8
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 9, Ch. 9]
Therefore, people in general must always respectfully honor saintly persons. It is ordered that as soon as one sees a  Vaiṣṇava , or even a  sannyāsī , one should immediately offer respects to such a holy man. If one forgets to show respect in this way, one must observe a fast for that day. This is a  Vedic  injunction. One must be extremely careful to refrain from committing offenses at the lotus feet of a devotee or saintly person.
There are methods of  prāyaścitta , or atonement, but they are inadequate to cleanse one of sinful reactions. One can be cleansed of sinful reactions only by devotional service, as stated in regard to the history of Ajāmila:
kecit kevalayā bhaktyā vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ
“Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to  Kṛṣṇa  can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays.” ( Bhāg.  6.1.15) If one is under the protection of a devotee and sincerely renders service unto him, by this process of  bhakti-yoga  one is certainly able to counteract all sinful reactions.
TEXT 7
धारयिष्यति ते वेगं रुद्रस्त्वात्मा शरीरिणाम् । यस्मिन्नोतमिदं प्रोतं विश्वं शाटीव तन्तुषु ॥ ७ ॥
dhārayiṣyati te vegaṁ rudras tv ātmā śarīriṇām yasminn otam idaṁ protaṁ viśvaṁ śāṭiva tantuṣu
dhārayiṣyati —will sustain;  te —your;  vegam —force of the waves;  rudraḥ —Lord Śiva;  tu —indeed;  ātmā —the Supersoul;  śarīriṇām —of all embodied souls;  yasmin —in whom;  otam —is situated in its