How exactly are “those in Krishna consciousness not responsible for their actions”, as Prabhupada states?

From Sushant Kulkarni

“Those who are in complete Krsna Consciousness are not ultimately responsible for their actions.” (Purport of verse 14, chapter 18 of Bhagavad-gita As It Is)
You have stated in a previous QA podcast (What is the meaning of ’cause’ in the verse 2.47), that we are responsible for our actions. You gave the farmer analogy that if the farmer sows bad quality seeds he will obtain bad quality grains.
So how do we reconcile the two statements?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna question from Sushant Kulkarni Prabhu what is Prabhupada’s statement in the purport to 18.14 in the Bhagavad Gita that those who are in Krishna consciousness are not ultimately responsible for their actions we have stated in an earlier audio podcast that we are responsible for our actions and that our actions are like sowing seeds good seeds will produce good fruits and bad seeds will produce bad fruits how do we reconcile the two statements answer Prabhupada himself is very clear those who are in Krishna consciousness so there is karma, there is vikarma and there is akarma so here Prabhupada is talking about akarma once a person is in Krishna consciousness person is acting on Krishna’s behalf and Prabhupada would give the example of how a soldier fighting on behalf of the country on the war field is not responsible for the killing that happens normally the soldier kills and definitely there is a responsibility culpability is there but there is not such culpability when there is the action on the instruction of someone else on the behalf of someone else so when the war is not a soldier is going to take ownership of the kingdom that kingdom is going to go to the government so similarly when a devotee acts on Krishna’s behalf for Krishna’s purposes then the devotee is not responsible for one’s actions in the sense, not responsible in the sense that not that the devotee is not responsible for making the right choices of action, is not responsible in terms of the karmic consequences that can come up when such actions are done, that is the essential meaning of aham tvam sarva-papebhyo mokshe shyam ima shucha when Krishna says I will free you from all sinful reactions, do not fear he essentially is referring to this point of aham tvam sarva-papebhyo that I will free you from all sinful reactions now moving forward if we recognize this point we should not ourselves think that I am free from responsibility responsibility can be normally we think of the word responsibility in terms of the capacity to make choices whereas Shri Prabhupada often uses the word responsibility to refer to the response to the necessity of enduring consequences so a soldier fighting on behalf of the enemy is not responsible if there is some killing that happens in the sense that the consequences will not come that the person will not be considered a murderer but still if the soldier does not fight and lose the battlefield in fear then that person will be deserted and there will be definitely consequences over there so we have to make right choices and that choice essentially involves being in Krishna consciousness and acting for Krishna’s purpose but once we make those choices we at a material level those choices will bring some consequences but Krishna says I will protect you from those consequences and in that sense we are not responsible so normally we are responsible for the choices and choices come bound with consequences and we become culpable to receive those consequences also but when we act on Krishna’s behalf we do have the responsibility of making the choice to act on Krishna’s behalf not to act for our own pleasure when we act on Krishna’s behalf then we won’t get the consequences Krishna will free us from the karmic reactions and the only consequence we will get is purification and progress in devotion and material situations will be taken care of by Krishna that is the essential meaning of the statement that a devotee is not ultimately responsible that ultimate responsibility means even if something seems to be materially adharmic like say killing one’s relatives the devotee is not responsible as long as the devotee has executed the responsibility of acting in Krishna consciousness and even that adharmic thing is going to produce some vikarmic consequence some bad consequence a devotee will not get that because Krishna will protect the devotee.
Thank you. Hare Krishna