4
The Nectar of Devotion
recommended in the  Vedas . It is implicit in this statement that a person born into a family of dog-eaters is generally not fit for performing  yajña , or sacrifice. The priestly caste in charge of performing these ritualistic ceremonies recommended in the  Vedas  is called the  brāhmaṇa  order. Unless one is a  brāhmaṇa , he cannot perform these ceremonies.
A person is born in a  brāhmaṇa  family or in a family of dog-eaters due to his past activities. If a person is born in a family of dog-eaters it means that his past activities are all sinful. But if even such a person takes to the path of devotional service and begins to chant the holy names of the Lord— Hare Kṛṣṇa ,  Hare Kṛṣṇa ,  Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa ,  Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma ,  Hare Rāma ,  Rāma Rāma ,  Hare Hare —he is at once fit to perform the ritualistic ceremonies. This means that his sinful reactions have immediately become neutralized.
It is stated in the  Padma Purāṇa  that there are four kinds of effects due to sinful activities, which are listed as follows: 1) the effect which is not yet fructified, 2) the effect which is lying as seed, 3) the effect which is already mature, and 4) the effect which is almost mature. It is also stated that all these four effects become immediately vanquished for those who surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead,  Viṣṇu , and become engaged in His devotional service in full  Kṛṣṇa  consciousness.
Those effects described as “almost mature” refer to the distress from which one is suffering at present, and the effects “lying as seed” means that in the core of the heart there is a certain stock of sinful desires which are like seeds. The Sanskrit word  kūṭam  means that they are almost ready to produce the seed, or the effect of the seed. An “immature effect” refers to the case where the seedling has not begun. From this statement of  Padma Purāṇa  it is understood that material contamination is very subtle. Its beginning, its fruition and results, and how one suffers such results in the form of distress, are part of a great chain. When one catches some disease, it is often very difficult to ascertain the cause of the disease, where it originated, and how it is maturing. The suffering of a disease, however, does not appear all of a sudden. It actually takes time. And, as in the medical field, for precaution’s sake, the doctor injects a vaccination to pre-