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following are descriptions of the qualities of goodness in knowledge, duty, work, understanding, determination
and happiness

That knowledge by which one undivided spiritual nature is seen in all living entities, though they are divided into
innumerable forms, you should understand to be in the mode of goodness. (Bg 18.20)

That action which is regulated and which is performed without attachment, without love or hatred, and without
desire for fruitive results is said to be in the mode of goodness. (Bg 18.23)

One who performs his duty without association with the modes of material nature, without false ego, with great
determination and enthusiasm, and without wavering in success or failure is said to be a worker in the mode of
goodness. (Bg 18.26)

O son of Pṛthā, that understanding by which one knows what ought to be done and what ought not to be done,
what is to be feared and what is not to be feared, what is binding and what is liberating, is in the mode of
goodness. (Bg 14.30)

O son of Pṛthā, that determination which is unbreakable, which is sustained with steadfastness by yoga practice,
and which thus controls the activities of the mind, life and senses is determination in the mode of goodness. (Bg
18. 33)
That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to
self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness. (Bg 18.36)

The mode of goodness is favorable for beginning the development of knowledge with the possibility of
progressively evolving spiritually if one is guided by bona fide spiritual masters. Yet, Lord Krishna says that one
must rise above the influence of all three modes including the mode of goodness in order to understand the
Lord because the Lord is above all influence of the modes of material nature. One must come to the same nature
of the Lord (transcendental to the three modes) to understand Him correctly. It is not possible for one tainted
by the modes of nature to properly understand the Lord.

With proper guidance one can transcend the mode of goodness and come to the spiritual level known as pure
goodness (visuddha sattva). The difference between goodness and pure goodness is understood when one gives
up all material desires and replaces them with pure desires to please Krishna without any self-interest. All
endeavors are undertaken without attachment to material goals such as personal wealth, power, sensuality,
knowledge, fame, material self-improvement, or renunciation based on the bodily conception of life.

One should not renounce something that can be used in the service of the Lord. The devotee learns to use
everything in the Lord’s service under the tutelage of spiritual masters, both instructing and initiating gurus. The
problem with the mundane mode of goodness is one can be conditioned to feel that he is superior to others by
his advancement in knowledge. The material scientists, yogis, poets, politicians and philosophers have the
tendency to be proud of their acquired knowledge and priveliged friends and standard of living by which they
experience material happiness. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada comments:

This sense of advanced happiness in conditioned life makes them bound by the mode of goodness of material
nature. As such, they are attracted toward working in the mode of goodness, and, as long as they have an
attraction for working in that way, they have to take some type of body in the modes of nature. Thus there is no
likelihood of liberation, or of being transferred to the spiritual world. Repeatedly one may become a philosopher,

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