2 The Nectar of Devotion

4) Pure devotional service is rarely achieved.

5) Those in pure devotional service deride even the conception of
hberation.

6) Pure devotional service is the only means to attract Krsna.

Krsna is all-attractive, but pure devotional service attracts even
Him. This means that pure devotional service is even transcendentally
stronger than Krsna Himself, because it is Krsna’s internal potency.

Relief from Material Distress

In the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that one should surrender unto
Him, giving up all other engagements. The Lord also gives His word
there that He will protect such surrendered souls from the reactions
of all sinful activities. Srila Ripa Gosvami says that the distresses
from sinful activities are due both to the sins themselves and to sins
committed in our past lives. Generally, one commits sinful activities
due to ignorance. But ignorance is no excuse for evading the re-
action—sinful activities. Sinful activities are of two kinds: those
which are mature and those which are not mature. The sinful activi-
ties for which we are suffering at the present moment are called
mature. The many sinful activities stored within us for which we
have not yet suffered are considered immature. For example, a man
may have committed criminal acts but is not yet arrested for them.
Now, as soon as he is detected, arrest is awaiting him. Similarly, for
some of our sinful activities we are awaiting distresses in the future,
and for others, which are mature, we are suffering at the present
moment.

In this way there is a chain of sinful activities and their concomi-
tant distresses, and the conditioned soul is suffering life after life
due to these sins. He is suffering in the present life the results of
sinful activities from his past life, and he is meanwhile creating fur-
ther sufferings for his future life. Mature sinful activities are ex-
hibited if one is suffering from some chronic disease, if one is suf-
fering from some legal implication, if one is born in alow and de-
graded family, or if one is uneducated or very ugly.
