Characteristics of Pure Devotional Service
3
There are many results of past sinful activities for which we are suffering at the present moment, and we may be suffering in the future due to our present sinful activities. But all of these reactions to sinful deeds can immediately be stopped if we take to Krṣṇa consciousness. As evidence for this, Rūpa Gosvāmī quotes from the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , Eleventh Canto, 14th Chapter, 18th verse. This verse is in connection with Lord Krṣṇa's instruction to Uddhava, where He says, "My dear Uddhava, devotional service unto Me is just like a blazing fire which can burn into ashes unlimited fuel supplied to it." The purport is that as the blazing fire can burn any amount of fuel to ashes, so devotional service to the Lord in Krṣṇa consciousness can burn up all the fuel of sinful activities. For example, in the  Gūtā  Arjuna thought that fighting was a sinful activity, but Krṣṇa engaged him on the battlefield under His order, and so the fighting became devotional service. Therefore, Arjuna was not subjected to any sinful reaction.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī quotes another verse from the Third Canto of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , 33rd Chapter, 6th verse, in which Devahūti addresses her son, Kapiladeva and says, "My dear Lord, there are nine different kinds of devotional service, beginning from hearing and chanting. Anyone who hears about Your pastimes, who chants about Your glories, who offers You obeisances, who thinks of You and, in this way, executes any of the nine kinds of devotional service—even if he is born in a family of dog-eaters [the lowest grade of mankind]—becomes immediately qualified to perform sacrifices." As such, for anyone who is actually engaged in devotional service in full Krṣṇa consciousness, how is it possible that he has not become purified? It is not possible. One who is engaged in Krṣṇa consciousness and devotional service has without doubt become freed from all contaminations of material sinful activities. Devotional service therefore has the power to actually nullify all kinds of reactions to sinful deeds. A devotee is nevertheless always alert not to commit any sinful activities; this is his specific qualification as a devotee. Thus the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  states that by performing devotional service a person who was born even in a family of dog-eaters may become eligible to take part in the performance of the ritualistic ceremonies