then have to suffer terribly in his next life. In order to save him from such torments, the murderer must be put to death in his present life.

The justice which condemns to the death penalty any murderer does him true justice and shows mercy by taking life for life. According to spiritual philosophy, the person who kills an animal should expect the same fate. No sane person would take such a risk.

There is also some karma in taking plant life, but it is nullified by the process of offering food to God, because the Lord says that He accepts such vegetarian offerings.

One must also renounce exciting and poisonous substances, including coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco. To intoxicate oneself in this way is to be influenced by ignorance, and risks leading us to an inferior birth in our next life.

In truth, if souls embodied and conditioned by matter and energy of illusion of the Lord somehow meditate on Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, they will free themselves from all their sins. Whether they think of Him as the adored Lord or as an enemy, constantly meditating on His divine Person, they will find their spiritual body.

The Lord says: “Free from all ties, freed from fear and anger, completely absorbed in Me and seeking refuge in Me, many became purified as they came to know Me, and thus all came to pure love for Me.”

Should he commit the worst deeds, he who is engaged in devotional service must be regarded as a holy man, for he is on the perfect path.

Many have obtained liberation for having simply thought to God with sustained attention and renouncing any guilty act.

Among the other techniques which allow one to free oneself from the cycle of successive reincarnations, let us quote the fact of offering to God the fruit of his work and of all his acts. All men must work in order to provide for their bodies, but if one acts only for one's own satisfaction, then one must accept the consequences of karma, whether good or bad, in lifetimes. futures. We must act only for the satisfaction of the Lord. This action takes the name of devotional service, and it is free from all karma. To act in the consciousness of God amounts to making sacrifices.

Man must sacrifice his time and money for the satisfaction of the Supreme Being. Action should be offered as a sacrifice to God, lest it bind its author to the material world, which is a world of suffering.

The action performed as devotional service not only preserves the person concerned from the reactions of karma, it gradually raises him to the service of spiritual love offered to the Lord, which is the key to accessing the kingdom of god.