Characteristics of Pure Devotional Service )

vent the growing of contamination, similarly, the practical injection
to stop all the fructifications of the seeds of our sinful activities is
simply engagement in Krsna consciousness.

In this connection, Sukadeva Gosvami speaks in the Sixth Canto
of Srimad-Bhagavatam, 2nd Chapter, 17th verse, about the story of
Ajamila, who began life as a fine and dutiful brahmana but in his
young manhood became wholly corrupted by a prostitute. At the
end of his wicked life, just by calling the name of “Narayana
[Krsna] ,”’ he was saved despite so much sin. Sukadeva points out
that austerity, charity and the performance of ritualistic ceremonies
for counteracting sinful activities are recommended processes, but
that by performing them one cannot remove the sinful desire-seed
from the heart, as was the case with Ajamila in his youth. This sinful
desire-seed can be removed only by achieving Krsna consciousness.
And this can be accomplished very easily by chanting the maha-
mantra, or Hare Krsna mantra, as recommended by Si Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. In other words, unless one adopts the path of devo-
tional service, he cannot be one hundred percent clean from all the
reactions of sinful activities.

By performing Vedic ritualistic activities, by giving money in
charity and by undergoing austerity, one can temporarily become
free from the reactions of sinful activities, but at the next moment
he must again become engaged in sinful activities. For example, a
person suffering from venereal disease on account of excessive
indulgence in sex life has to undergo some severe pain in medical
treatment, and he is then cured for the time being. But because he
has not been able to remove the sex desire from his heart, he must
again indulge in the same thing and become a victim of the same
disease. So medical treatment may give temporary relief from the
distress of such venereal disease, but unless one is trained to under-
stand that sex life is abominable, it is impossible to be saved from
such repeated distress. Similarly, the ritualistic performances, charity
and austerity which are recommended in the Vedas may temporarily
stop one from acting in sinful ways, but as long as the heart is not
clear, one will have to repeat sinful activities again and again.

Another example is given in the Srimad-Bhagavatam of the ele-
