to accept the result of karma, but do it for Kṛṣṇa, yajñārthe. Then you are free.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Boston, May 4, 1968:

Prabhupāda: No. Why? Therefore I say if you think it is good... First of all you have to decide whether sex life is good or bad. First of all you have to understand this. If you think that sex life is very nice, then how can you give it up? It is not possible.

Guest (2): You have to approach it with jñāna.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Jñāna. That is called knowledge. But it is a fact that sex life is not good because there are so many inebrieties. Just like modern civilization, they prescribe contraceptive method. Why? Why? Unless there is some bad result of sex life, why they are prescribing this medicine? Why? If it is good, then why the medicine counteractive? Therefore it is to be accepted it is not good. By reason. Why there are contraceptive methods? Let everyone enjoy sex life and let the result be there.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6-8 -- New York, July 21, 1971:

"I'm not going to be killed." That's all. But he's killed. Similarly, we may deny the existence of God, the law of God, the exigencies of God, but they are already there. Just like in the... Why God? In state, if you say, "I don't care for God," er, I mean, "state, government," but you'll be forced to accept government laws. You'll be put into the prison house, and you'll be forced. "Because you denied the state laws, now you suffer." Similarly, I may decry the existence of God, "There is no God. I am God." That you may think, foolishly, like that. But you are responsible for all your activities, either good or bad. It doesn't matter.

There are two kind of activities: good or bad. If you act nicely, pious activities, then you get good chance. And if you act sinfully, then you have to suffer.

Lecture on SB 6.1.23 -- Chicago, July 7, 1975:

Die means in this body we are creating some situation for the next life, and in order to accept... Just like one person—especially this Ajāmila upākhyāna—his ways of life was not ordinary; most abominable. So abominable, good, or bad, in this life we are creating some situation so that we will get next life another body. Therefore there is death. That is material world. And as soon as there is death, there is birth. Death means we enter into the womb of a mother for, say, ten months. That ten months is considered as death. Not ten months, because the child within the womb of the mother returns his consciousness when the child is seven months old. This is human body. At that time he feels inconvenience within the womb of mother.

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

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. There are two things, God and māyā. If we do not act in godly situation then we must be acting in māyā's clutches. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in a very simple verse, nāna māyāra dāsa, kari nāna abhilāṣa: "As soon as I become servant of māyā, then I shall create so many rascaldom in the name of philosophy and science." This is going on. So-called philosophy and science means all rascaldom, bad work.

Lecture on SB 6.2.13 -- Vrndavana, September 15, 1975:

You take little portion of the mango and taste it; then you can understand. So experience is gathered from different senses. Why you are giving stress only on seeing? This is foolishness. Just like you can... Even if you do not taste—the mango seller may not allow you to taste—but you can smell. By smelling, you can understand whether the mango is good or bad. After all, you have to get experience. So why we should stress upon seeing Kṛṣṇa? That is most foolish proposal. You have other senses. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to be perceived by you by other senses. What is that? If you hear Kṛṣṇa, then you must know there is Kṛṣṇa. There is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not different from His name, from His form, either form or name or quality or paraphernalia, anything. He is Absolute. There is no duality.

Lecture on SB 7.9.20 -- Mayapur, February 27, 1976:

This is summarized in the Vedic language, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Without Kṛṣṇa there is nothing existing. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Whatever we see, very superior or inferior, good or bad, that is all from Kṛṣṇa. Bad is also Kṛṣṇa? Yes. Bad is also Kṛṣṇa because there cannot be anything existing without Kṛṣṇa, no existential position. Mat-sthāni...

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
(BG 9.4)

Everything existing on Kṛṣṇa. This material energy—earth, water, fire, air, sky—that is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā. They are also Kṛṣṇa's energies. Opposite elements also. Just like heat and cold. So they are opposite. Śītoṣṇa. Śīta means winter, and uṣṇa means summer, warm and cold, cool. We see practically that the expert electrician by the same electric energy is running on the heater and the cooler.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

Everything is being witnessed and that is being recorded. So just like in a office in government service, there is service record, and at the end of the year, everything is considered. So the man is promoted, given some bonus on the proprietor or the directors, they're not meeting that man. But the service record is there. Similarly, whatever we are doing, good or bad, that is being recorded and it is examined. Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). We are acting and there is superior authority. They are examining what kind of body he has to get next. So that, that, that science is not being taught, that what is our next body? They are thinking that there is no next body, there is no life, this life is finished. But that is not the fact. As this life I have changed. I was a child, I got next body, I was a boy, I got next body, I was a you, young man. I got next body. Now I have got this body. So now I will have not this body, I will get next body.

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

If anyone takes to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, surrenders there, and be engaged in His service, then these laws of nature will be slackened, or almost nil. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). 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.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

So those who are too much addicted to karma... Karma means work. Just like we see in your New York City. Everyone is busy with karma. Karma means you do something, there is some result and you enjoy or suffer. That is called karma. They are doing business, they are doing so many things. There is result. So karma has an effect. So it may be good or bad. So one has to enjoy or suffer. So those who are too much addicted to this karma, activities, when those activities are done with yoga... Yoga means linking with the Supreme. That is called karma-yoga.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

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

This is very important verse. Evaṁ tvayi nānyathe..., nānyathā ato asti na karma lipyate nare. 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.

Festival Lectures

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 9, 1968:

The law will punish him. So ignorance is the cause of breaking the law or sinful activities. And as soon as you commit some sinful activity, you have to suffer the result. So the whole world is in ignorance, and due to ignorance he's complicated in so many actions and reactions, either good or bad. There is nothing good within this material world; everything is bad. So we have manufactured something good and something bad. Here... Because in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand this place is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This place is for misery. So how you can say, in miserable condition, how you can say that "This is good" or "This is bad." Everything is bad. So those persons who do not know—the material, conditional life—they manufacture something, "This is good, this is bad," because they do not know everything here is bad, nothing good.

Initiation Lectures

Initiations and Lecture Sannyasa Initiation of Sudama dasa -- Tokyo, April 30, 1972:

Whatever you do. You do something very pious or do something which is vicious, there will be some resultant action. But if you don't take shelter of the resultant action, anāśritaḥ karma, karma-phalaṁ. Karma-phalaṁ means resultant action of your activities. You don't take shelter of that action, good or bad... Kāryam: "It is my duty." Kāryam karma karoti yaḥ: "In this way, one who acts..." Sa sannyāsī. Everyone is trying to enjoy the result of his action. Suppose you are doing some business, and you get very huge profit. So you take the profit for enjoyment. But one who does not take the profit, he is sannyāsī. He may be engaged in business. He may make profit, thousand dollars per month or more than that, but he does not take even a paisa or even a cent out of it—he is a sannyāsī.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

So if you associate with us, you'll forget smoking, drinking. It was learned by association, you can forget it by association. No child used to eat meat from the very birth. It was milk. So this is all artificial, the so-called conventions of human society. Natural life does not allow all these things. So by good or bad association you have acquired so many artificial, I mean to say, habits. So simply by association you can forget also. Then you come to the pure life. And God is pure. Just like without being heated, you cannot stand in a place which is very heated. The temperature must be the same. This is known to everyone. So God is pure. You cannot approach God being impure. So the whole process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is purificatory process. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Hṛṣīka, hṛṣīka means senses, and Hṛṣīkeśa means the master of the senses, the Lord of the senses, Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

"This is good," "This is bad." But to keep pace with the human society or peace in the human society, there is necessity of doing or adopting something which is approved by somebody, or the state. That is different thing. That is material. But actually at the ultimate end, as we have cited the quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, good or bad means satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the Lord. If any action is approved or gives satisfaction to the Lord, that is good. If any action gives dissatisfaction to the Lord, it is bad. That is the general. Now you have to adopt yourself in the service of the Lord in such a way that you can know that this action is giving satisfaction and this action is not giving satisfaction. Then your life is all right.

Viṣṇujana: Then all our faculties of perception will be purified by adopting this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and we can understand.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

"This is good," "This is bad." But to keep pace with the human society or peace in the human society, there is necessity of doing or adopting something which is approved by somebody, or the state. That is different thing. That is material. But actually at the ultimate end, as we have cited the quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, good or bad means satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the Lord. If any action is approved or gives satisfaction to the Lord, that is good. If any action gives dissatisfaction to the Lord, it is bad. That is the general. Now you have to adopt yourself in the service of the Lord in such a way that you can know that this action is giving satisfaction and this action is not giving satisfaction. Then your life is all right.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

Viṣṇujana: So then a man who is not, does not have a purified consciousness has no way of knowing what is good or bad.

Prabhupāda: No. He is illusioned. Māyā. That is called māyā. He is accepting something bad as good. Just like one is accepting this body as self. The whole world is moving, accepting this body as the self. Dehātma-buddhi. But I am not this body. That's a fact. So it is illusion. Yes?

Young man (1): You referred earlier to some proofs of after-life. And I came in late. So I don't know if you've mentioned it earlier, but I wonder are these available in writing in English, and do people here know of them? That is, where would I look at such a thing?

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Bombay, March 17, 1971:

What are you going to be next? You have to accept another body. So that body will be created in this life. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi and that bodily structure will be formed at the time of your death. Just like if you leave this apartment, you'll have to go another apartment. So you have to select another apartment, good or bad. That will depend on your capacity, how much rent you are able to pay. Then you leave this apartment. Similarly, at the time of death by the superior arrangement, another apartment will be given to you, and immediately that is settled up, you leave this body and enter into that body. Daiva-netreṇa, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). That will be considered by your work. If your works are nice.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is there, everywhere.

Śyāmasundara: He says it is not the act itself which is good or bad but the will behind the act.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That will is sometimes not manifest. Therefore one has to take the help of superior person to develop that willingness.

Śyāmasundara: He says when we see an activity, it's not the act that's good or bad...

Prabhupāda: Just like a child: its will is there, but it has to be developed by the teacher. So he develops his willingness to study more and more and he becomes a scholar. But the will is there already.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: But he says when you see an action, the act itself cannot be judged as good or bad, but the will behind the act may be good or bad. That's how we have to judge good or bad, by the will behind the act.

Prabhupāda: That is not very important subject, unless there is willing. So that good or bad also has to be trained. The conditioned soul, anyone in this material world, he is in ignorance. It is called darkness. This material world is called darkness. Everyone, more or less, they are in darkness. The Vedas therefore say, "Don't remain in darkness. Go to the light." And the spiritual world is light. Just like day and night. Side by side there is day and night, or sunlight and darkness. So the Vedas say "Don't remain in darkness. Go to the light." So willingness in darkness is imperfect.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: What he is saying by that is just like if you see a soldier killing, you can't say that the action is good or bad, of his killing; but the will behind it—if his will is to serve the state—then the will is good, so the killing is good. But if you see the man killing someone on the street for his money, then you can say that the will is bad, so the killing is bad. So the action itself of killing is neither good nor bad, but the will behind the killing is what determines if an action is good or bad.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But that will has to be trained. Otherwise he will manufacture that "I am doing this in good sense; therefore it is good." He will manufacture his idea. That is nonsense. Therefore you require guidance.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: Alright, the state is imperfect; then there is no such question.

Śyāmasundara: He says that the history will bear out whether a policy is good or bad. For instance the Roman Empire came, and then it fell. So their policy is...

Prabhupāda: So we say that any empire will come, and fail. Without studying history. Because godless empire will never exist.

Śyāmasundara: He says that each state represents some phase of the absolute truth, that it expresses itself in the temporal events or the march of time.

Prabhupāda: We accept that without historical reference, we say unless one state or king is representative of God, that is not state. That is a group, that is not state. Just like even in aboriginals, they have also group. They have also group. That is not state. I think there must be some distinction.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:
Prabhupāda: There are so many, I mean to say, procession against, protesting against Mr. Nixon's policy and so many things. But still he is on the head, of the executive power. So there is something mysterious. Actually, the present government does not represent the others. That is everywhere. So, how we can understand that this nation is good or bad by the state behavior. Just like we issued that statement that these Americans not... These Americans were following the Nixon philosophy. There was a cartoon, that in our temple nobody is coming.

Kīrtanānanda: Nobody is what? Prabhupāda: Nobody is coming. Devotee: India. Prabhupāda: In India. Because there was a feeling against the Americans. People are going to the ambassadors and place, the consulate, they are protesting, the police was there, very good. Eh? Against, against killing, counter feelings against the Americans doing the work. So I issued one statement that these Americans, they are devotees, they have nothing to do with politics. So at the present moment (indistinct), actually what is the American nation, simply by seeing the state we cannot give our judgment that this is the American nation, because there are many who are not in agreement with the state power. But they are posing themselves, that we represent America.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Devotee: And any idea that we have, whether good or bad, that has come from Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (indistinct). That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fifteenth Chapter, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭho mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15), "The ideas are coming from Me."

Devotee: So if a person thinks he has an idea of a skyscraper building, it's because Paramātmā has given him that idea.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he gets idea: "Yes, there is a building like that, you can do that." For man there cannot be anything, invention. He can say "discovered", there is nothing invented.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: I haven't made this very clear, but because we have freedom, we become susceptible to bad faith. Bad faith means that we avoid making any decisions at all, good or bad. We simply drift. He calls it drift. We go day to day without entering and becoming involved with any responsible decision-making.

Prabhupāda: That drift means that is decision. Yes. That is decision. When you drift, that is decision.

Śyāmasundara: People, especially these days, they want to avoid making any kind of decisions, especially hippies.

Prabhupāda: Therefore you must take others' decisions, superiors' decisions.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: This Bertrand Russell says that ethics, or what is right and wrong, is simply a set of emotional attitudes, and it cannot be, we cannot regard anything as good or bad. That nothing...

Prabhupāda: He does not make any distinction between good and bad?

Śyāmasundara: That there's no absolute good and bad. Nothing can be said "This is true or false," that "This is good," or that "This is bad."

Prabhupāda: That means he could not observe the distinction between good and bad. Does it mean like that?

Purports to Songs

Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:

"In the material world, this is good; and this is bad—this is all mental speculation." Dvaite' bhadrābhadra sakali samana, ei bhāla, ei manda', saba manodharma: "That division, 'This is good; this is bad,' it is mental speculation." It has no value. It has no value. So this mental speculation will not help us. And therefore sthāne sthitāḥ. You remain in your position. It doesn't matter, good or bad. The mental speculator's verdict that "This is good; this is bad. This is intelligent; this is fool," they are all mental speculation. That will not help.

So you remain in your position. Either in good or bad, it doesn't matter. But you do one thing. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. You use your ear. That ear is bestowed upon everyone, either fool or learned. So use that ear, sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ, and hear attentively, and mold your life as you hear from the realized soul. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-mano.

Page Title:Good or bad (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:30 of Jun, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=51, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:51