12 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 6, Ch. 1

immediately speak to him about the strength of devotional service. As

stated in Bhagavad-gita (14.26):

mam ca yo ’vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gundn samatityaitan

brahma-bhityaya kalpate

Devotional service is so strong that if one fully surrenders to Krsna and
takes fully to His devotional service, the reactions of his sinful life
immediately stop.

Elsewhere in the Gita (18.66), Lord Krsna urges that one give up all
other duties and surrender to Him, and He promises, aham tvam sarva-
papebhyo moksayisyami: “‘I shall free you from all sinful reactions and
give you liberation.” Therefore in response to the inquiries of Pariksit
Maharaja, Sukadeva Gosvami, his guru, could have immediately ex-
plained the principle of bhakti, but to test Pariksit Maharaja’s intelli-
gence, he first prescribed atonement according to karma-kanda, the path
of fruitive activities. For karma-kdnda there are eighty authorized scrip-
tures, such as Manu-samhita, which are known as dharma-sastras. In
these scriptures one is advised to counteract his sinful acts by performing
other types of fruitive action. This was the path first recommended by
Sukadeva Gosvami to Maharaja Pariksit, and actually it is a fact that one
who does not take to devotional service must follow the decision of these
scriptures by performing pious acts to counteract his impious acts. This is
known as atonement.

TEXT 8
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tasmat puraivasv iha padpa-niskrtau
yateta mrtyor avipadyatatmana
