Continuing
with our series of a True account entitled Perfect Questions, Perfect
Answers… A search for meaning carries Bob Cohen, a young American Peace
Corps worker halfway around the world, to an ancient village in the
midst of West Bengal. There, in a small bamboo hut, he finds a teacher
who is able to tell him everything he ever wanted to know. To download the entire book free on pdf file, click on link at bottom of post.
Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 4, February 28, 1972 (continued)
The Three Modes Of Nature
Bob:
I have read that there are three guṇas—passion, ignorance and
goodness—in life. I was wishing that you would explain this somewhat,
especially what is meant by the mode of ignorance and the mode of
goodness.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: In goodness you can understand
things—knowledge. You can know that there is God, that this world was
created by Him, and so many things, actual things—the sun is this, the
moon is this—perfect knowledge. If one has some knowledge, even though
it may not be perfect, that is goodness. And in passion one identifies
with his material body and tries to gratify his senses. That is passion.
And ignorance is animal life—in ignorance, one does not know what is
God, how to become happy, why we are in this world. For example, if you
take an animal to the slaughterhouse, it will go. This is ignorance. But
a man will protest. If a goat is to be killed after five minutes but
you give it a morsel of grass, it is happy because it is eating. Just
like a child—even if you are planning to kill her or kill him, he is
happy and laughs because he is innocent. That is ignorance.
Bob: Being in these modes determines your karma. Is that correct?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes. According to the association of the modes of nature, your activities are being contaminated.
kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya
sad-asad-yoni-janmasu
A man gets a higher birth or lower birth according to the association of the guṇas, or the modes of nature.
Bob: So cheating and like that—what mode is that?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
Cheating is mixed passion and ignorance. Suppose one man cheats
another. That means he wants to obtain something; he is passionate. But
if he commits murder, he does not know that he will have to suffer for
it, so it is a mixture of passion and ignorance.
Bob: And what about when somebody helps another person?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That is goodness.
Bob:
Why is that goodness? What intelligence is that? I mean—this represents
knowledge of what? You said that goodness is when you have knowledge.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes.
Bob: Intelligence.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes.
Bob: So helping another person?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That means that he is ignorant and you are trying to enlighten him.
Bob: So giving intelligence…
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes, that is goodness.
Bob: And what about just giving assistance?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That is also goodness.
Bob: If a beggar has nothing and you give him alms…
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
So that may still be goodness. But in your Bowery Street, they give
some charity, and immediately he purchases one bottle of wine and drinks
and lies down flat. [All laugh.] So that is charity. But that is not
goodness; that is ignorance.
Bob: Charity is ignorance?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
There are three kinds of charities—good, passionate and ignorant.
Goodness is giving charity where charity must be given. Just like this
Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement—if anyone gives charity to this movement,
that is goodness because it is spreading God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. That is goodness. And if one gives charity for some
return, that is passion. And if somebody gives in charity in an improper
place and time, without respect and to an unworthy person, just like
the Bowery man, that is ignorance. But Kṛṣṇa says:
yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
"All
that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as
well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an
offering unto Me." If Kṛṣṇa takes, that is the perfection of charity. Or anyone who is a representative of Kṛṣṇa—if he takes, that is perfection.
Bob: And what kind of charity is it when you give food to somebody who is hungry?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
Well, that depends on the circumstances. For example, a doctor has
forbidden his patient to take any solid food, and if the patient is
asking, "Give me some solids," and if you give him solid food in
charity, then you are not doing good to him. That is ignorance.
Bob:
Are the devotees beyond accumulating karma? These devotees—do they feel
karma? Do they work in these modes? Are they in the mode of goodness?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
They are above goodness! Śuddha-sattva. The devotees are not in this
material world. They are in the spiritual world. That is stated in the
Bhagavad-gītā:
māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
[Bg. 14.26]
[
"One
who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any
circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus
comes to the level of Brahman."] Devotees are neither in goodness, passion nor ignorance. They are transcendental to all these qualities.
Bob: A devotee who is very faithful reaches this stage?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
Yes. Devotee… You can become a devotee as they have become. It is not
difficult. Simply you have to engage yourself in the transcendental
loving service of the Lord, that's all.
Bob: I wish to gain
more knowledge of God and be able to feel God's presence more. The
reason for this is because I feel life has little meaning without this.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
Yes! If you miss this human form of life, then it is a great loss. That
is a great chance given to the living entity to get out of the
entanglement of material existence.
Bob: I feel thankful that I've been able to ask these questions…
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes, you can learn more and more.
Bob: But I still have… my connections at home. Marriage is… I am engaged….
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
No, no. There are so many marriages. [He indicates Śyāmasundara.] He is
married. Marriage is no barrier. I told you that there are four
different orders of spiritual life—brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and
sannyāsa. So after brahmacārī life, one can marry. That is not
obligatory. One may remain naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī for his whole life. But a
brahmacārī can marry. And after marriage, there is vānaprastha life.
This means that one is a little aloof from family—the husband and wife
live separately. At that time there is no sex life. Then when he is
fully renounced, detached from family life, he takes sannyāsa,
Bob: Does somebody forget his wife completely then?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:
Yes. Forgetting is not very difficult, if you try to forget. Out of
sight, out of mind. [All laugh.] Just as I have my wife, children,
grandchildren—everything. But, out of sight, out of mind, that's all.
Therefore, vānaprastha, sannyāsa—everything is nicely arranged by the
Vedic system.
for more great free downloads go to
http://krishnapath.org
With
the vision of "No child in India shall be deprived of education because
of hunger", Akshaya Patra set foot towards implementation of the
mid-day meal programme in June 2000.
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