Text 23] The Demigods Appeal to the Lord 161
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall
deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.”” Thus as soon as one
surrenders unto the lotus feet of Krsna, one certainly becomes free from
all contamination.

Kali-yuga is full of contamination. This is described in the Srimad-
Bhégavatam (12.3.51):

kaler dosa-nidhe rajann
asti hy eko mahan gunah
kirtandd eva krsnasya
mukta-sangah param vrajet
This age of Kali is full of unlimited faults. Indeed, it is just like an ocean
of faults (dosa-nidhi), But there is one chance, one opportunity.
Kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet: simply by chanting
the Hare Krsna mantra, one can be freed from the contamination of
Kali-yuga and, in his original spiritual body, can return home, back to
Godhead. This is the opportunity of Kali-yuga.

When Krsna appeared, He gave His orders, and when Krsna Himself
appeared as a devotee, as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He showed us the
path by which to cross the ocean of Kali-yuga. That is the path of the
Hare Krsna movement. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared, He
ushered in the era for the sankirtana movement. It is also said that for
ten thousand years this era will continue. This means that simply by ac-
cepting the sarikirtana movement and chanting the Hare Krsna mahd-
mantra, the fallen souls of this Kali-yuga will be delivered. After the
Battle of Kuruksetra, at which Bhagavad-gita was spoken, Kali-yuga
continues for 432,000 years, of which only 5,000 years have passed.
Thus there is still a balance of 427,000 years to come. Of these 427,000
years, the 10,000 years of the sarikirtana movement inaugurated by Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago provide the opportunity for the
fallen souls of Kali-yuga to take to the Krsna consciousness movement,
chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and thus be delivered from the
clutches of material existence and return home, back to Godhead.

Chanting of the Hare Krsna mahd-mantra is potent always, but it is
especially potent in this age of Kali. Therefore Sukadeva Gosvami, while
