Text 17] Pure Devotional Service: The Change in Heart 149

channel of devotional service, the door of perfection is immediately
opened. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord has explained such contact in the
following words: “Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor
is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to
deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.”? (Bg. 2.40) As a
highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body,
similarly the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the car of
the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization of
the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification
of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization
for a moment in the association of pure devotecs like Sukadeva Gosvami
prepares one’s complete life for eternity. And as such, the sun fails to rob
the pure devotee of his duration of life inasmuch as he is constantly busy
in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a
symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being, and due to
material infection only the eternal living entity is subjected to the law of
birth, death, old age and disease.

The materialistic way of pious activities, like charity, etc., is recom-
mended in the smrti sastras as quoted by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti
Thakur. Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank
balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a
brahmana. If the money is given in charity to a nen-brahmana (without
brahmanical qualification) the money is returned in the next life in the
same proportion. If it is given in charity to a half-educated brahmana, even
then the money is returned double. If the money is given in charity to a
learned and fully qualified brahmana, the money is returned a hundred and
thousand times, and if the money is given to a veda-paraga (one who has
factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited
multiplication. The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is to realize the
Personality of Godhead Lord Krsna, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita
(vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah). There is a guarantee of money being
returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion. Similarly, a
moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting
the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal
life, for returning home, back to Godhead. Mad-dhama gatva punar janma
na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life.
A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such
guaranteed eternal life.
