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Canto 6 · Prescribed Duties for Mankind · 19 chapters

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Chant the verse. Say the Sanskrit slowly and carefully.
  2. 2Read the word meanings. Go through each Sanskrit word and its meaning.
  3. 3Find the meaning yourself. Before the translation, piece the meaning together from the words.
  4. 4Read the translation. Ask: what is the Lord teaching here, and how does it apply to my life?
  5. 5Read the purport slowly. Read it two or three times. Don't rush.
  6. 6Write down what touched you. Note the main points in your own notebook.
Read the full guide: how to hear the Bhāgavatam ›
Canto 6 · Chapter 1: The History of the Life of Ajāmila
6.1.13-146.1.16

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 6.1.15

Mukti· Liberation
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the son of Vedavyāsasince 6.1.11inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

केचित्केवलया भक्त्या वासुदेवपरायणा: ।

अघं धुन्वन्ति कार्त्स्‍न्येन नीहारमिव भास्कर: ॥ १५ ॥

kecit kevalayā bhaktyā

vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ

aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena

nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ

Translation

Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Pure Devotion Uproots Sinful Desires

  1. 1

    Complete, unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa uproots sinful actions and desires so they cannot revive. Its power is compared to sunlight dissipating fog.

  2. 2

    Knowledge without a taste for devotional service leaves the root of sinful desire intact. As attachment to devotional service grows, desires for material enjoyment disappear without separate endeavor.

  3. 3

    Pure devotional service means lovingly serving the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa without seeking material profit or gain through speculation. As Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servant, one seeks His satisfaction rather than personal sense gratification.

Key points from the purport
  • This process of bhakti, devotional service to Kṛṣṇa (vāsudeva-parāyaṇa), relieves one from the reactions of all activities.
  • When devotional service is present in one’s heart, desires to perform sinful activities have no place there.
  • Similarly, if one has even a slight relationship with devotional service, all the fog of his sinful life is immediately vanquished.

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

Connected verses· 5

The purport of SB 6.1.15 quotesSB 10.14.4

As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.4): Speculators who undergo great labor to gain a meticulous understanding of the material world by distinguishing between sinful and pious activities, but who are not situated in devotional service, are prone to material activities.

The purport of SB 6.1.15 quotesBG 7.3

As Kṛṣṇa explains in Bhagavad-gītā (7.3): “Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.”

The purport of SB 6.1.15 quotesSB 11.14.19

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.14.19) Lord Kṛṣṇa tells Uddhava: “My dear Uddhava, devotional service in relationship with Me is like a blazing fire that can burn to ashes all the fuel of sinful activities supplied to it.”

The purport of SB 6.1.15 quotesSB 3.33.6

How devotional service vanquishes the reactions of sinful life is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.33.6) in a verse spoken during Lord Kapiladeva’s instructions to His mother, Devahūti.

Quoted in the purport ofSB 7.9.46

As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.1.15): “Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive.

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

How it feels

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

Further reading

Chapter 1: The History of the Life of Ajāmila

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

While performing fruitive activities one can become free from the actions of sinful life through austerity, penance, celibacy, control of the mind and senses, truthfulness and the practice of mystic yoga. By awakening knowledge one may also neutralize sinful reactions.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in chapter 6.1
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. kecitsome people
  2. kevalayā bhaktyāby executing unalloyed devotional service
  3. vāsudevato Lord Kṛṣṇa, the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead
  4. parāyaṇāḥcompletely attached (only to such service, without dependence on austerity, penance, cultivation of knowledge or pious activities)
  5. aghamall kinds of sinful reactions
  6. dhunvantidestroy
  7. kārtsnyenacompletely (with no possibility that sinful desires will revive)
  8. nīhāramfog
  9. ivalike
  10. bhāskaraḥthe sun
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Key ideas in this verse

The subject this verse serves and the themes it speaks of.

  • Mukti · Liberation

    What is real freedom for the soul? · Subject 9 of 10

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 6.1

    In this verse: “attachment”, “sense gratification”, “material”

  • Śuddhi · Inner transformation

    The reorientation of the heart toward service. · Theme in SB 6.1

    In this verse: “sinful”

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 6.1

    In this verse: “devotional service”

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

In my service to Kṛṣṇa, am I seeking His satisfaction or a reward for myself?

Practice

Spend a few minutes remembering Kṛṣṇa today, with the intention of pleasing Him rather than gaining a material benefit.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

6

Śrīla Prabhupāda speaks

His recorded lectures on this verse, and the talks where he quotes it.

10 lectures given on it · quoted in 15 more lectures. Recordings and transcripts on prabhupada.io.

Show 8 more lectures on it
Quoted in 15 other lectures

In each of these he quotes this verse while speaking on another verse or subject. "Find the quote" opens the transcript at that spot.

7

Connected stories

Keep going: stories told elsewhere in the Bhāgavatam that this verse or its purport brings in.

The purport quotesSB 10.14.4SB 11.14.19SB 3.33.6

Found where this verse or Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport names them. See all of chapter 6.1's connections

Live this todayPure Devotion Uproots Sinful DesiresOne of the 108 chosen lessons: a practice and a question from this verse

Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.

Ask the BhāgavatamHave a question about SB 6.1.15? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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