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Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
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?