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Good conscience

Expressions researched:
"conscience, which we..., or good instruction, counsel" |"conscience. This is good" |"good conscience" |"good. The conscience"

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 5

The Supreme Lord does not want any living being to act sinfully, and He begs him through his good conscience to refrain from sin. But when someone insists upon acting sinfully, the Supreme Lord gives him the sanction to act at his own risk.
SB 5.18.3, Purport:

Material happiness means to have good facilities for eating, sleeping, sexual intercourse and defense. Within this world, the materialistic person lives only for these four principles of sense gratification, not caring for the impending danger of death. After his father's death, a son tries to inherit his money and use it for sense gratification. Similarly, one whose son dies tries to enjoy the possessions of his son. Sometimes the father of a dead son even enjoys his son's widow. Materialistic persons behave in this way. Thus Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, "How wonderful are these pastimes of material happiness transacted by the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead!" In other words, materialistic persons want to commit all kinds of sinful activities, but without the sanction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, no one can do anything. Why does the Supreme Personality of Godhead permit sinful activities? The Supreme Lord does not want any living being to act sinfully, and He begs him through his good conscience to refrain from sin. But when someone insists upon acting sinfully, the Supreme Lord gives him the sanction to act at his own risk (mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15)). No one can do anything without the sanction of the Lord, but He is so kind that when the conditioned soul persists in doing something, the Lord permits the individual soul to act at his own risk.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

An American lady asked me to recommend an English edition of the Bhagavad-gītā which she could read. I was unable to do so in good conscience. Of course there are many translations, but of those I have seen, not only in America but those also in India, none can be said to be authoritative, because in almost every one of them the author has expressed his personal opinion through the commentaries without touching the spirit of the Bhagavad-gītā as it is.
Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :

Prabhupāda: Somebody come read Bhagavad-gītā. You will read? Come on. Our publication by Macmillan Company, Bhagavad-gītā, is out.

Devotee: Where shall I read from?

Prabhupāda: Introduction.

Devotee: This is the introduction to Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine

"The Bhagavad-gītā is also known as the Gītopaniṣad. It is the essence of the Vedic knowledge and one of the most important Upaniṣads in Vedic literature. There are many commentaries on the Bhagavad-gītā, and the necessity for another should be explained in the following basis. An American lady asked me to recommend an English edition of the Bhagavad-gītā which she could read. I was unable to do so in good conscience. Of course there are many translations, but of those I have seen, not only in America but those also in India, none can be said to be authoritative, because in almost every one of them the author has expressed his personal opinion through the commentaries without touching the spirit of the Bhagavad-gītā as it is. The spirit of the Bhagavad-gītā is mentioned in the Gītā itself. It is like this: If we want to take a particular medicine, then we have to follow the directions written on the label of the bottle. We cannot take the medicine according to our own directions or the directions of a friend ot in knowledge of this medicine. We must follow the directions on the label or the directions of our physician. The Bhagavad-gītā also should be accepted as it is directly by the speaker Himself. The speaker is Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is mentioned on every page as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or Bhagavān. Bhagavān sometimes means any powerful person or demigod, but here it means Kṛṣṇa."

Suppose you are doing, going to do something which is not very good. The conscience is beating, "No, no, you should not do this. You should not do this." But because without the sanction of the Supreme, I cannot do anything, so if we persist to do something, then the sanction is given, "At your risk."
Lecture on BG 4.17 -- Bombay, April 6, 1974:

That you have got experience. Suppose you are doing, going to do something which is not very good. The conscience is beating, "No, no, you should not do this. You should not do this." But because without the sanction of the Supreme, I cannot do anything, so if we persist to do something, then the sanction is given, "At your risk." That is going on. God does not give you sanction for doing anything criminal. But if we persist to do something criminal, then God gives sanction, "All right, do. Do it at your risk." That is going on. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Now, when we act something on account of my persistence by the sanction of the Lord, then I become subjected to the fruits of such resultant action.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ: "Your question is very nice, that 'Whom shall I take shelter of? Shall I take shelter of Kṛṣṇa?' Yes." Tasmād bhārata sarvātmā. Kṛṣṇa is sarvātmā. He is situated in everyone's heart as friend. He is the real friend. He is giving me advice. He is within, conscience, or good instruction, counsel.
Lecture on SB 2.1.4 -- Delhi, November 7, 1973:

So therefore we have to take shelter not of this family, not of this nation, not of this community or children or friends. No. They cannot give us. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām: "I am the only friend." Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). These rascals, they come as my friend. these blind leaders, who cannot give protection himself. He becomes friend. He gives me advice about nationalism and this "ism" and that "ism." But he cannot give even himself any protection. How he can give me protection? This is intelligence. This is intelligence. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī, tasmād bhārata: "You cannot depend all these foolish things. That is not possible. Now you prepare for death. It is very nice." Varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ: (SB 2.1.1) "Your question is very nice, that 'Whom shall I take shelter of? Shall I take shelter of Kṛṣṇa?' Yes." Tasmād bhārata sarvātmā. Kṛṣṇa is sarvātmā. He is situated in everyone's heart as friend. He is the real friend. He is giving me advice. He is within, conscience, which we..., or good instruction, counsel. He says that "Don't be materially attached." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam: (BG 18.66) "Come to Me. Just become surrendered to Me. I will give you protection. I will give you intelligence." No. I reject Him: "I don't want You. I have got my friend, I have got my nation, I have got my community, I have got my wife, I have got my children, I have got my bank balance. Why shall I take protection of You?" This is the... Paśyann api na paśyati. The rascal does not see that these things will not give you protection.

General Lectures

Your eating should be arranged within this group: rice, wheat, sugar, milk product, vegetables, and fruits. In your country you have got enough nice grains, nice fruits, enough supply of milk, butter. So there is no question of accepting any other food. You can accept foodstuff within this group and become healthy and good brain, good conscience.
Lecture at Harvard University -- Boston, December 24, 1969:

Student (8): How important is your diet?

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is a very important thing. If you read Dr. George Bernard Shaw's book, You Are What You Eat, you see. So if you eat like human being, then you can increase your qualities of human being. If you eat like cats and dogs, you increase the quality of cats and dogs. That's all. So we must have discrimination what to eat. That is there in the human world. Eating is there, but everything eatable. Even stool is eatable by a certain kind of animal, but that does not mean that stool has to be eaten by human being. Human being must have discretion what kind of food will be just suitable for my health, for my intelligence, for my brain. So these things are prescribed. If we eat things which are in goodness... They are prescribed in the Vedic literature that wheat, rice, sugar, milk product, vegetables, fruits, these things are in goodness. So if you want to increase your quality of goodness, that is required for God realization. Unless you are situated in the quality of goodness, you cannot be promoted to the higher platform. So your eating should be arranged within this group: rice, wheat, sugar, milk product, vegetables, and fruits. In your country you have got enough nice grains, nice fruits, enough supply of milk, butter. So there is no question of accepting any other food. You can accept foodstuff within this group and become healthy and good brain, good conscience. You can engage yourself in God consciousness. That is possible. So therefore "Discrimination is the best part of valor." We should discriminate what kind of food we should eat. We cannot eat anything and everything. That discrimination must be there.

Philosophy Discussions

The conscience is created by association. By good association, conscience is the good conscience and by bad association, a bad conscience is created. So there is no such standard as conscience.
Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Śyāmasundara: He says that acting in accordance with a conscience is the right type of activity.

Prabhupāda: The conscience, the so-called conscience is created. You go on killing, your conscience will be killing conscience, "It is all right." The thief becomes accustomed to steal, the conscience will say, "Yes, I must steal. It is my right." So you can create your conscience in that way. By association, by misguiding, they also create their conscience. Just like the Christian religion says, "Thou shalt not kill," but they are killing, creating a conscience, "Yes, killing is all right." In the religion it is forbidden, "Thou shalt not kill," but they are creating another conscience, "It is right." The conscience is created by association. By good association, conscience is the good conscience and by bad association, a bad conscience is created. So there is no such standard as conscience. Conscience means discriminating power.

Śyāmasundara: He says that there is an absolute conscience, which means pure rationality. Whatever is purely rational is conscience.

Prabhupāda: Pure rationality is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is purest. Unless one comes to that standard, the so-called conscience, so-called philosophy is of no value.

It is a question of training. My point is that the tiger has got the conscience, "Oh, here is my trainer. He will kill me." He has got this conscience. This is good. "If I attack, oh, he will kill me. But here is an ordinary man, I can kill him." So he has difference of conscience.
Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Śyāmasundara: So my inner conscience tells me...

Prabhupāda: You know the consciousness of the tiger? Actual fact, you know the big, big circus tigers are trained to play. So the training is, I learned it from their men, that when the tiger comes, raw tiger from the (jungle) comes... What is the tiger player, player, what he is called? What is his name?

Śyāmasundara: Ring master? Trainer. Trainer. Animal trainer.

Prabhupāda: Trainer, yes. So the raw tiger is kept in the cage and the trainer comes for several days, he simply whips. Then for several days whips and gives some food, and then he comes with the whip and food. So he does not whip, he gives some food. In this way tiger becomes tamed by him. So he plays before the trainer only. He has got that whip. Because he is animal, he has got that impression, "He will kill me." Therefore he plays. As soon as this man goes away, he will immediately attack, anyone comes. Just like dog, he fears the (master); for others he jumps over. So it is a question of training. So he has got the conscience. My point is that he has got the conscience, "Oh, here is my trainer. He will kill me." He has got this conscience. This is good. "If I attack, oh, he will kill me. But here is an ordinary man, I can kill him." So he has difference of conscience. Even the tiger, even the cats, and the dogs. This discrimination, power of discrimination, is there in the animals also. But that is not consciousness. Real consciousness is to accept Kṛṣṇa. That is real consciousness.

The conscience is prepared. If you go on drinking, then your conscience will say it is good, and if you go on chanting, your conscience will say this is good. The conscience is prepared according to association. There is no standard conscience.
Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:

Hayagrīva: Well they both emphasize intuition or conscience. The interior...

Prabhupāda: The conscience is prepared. If you go on drinking, then your conscience will say it is good, and if you go on chanting, your conscience will say this is good. The conscience is prepared according to association. There is no standard conscience.

Hayagrīva: No standard conscience or intuition.

Prabhupāda: So which one will you follow?

Hayagrīva: They seem to think there is a standard within everyone.

Prabhupāda: So what is that standard? We say the order of Kṛṣṇa is standard. That's all. What Kṛṣṇa says, that is standard, that we have got some standard. Unless there is standard, you say conscience, high sense, morality... What is that? Define it. Just like we have got definition of God. I think nobody has got any definition of God. What is the standard that a person should be called God? I don't think... it is only in Vedic literature.

aiśvaryasya samagrasya
vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ
jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva
ṣaṇṇām iti bhaga iṅganā
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47)

Clear. What is religion? Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). This is the definition of God, and dharma means the order of God. Everything is standard. What is their standard conception? And if you have no standard conception, simply imaginary morality, imaginary controller, imaginary God, how it will help us?

Correspondence

1970 Correspondence

So far I am concerned, I am the same Spiritual Father and Guide of both of you and I have prayed all along to Krsna for bringing you back to your good conscience.
Letter to Gargamuni -- Tokyo August 23, 1970:

I am very glad to note that you are now realizing that without executing the regular routine work of spiritual life nobody can grow spiritual strength and without spiritual strength nobody can preach the Krsna Consciousness Movement. Both of you are my great hopes. You have done great service to the cause of the Society and I always consider you as two strongest pillars of the Society. Sriman Brahmananda Swami Maharaja joined me in my apartment in New York sometimes in 1966 and since then he is working so hard for upliftment of our activities and later on you also joined to help the Movement so strenuously. So your service to Krsna in this connection will never go in vain even though accidentally something contrary has been done. So far I am concerned, I am the same Spiritual Father and Guide of both of you and I have prayed all along to Krsna for bringing you back to your good conscience. I hope Krsna is already helping you sitting in your heart and thus you are executing the regulative principles.

Page Title:Good conscience
Compiler:Labangalatika
Created:10 of Mar, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=7, Con=0, Let=1
No. of Quotes:9