Characteristics of Pure Devotional Service 3

There are many results of past sinful activities for which we are
suffering at the present moment, and we may be suffering in the fu-
ture due to our present sinful activities. But all of these reactions to
sinful deeds can immediately be stopped if we take to Krsna
consciousness. As evidence for this, Ripa Gosvami quotes from the
Srimad-Bhagavatam, Eleventh Canto, 14th Chapter, 18th verse. This
verse is in connection with Lord Krsna’s instruction to Uddhava,
where He says, “My dear Uddhava, devotional service unto Me is
just like a blazing fire which can burn into ashes unlimited fuel
supplied to it.” The purport is that as the blazing fire can burn any
amount of fuel to ashes, so devotional service to the Lord in Krsna
consciousness can burn up all the fuel of sinful activities. For
example, in the Gita Arjuna thought that fighting was a sinful ac-
tivity, but Krsna engaged him on the battlefield under His order, and
so the fighting became devotional service. Therefore, Arjuna was
not subjected to any sinful reaction.

Srila Ripa Gosvami quotes another verse from the Third Canto of
Srimad-Bhagavatam, 33rd Chapter, 6th verse, in which Devahiti
addresses her son, Kapiladeva and says, ““My dear Lord, there are
nine different kinds of devotional service, beginning from hearing
and chanting. Anyone who hears about Your pastimes, who chants
about Your glories, who offers You obeisances, who thinks of You
and, in this way, executes any of the nine kinds of devotional service
—even if he is born in a family of dog-eaters [the lowest grade of
mankind|]—becomes immediately qualified to perform sacrifices.”
As such, for anyone who is actually engaged in devotional service in
full Krsna consciousness, how is it possible that he has not become
purified? It is not possible. One who is engaged in Krsna conscious-
ness and devotional service has without doubt become freed from all
contaminations of material sinful activities. Devotional service there-
fore has the power to actually nullify all kinds of reactions to sinful
deeds. A-devotee is nevertheless always alert not to commit any sin-
ful activities; this is his specific qualification as a devotee. Thus the
Srimad-Bhagavatam states that by performing devotional service a
person who was born even in a family of dog-eaters may become
eligible to take part in the performance of the ritualistic ceremonies
