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Ignorance is no excuse. If there is law and if you do not know the law, and you commit offense, that is no excuse, that you do not know the law. Similarly, human life is meant for understanding God. That is the main business of human life

Expressions researched:
"ignorance is no excuse. If there is law, and if you do not know the law and you commit offense, that is no excuse, that you do not know the law. Similarly, human life is meant for understanding God. That is the main business of human life"

Conversations and Morning Walks

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Ignorance is no excuse. If there is law, and if you do not know the law and you commit offense, that is no excuse, that you do not know the law. Similarly, human life is meant for understanding God. That is the main business of human life. If one does not know this law, then he is sinful.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Richard Webster: For everyone. I mean rules about not drinking . . .

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Richard Webster: Would that be a sin in a non-Kṛṣṇa follower?

Prabhupāda: It is for everyone. When we speak something from the Vedic scripture, that is meant for everyone.

Richard Webster: I mean a Roman, perhaps, has never heard of Kṛṣṇa before. He breaks all your five rules, does he not, every day? Is that a sin in him? If he drinks wine . . .

Dhanañjaya: He's saying, all the people in Rome who have never heard of Kṛṣṇa . . .

Richard Webster: They drink wine and do all the things which are . . . well, perhaps not all, but anyway, some of them . . . (indistinct) . . . would that be . . .

Prabhupāda: I do not . . .

Dhanañjaya: He's asking if they're very sinful if they don't have any knowledge of Kṛṣṇa or any of the rules of our movement.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa . . . ignorance is no excuse. If there is law, and if you do not know the law and you commit offense, that is no excuse, that you do not know the law. Similarly, human life is meant for understanding God. That is the main business of human life. If one does not know this law, then he is sinful.

Richard Webster: Yes, but the difficulty is for me, for instance, that I have the Pope here who is telling me perhaps the same thing in spirit, but with different rules, different laws practically. I mean the spirit seems to me to be the same, but . . .

Prabhupāda: Law cannot be different, but it can be modified according to the time and circumstances. But the law cannot be different.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: (to guest) Maybe you could ask specific examples of differences.

Richard Webster: Well, for Roman Catholics it is right to drink wine, for instance.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Drinking, intoxication.

Richard Webster: Not intoxication, to drink wine. It's allowed. It's perfectly . . .

Ātreya Ṛṣi: What is wine? He's saying that a Roman Catholic can take wine. The law allows them to take wine.

Richard Webster: Or tobacco or meat.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Or tobacco or meat. So the rules are different.

Prabhupāda: Then rules are not different, but we have to see. Just like your Commandments. In the Commandments there is, "Thou shall not kill." Then how you can eat meat?

Page Title:Ignorance is no excuse. If there is law and if you do not know the law, and you commit offense, that is no excuse, that you do not know the law. Similarly, human life is meant for understanding God. That is the main business of human life
Compiler:Anurag
Created:2022-09-07, 15:54:43
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1