Problem of evil—Professor A.L. Herman, philosopher at the University of Wisconsin, compiled a list of twenty-one attempts to solve the problem of evil put forward by Western philosophers and theologians during the Christian era. He admits that the list is not exhaustive, only representative. Of those he listed, Herman says none will suffice to dissolve the problem, and of unlisted attempts, he comments, I think this result must be inevitable for all such similar attempts undertaken within the context of the traditional Western approach to the problem of evil. The problem stems from three assumptions, only two of which seem to be compatible: 1) God is omnipotent; 2) God is omnibenevolent; 3) Evil exists. For evil to exist, so the argument goes, God must either be less than all-powerful or less than all-good. The Vedic answer is given by Śrīla Prabhupāda in On the Way to Kṛṣṇa, Chapter Three. Accordingly, the human perception of good and evil is due to the influence of the three modes of material nature upon consciousness. These three modes originate in Kṛṣṇa, who is omnipotent and omnibenevolent. Though the modes and their effects are within Kṛṣṇa, He is not in them. Hence, the human perception of good in this world does not correspond to the goodness of Kṛṣṇa, the source of the world. For example, electricity is perceived in the home in terms of heat (in an electric stove) and cold (in a refrigerator). But at the power plant, electricity is not known in terms of the duality of heat and cold. In the home, whether electrical heat and cold are good or bad depends upon ever-changing circumstances and individual opinions. At the power plant, such changing circumstances and differing opinions do not occur. The power plant is not responsible for the reasons that cause people to say electrical heat is good, electrical cold is bad, or vice-versa. Similarly, individuals of different natures, circumstances and opinions define good and evil differently. Death is evil if it happens to me. Death is good if it happens to my enemy. Or death may be good for me if it delivers me from lingering agony, and not good if it does the same for my enemy. Although life and death, or good and evil, are within Kṛṣṇa, His own divine goodness is not within them. The good and evil we ascribe to life and death or anything else are creations of the material mind. See Modes of nature.