Devanagari
शृण्वतां गृणतां वीर्याण्युद्दामानि हरेर्मुहु: ।
यथा सुजातया भक्त्या शुद्ध्येन्नात्मा व्रतादिभि: ॥ ३२ ॥
Verse text
śṛṇvatāṁ gṛṇatāṁ vīryāṇy
uddāmāni harer muhuḥ
yathā sujātayā bhaktyā
śuddhyen nātmā vratādibhiḥ
Synonyms
śṛṇvatām
—
of those hearing
;
gṛṇatām
—
and chanting
;
vīryāṇi
—
the wonderful activities
;
uddāmāni
—
able to counteract sin
;
hareḥ
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
muhuḥ
—
always
;
yathā
—
as
;
su
—
jātayā — easily brought forth
;
bhaktyā
—
by devotional service
;
śuddhyet
—
may be purified
;
na
—
not
;
ātmā
—
the heart and soul
;
vrata
—
ādibhiḥ — by performing ritualistic ceremonies .
Translation
One who constantly hears and chants the holy name of the Lord and hears and chants about His activities can very easily attain the platform of pure devotional service, which can cleanse the dirt from one’s heart. One cannot achieve such purification merely by observing vows and performing Vedic ritualistic ceremonies.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
One who constantly hears and chants about the activities of the Lord, which can destroy sin, purifies his soul by that bhakti. One cannot achieve such purification merely by observing vows and performing Vedic ritualistic ceremonies.
Even for devotees how chant with offense, bhakti becomes perfect. It is said:
nāmāparādha-yuktānāṁ nāmāny eva haranty agham
aviśrānti-prayuktāni tāny evārtha-karāṇi ca
Even those who chant with offense destroy their sins. By continuous chanting they attain prema. In that state of bhakti the jīva becomes purified, what to speak of the mind. Though bhakti purified the jīva from the contamination of ignorance, atonements cannot achieve this result. Though by vows and atonements performed by the karmīs there is destruction of sinful reactions, the seed of sin, desire is not destroyed. The mind becomes only a little purified at that time. O King! It is true when you said “Atonement is like an elephant taking a bath.” The devotees destroy the root of sin by bhakti. They do not go to hell but attain the Lord. The karmīs however under the control of sinful and pious results go to hell and heaven again and again. This truth is indicated by this story.
Purport
One may very easily practice chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord and thus become ecstatic in spiritual life.
Padma Purāṇa
states:
nāmāparādha-yuktānāṁ
nāmāny eva haranty agham
aviśrānti-prayuktāni
tāny evārtha-karāṇi ca
Even if one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra
offensively, one can avoid offenses by continuously chanting without deviation. One who becomes accustomed to this practice will always remain in a pure transcendental position, untouchable by sinful reactions. Śukadeva Gosvāmī especially requested King Parīkṣit to note this fact very carefully. There is no profit, however, in executing the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. By performing such activities one may go to the higher planetary systems, but as stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(9.21)
,
kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti:
when the period of one’s enjoyment in the heavenly planets is terminated because of the limited extent of the results of one’s pious activities, one must return to earth. Thus there is no use in endeavoring to travel up and down in the universe. It is better to chant the holy name of the Lord so that one may become fully purified and eligible to return home, back to Godhead. That is the aim of life, and that is the perfection of life.