Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.1.7

śrī-śuka uvāca

na ced ihaivāpacitim yathāmhasah

kritasya kuryān mana-ukta-pānibhih

dhruvam sa vai pretya narakān upaiti

ye kīrtitā me bhavatas tigma-yātanāh

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukah uvāca — Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; na — not; cet — if; iha — within this life; eva — certainly; apacitim — counteraction, atonement; yathā — duly; amhasah kritasya — when one has performed sinful activities; kuryāt — performs; manah — with the mind; ukta — words; pānibhih — and with the senses; dhruvam — undoubtedly; sah — that person; vai — indeed; pretya — after death; narakān — different varieties of hellish conditions; upaiti — attains; ye — which; kīrtitāh — were already described; me — by me; bhavatah — unto you; tigma-yātanāh — in which there is very terrible suffering.

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied: My dear King, if before one's next death whatever impious acts one has performed in this life with his mind, words and body are not counteracted through proper atonement according to the description of the Manu-samhitā and other dharma-śāstras, one will certainly enter the hellish planets after death and undergo terrible suffering, as I have previously described to you.

PURPORT

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura mentions that although Mahārāja Parīkshit was a pure devotee, Śukadeva Gosvāmī did not immediately speak to him about the strength of devotional service. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (14.26):

mām ca yo 'vyabhicārena

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa gunān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

Devotional service is so strong that if one fully surrenders to Krishna and takes fully to His devotional service, the reactions of his sinful life immediately stop.

Elsewhere in the Gītā (18.66), Lord Krishna urges that one give up all other duties and surrender to Him, and He promises, aham tvām sarva-pāpebhyo mokshayishyāmi: "I shall free you from all sinful reactions and give you liberation." Therefore in response to the inquiries of Parīkshit Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, his guru, could have immediately explained the principle of bhakti, but to test Parīkshit Mahārāja's intelligence, he first prescribed atonement according to karma-kānda, the path of fruitive activities. For karma-kānda there are eighty authorized scriptures, such as Manu-samhitā, which are known as dharma-śāstras. In these scriptures one is advised to counteract his sinful acts by performing other types of fruitive action. This was the path first recommended by Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkshit, and actually it is a fact that one who does not take to devotional service must follow the decision of these scriptures by performing pious acts to counteract his impious acts. This is known as atonement.

<<< >>>

Copyright ©r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness