10
Śrimad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 1]
life, but in his next life he became greatly fallen and was attached to a prostitute. Suddenly, however, his entire behavior was changed by the words of the very prostitute who had so much attracted him, and he became a great devotee. In the lives of exalted devotees, there are many such instances, proving that once one has taken to the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, he cannot be lost ( kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati ).
The fact is, however, that one becomes a devotee when he is completely freed from all reactions to sinful life. As Kṛṣṇa states in  Bhagavad-gītā  (7.28):
yeṣām tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām te dvanda-moha-nirmuktā bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ
“Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of illusion, engage themselves in My service with determination.” On the other hand, as Prahlāda Mahārāja said:
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛhavratānām
A person who is too attached to materialistic family life—home, family, wife, children and so on—cannot develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
These apparent contradictions are resolved in the life of a devotee by the grace of the Supreme Lord, and therefore a devotee is never bereft of his position on the path of liberation, which is described in this verse as  śivatamāṁ padavīm .
TEXT 6
यहि वाव ह राजन् स राजपुत्रः प्रियत्रतः परमभागवतो नारदस्य चरणोपसेवयाञ्जसावगतपरमार्थसत्त्वो ब्रह्मसत्रेण दीक्षिष्यमाणो- ऽवनितलपरिपालनायाम्नातप्रवरगुणगणैकान्तभाजनतया स्वपित्रोपामन्त्रितो भगवति वासुदेवं एवाव्यवधानसमाधियोगेन समावेशितसकलकारकक्रिया-