136
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 2]
activities by opening hospitals and schools or performing other activities for the benefit of the public. Sometimes they participate in politics, although still falsely declaring themselves  sannyāsīs , members of the renounced order. The perfect conclusion, however, is that if one actually desires to get out of the material world, he must take to devotional service, which begins with  śravaṇam kīrtanam viṣṇoḥ ; chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has actually proved this. In the Western countries, many young boys who were addicted to drugs and who had many other bad habits, which they could not give up, abandoned all those propensities and very seriously engaged in chanting the glories of the Lord as soon as they joined the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. In other words, this process is the perfect method of atonement for actions performed in  rajaḥ  and  tamaḥ  (passion and ignorance). As stated in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (1.2.19):
tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye ceta etair anāviddham sthitam sattve prasīdati
As a result of  rajaḥ  and  tamaḥ , one becomes increasingly lusty and greedy, but when one takes to the process of chanting and hearing, one comes to the platform of goodness and becomes happy. As he advances in devotional service, all his doubts are completely eradicated ( bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ ). Thus the knot of his desire for fruitive activities is cut to pieces.
TEXT 47-48
य एतं परमं गुह्यमितिहासमधापहम् । शृणुयाच्छ्रद्धया युक्तो यश्च भक्त्यानुकीर्तयेत् ॥४७॥ न वै स नरकं याति नेक्षितो यमकिङ्करैः । यद्यप्यमङ्गलो मर्त्यो विष्णुलोके महीयते ॥४८॥
ya etam paramam guhyam itihāsam aghāpaham