Text 9
śuddhir nṛṇāṁ na tu tatheḍya durāśayānāṁ
vidyā-śrutādhyayana-dāna-tapaḥ-kriyābhiḥ
sattvātmanām ṛṣabha te yaśasi pravṛddha-
sac-chraddhayā śravaṇa-sambhṛtayā yathā syāt
śuddhiḥ — purification; nṛṇām — of persons; na — is not; tu — but; tathā — in such a way; īḍya — O worshipable one; durāśayānām — of those whose consciousness is contaminated; vidyā — by ordinary worship; śruta — hearing and obeying the injunctions of the Vedas; adhyayana — study of various śāstras; dāna — charity; tapaḥ — austere penances; kriyābhiḥ — and ritual activities; sattva-ātmanām — of those who are situated in pure goodness; ṛṣabha — O greatest of all; te — Your; yaśasi — in the glories; pravṛddha — fully matured; sat — transcendental; śraddhayā — by faith; śravaṇa-sambhṛtayā — which is reinforced by the process of hearing; yathā — as; syāt — there is.
O greatest of all, those whose consciousness is polluted by illusion cannot purify themselves merely by ordinary worship, study of the Vedas, charity, austerity and ritual activities. Our Lord, those pure souls who have developed a powerful transcendental faith in Your glories achieve a purified state of existence that can never be attained by those lacking such faith.
Even if a pure devotee is lacking the above qualifications, such as Vedic study and austerity, if he has unflinching faith in Lord Kṛṣṇa the Lord will save him because of his devotion. On the other hand, if one becomes falsely proud of one’s material qualifications, including ordinary piety, but does not devote himself to hearing and chanting the glories of Kṛṣṇa, the result will ultimately be nil. The transcendental spirit soul cannot be purified by any amount of material piety, charity or scholarship. Only the transcendental Supreme Lord can purify the transcendental living entity by bestowing His mercy within the heart. The demigods were astonished at their good fortune. Even by hearing about Kṛṣṇa, one achieves all perfection, but they had entered the Lord’s own city and were seeing Him standing before them.