Guest: We have heard a lot that we get (indistinct) karma.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
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? Every one of us sitting here, we are not of the same mentality, not of the same body. So, why the different bodies are there if there is not a superior endowment? Why different bodies? Can you answer this? Unless there is some superior endowment that "You accept this body, you take this body," you have to accept. You cannot deny it. Because in the Vedas we understand, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to, after death you have accept another body. But what kind of body you are going to accept, that you do not know. But there is superior judgement that "You have done such-and-such karma, you accept this body." How can you deny it? Just like in the court the judge is giving different judgement, "Yes, you have to receive this one lakh of rupees from this person. I give you decree." And another person is given order, "You go to jail for six months." The judge is the same. But why one is going by his word six months imprisonment and another is given one lakh of rupees decree? The superior judgement is there and the karma is there. Therefore because we are getting so many different types of bodies, each body is different from the another body. Unless there is superior judgement that one has to accept this body, another has to accept that body. And that judgement is given by karma and that is stated in the Vedas, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). By one's karma and by superior judgement, one has to get another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So where is the wrong in this? There is superior judgement and there are different types of body, that is a fact. So how, you cannot deny. Sometimes Christians, they deny this karmavāda. I was a student in Calcutta, Scottish Churches College. So, I was student of philosophy also. So Dr. Urquhart, he denied karmavāda. That "I am punished at this present, present body, where is the witness? Where is the witness?" Because any judgement is done on the strength of witness. So that was his argument. But the witness is there. According to Vedic system the witness is the sun, the witness is the moon, the witness is the day, the witness is the night. And above all the supreme witness is God Himself. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart so how you can hide yourself from the vigilance of the Supreme Lord? The Supreme Lord is witness. So according to your karma... And that is also explained in another place in Bhagavad-gītā. Why people are getting superior and inferior types of bodies? That is explained, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu (BG 13.22). Sad-asad—good and bad, first-class and third-class. Sad-asad-janma-yonisu. Species of life, they are getting. The reason is, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. Because he's associating with different modes of nature. There are three modes of nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance. So if you associate with goodness, you get one type of body. If you associate with passion, you get another type of body. If you associate with ignorance, you get another type of body. This is law of nature and the witness is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So there is exactly everything in order. You cannot escape that. Divī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). It is not possible to escape. This is karmavāda. But this karmavāda, just like one man is sentenced by the law to be hanged, nobody can save him, but still there is King's mercy, he can save you.