Text 16] The History of the Life of Ajamila 27
unto the lotus feet of Krsna, he can be completely purified. One
cannot be purified merely by undergoing austerity, penance,
brahmacarya and the other methods of atonement I have
previously described.
PURPORT

Tat-purusa refers to a preacher of Krsna consciousness, such as the
spiritual master. Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has said, chddiya
vaisnava-sevd nistara payeche keba: “Without serving a bona fide
spiritual master, an ideal Vaisnava, who can be delivered from the
clutches of maya?” This idea is also expressed in many other places.
Srimad-Bhagavatam (5.5.2) says, mahat-sevam dvaram Ghur vimukteh:
if one desires liberation from the clutches of maya, one must associate
with a pure devotee mahatma. A mahdtma is one who engages twenty-
four hours daily in the loving service of the Lord. As Krsna says in
Bhagavad-gita (9.13):

mahdétmanas tu mam pdartha
daivirn prakrtim asritah
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jnatva bhitadim avyayam

“O son of Prtha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under
the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional
service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
original and inexhaustible.”’ Thus the symptom of a mahdtmé is that he
has no engagement other than service to Krsna. One must render service
to a Vaisnava in order to get freed from sinful reactions, revive one’s
original Krsna consciousness and be trained in how to love Krsna. This is
the result of mahdtma-seva. Of course, if one engages in the service of a
pure devotee, the reactions of one’s sinful life are vanquished auto-
matically. Devotional service is necessary not to drive away an insignifi-
cant stock of sins, but to awaken our dormant love for Krsna. As fog is
vanquished at the first glimpse of sunlight, one’s sinful reactions are
automatically vanquished as soon as one begins serving a pure devotee;
no separate endeavor is required.
