En Route

The Captain Of The United Airlines Jet that took Prabhupada from Philadelphia to Berkeley, California, took advantage of the long flight to talk with His Divine Grace. Later on, Prabhupada recalled the conversation. The captain asked that if God is all good, then why is there evil in the world? "I explained that for God there is no evil, just good. Just as my chest is as important to me as my back; if there is pain in my back I take care of it. I do not ignore it thinking that the front is more important. Evil is compared to the back of God. It is not different from His front, or goodness.

"Then the question came, 'If everything is good from God's point of view, then how can there be evil?' I gave another example to explain. It is just like the sun. On the body of the sun there is no shadow. We create shadow by turning our back to the sun. Similarly, when we turn away from God there is evil."

The captain inquired further, "How is it possible to attain peace?" Prabhupada replied, "By understanding that God is the supreme proprietor, the supreme enjoyer, and the supreme friend." Prabhupada explained these three aspects of God in detail, and showed the captain a few of the sixty volumes of books that have been published by the Hare Krsna movement on the science of God consciousness.