4 The Nectar of Devotion

recommended in the Vedas. It is implicit in this statement that a per-
son born into a family of dog-eaters is generally not fit for performing
yajna, or sacrifice. The priestly caste in charge of performing these
ritualistic ceremonies recommended in the Vedas is called the brah-
mana order. Unless one is a brahmana, he cannot perform these
ceremonies.

A person is born in a brahmana family or in a family of dog-eaters
due to his past activities. If a person is born in a family of dog-eaters
it means that his past activities are all sinful. But if even such a person
takes to the path of devotional service and begins to chant the holy
names of the Lord—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—he is at once fit to
perform the ritualistic ceremonies. This means that his sinful reactions
have immediately become neutralized.

It is stated in the Padma Purana that there are four kinds of effects
due to sinful activities, which are listed as follows: 1) the effect
which is not yet fructified, 2) the effect which is lying as seed, 3) the
effect which is already mature, and 4) the effect which is almost
mature. It is also stated that all these four effects become im-
mediately vanquished for those who surrender unto the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Visnu, and become engaged in His devo-
tional service in full Krsna consciousness.

Those effects described as ‘“‘almost mature’’ refer to the distress
from which one is suffering at present, and the effects “lying as seed”
means that in the core of the heart there is a certain stock of sinful
desires which are like seeds. The Sanskrit word kitam means that they
are almost ready to produce the seed, or the effect of the seed. An
“immature effect” refers to the case where the seedling has not be-
gun. From this statement of Padma Purana it is understood that
material contamination is very subtle. Its beginning, its fruition and
results, and how one suffers such results in the form of distress, are
part of a great chain. When one catches some disease, it is often very
difficult to ascertain the cause of the disease, where it originated, and
how it is maturing. The suffering of a disease, however, does not
appear all of a sudden. It actually takes time. And, as in the medical
field, for precaution’s sake, the doctor injects a vaccination to pre-
