16
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 1]
PURPORT
When Parīkṣit Mahārāja inquired how a human being could free himself from sinful activities so as not to be forced to go to hellish planetary systems after death, Śukadeva Gosvāmī answered that the process of counteracting sinful life is atonement. In this way Śukadeva Gosvāmī tested the intelligence of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who passed the examination by refusing to accept this process as genuine. Now Parīkṣit Mahārāja is expecting another answer from his spiritual master, Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
TEXT 11
श्रीवादरायणिरुवाच
कर्मणा कर्मनिहरो न ह्यात्यन्तिक इष्यते ।
अविद्वदधिकारित्वात्प्रायश्चित्तं विमर्शनम् ॥११॥
śrī-bādarāyaṇīr uvāca 
    karmaṇā karma-nirhāro 
    na hy ātyantika iṣyate 
    avidvad-adhikāritvāt 
    prāyaścittam vimarśanam
śrī-bādarāyaṇīḥ uvāca—Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the son of Vyāsadeva, replied;  karmaṇā —by fruitive activities;  karma-nirhāraḥ —counteraction of fruitive activities;  na —not;  hi —indeed;  ātyantikaḥ —final;  iṣyate —becomes possible;  avidvad-adhikāritvāt —from being without knowledge;  prāyaścittam —real atonement;  vimarśanam —full knowledge of Vedānta.
TRANSLATION
Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the son of Vedavyāsa, answered: My dear King, since acts meant to neutralize impious actions are also fruitive, they will not release one from the tendency to act fruitively. Persons who subject themselves to the rules and regulations of atonement are not at all intelligent. Indeed, they are in the mode of darkness. Unless one is freed from the mode of ignorance, trying to counteract one action through another is useless because this will not uproot one's desires. Thus even though