258 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 5
ucchista-lepan anumodito dvijaih
sakrt sma bhuiije tad-apasta-kilbisah
evar pravyttasya visuddha-cetasas
tad-dharma evatma-rucih prajayate
ucchista lepan—the remnants of foodstuff; anumoditah—being permit-
ted; dvijaih—by the Vedantist brahmanas; sakrt—once upon a time; sma—
in the past; bhufaje—took; tat—by that action; apasta—eliminated; kilbisah
—all sins; evam—thus; praurttasya—being engaged; visuddha-cetasah— of one
whose mind is purified; tat—that particular; dharma—nature; eva—certainly ;
atma-rucih—transcendental attraction; praja@yate—was manifested.
TRANSLATION
Once only, by their permission, I took the remnants of their food,
and by so doing all my sins were at once eradicated. Thus being engaged,
I became purified in heart, and at that time the very nature of the
transcendentalist became attractive to me.
PURPORT
Pure devotion is as much infectious, in a good sense, as infectious
diseases. A pure devotee is cleared from all kinds of sins. The Personality
of Godhead is the purest entity, and unless one is equally pure from the
infection of material qualities, one cannot become a pure devotee of the
Lord. The bhakti-veddntas as above mentioned were pure devotees, and
the boy became infected with their qualities of purity by their association
and by eating once the remnants of the foodstuff taken by them. Such
remnants may be taken even without permission of the pure devotees.
There are sometimes pseudo-devotees, and one should be very much
cautious about them. There are many things which hinder one from
entering devotional service. But by the association of pure devotees all
these obstacles are removed. The neophyte devotee becomes practically
enriched with the transcendental qualities of the pure devotee, which
means attraction for the Personality of Godhead’s name, fame, quality,
pastimes, etc. Infection of the qualities of the pure devotee means to
imbibe the taste of pure devotion always in the transcendental activities of
the Personality of Godhead. This transcendental taste at once makes all
material things distasteful. Therefore a pure devotee is not at all attracted
by material activities. After the elimination of all sins or obstacles on the
