am, what this world is, what God is, and what our interrelationship is. This is the
mode of goodness.

By hearing Krsna katha, we will be freed from the stages of ignorance and passion.
We will be situated in the mode of goodness. At least we’ll have the real knowledge
—knowledge of what we are. Ignorance is like the animal existence. The animal’s
life is full of suffering, but the animal does not know that he is suffering. Take the
case of a hog. Of course, here in New York City no hog is seen. But in villages in
India one sees the hog. Oh, how miserable his life is, living in a filthy place, eating
stools and always unclean. Yet the hog is very happy by eating stools, and having
constant sexual intercourse with the she-hog and just getting fat. The hog gets very
fat, because of the spirit of enjoyment which is there—although, for him, it is
sensual enjoyment.

We should not be like the hog, falsely thinking that we are very happy. Working
hard all day and night, then having some sex life—we think that in this way we are
very happy. But this is not happiness. This has been described in the Bhagavatam as
a hog’s happiness. Man's happiness is when he is situated in the mode of goodness.
Then he can understand what true happiness is.

In our daily routine, if we hear this Krsna katha, the result will be that all the dirty
things in the heart, accumulated life after life, will be cleared out. As a matter of
fact, we will see that we are no longer in ignorance or in passion, but are situated in
the mode of goodness. What is that position?

We will find ourselves joyful in every circumstance of life. We will never feel
morose. In the Bhagavad-gita we find that this is our brahma-bhuta (highest stage of
goodness) situation. The Vedas teach us that we are not this matter. We are
Brahman. Aham brahmasmi. Lord Sankaracarya preached this gospel to the world.
We are not this matter; we are Brahman, spirit. When spiritual realization is actually
accomplished, then our symptoms will change. What are those symptoms? When one
is situated in his own spiritual consciousness, then he will have no hankering and no
lamentation. Lamentation is for loss, and hankering is for gain. Two diseases
characterize this material world: What we do not possess, we hanker after. “If I get
these things I’ll be happy. I have no money, but if I get a million dollars, then I’ll be
happy.” And when we have a million dollars, somehow it will be lost. So we’ll cry,
“Oh, I have lost it!” When we hanker for earning, that is a kind of distress. And
when we suffer loss, that is also distress. But if we are situated in brahma-bhuta, we
will neither be distressed nor will we hanker. We will view equally everyone and
