Study a Verse

• One is gradually purified if one cultivates knowledge, even through mental speculation, and strictly follows the regulative principles enjoined in the śāstras and explained in the next verse.
• Therefore the platform of jñāna, speculative knowledge, is better than the platform of karma, fruitive action.
• Because of ignorance, one speculatively thinks himself liberated from material contamination although actually he is not.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Each link is a verse the purport itself quotes, or a purport elsewhere that quotes this verse, shown with the purport's own words.

Guilt and mortal terror → Mercy and renewed devotion. The holy name opens a path beyond an apparently hopeless death.

Chapters 1–3 of Canto 6: Ajāmila and the Viṣṇudūtas. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 1: The History of the Life of Ajāmila

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

He was trained by his parents to become a perfect brāhmaṇa by studying the Vedas and following the regulative principles, but because of his past, this youthful brāhmaṇa was somehow attracted by a prostitute, and because of her association he became most fallen and abandoned all regulative principles. Ajāmila begot in the womb of the prostitute ten sons, the last of whom was called Nārāyaṇa.