Further Consideration of Devotional Principles res)

and enjoyed, such as garlands of flowers, saintly articles, garments
and ornaments, and I eat only the remnants of Your foodstuff be-
cause | am Your menial servant. So, therefore, I am sure that I shall
not be attacked by the spell of material energy.” The purport of this
verse is that for any person who simply follows these rules and regu-
lations of decorating the body with the marks of tilaka of gopi-
candana or sandalwood pulp, and who puts on the garlands which
were offered to Krsna, there is no question of being conquered by
the spell of material energy. At the time of death, there is no question
of such a person being called by the constables of Yamaraj. Even if
one does not accept all the Vaisnava principles, but still takes the
remnants of foodstuff offered to Krsna, or Krsna-prasadam, he will
gradually become qualified to rise to the platform of a Vaisnava.

Similarly, in the Skanda Purana Lord Brahm tells Narada: “My
dear Narada, anyone who puts on his neck the flower garland which
was formerly used by Krsna becomes relieved from all disease and
reactions to sinful activities, and gradually he gets liberated from the
contamination of matter.”

Dancing before the Deity

In the Dvaraka-mahatmya the importance of dancing before the
Deity is stated by Lord Krsna as follows: “A person who is in a jubi-
lant spirit, who feels profound devotional ecstasy while dancing be-
fore Me, and who manifests different features of bodily expression,
can burn away all the accumulated sinful reactions he has stocked up
for many, many thousands of years.” In the same book there is a
statement by Narada wherein he asserts: “From the body of any
person who claps and dances before the Deity, showing manifesta-
tions of ecstasy, all the birds of sinful activities fly away upwards.”
Just as by clapping the hands one can cause many birds to fly away,
similarly the birds of all sinful activities which are sitting on the body
can be made to fly away simply by dancing and clapping before the
Deity of Krsna.
