Devotion transforms the heart completely where atonement alone cannot uproot sinful tendencies.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Prabhupāda: dṛṣṭa-śrutābhyāṁ yat pāpaṁ jānann apy ātmano 'hitaṁ karoti bhūyo vivaśaḥ prāyaścittam atho katham [SB 6.1.9] "Mahārāja Parīkṣit said: One may know that sinful activity is injurious for him because he actually sees that a criminal is punished by the government and rebuked by the people in general, and because he hears from the scriptures and learned scholars that one is thrown into hellish condition in the next life for committing sinful acts. Nevertheless, in spite of such knowledge one is forced to commit sins again and again, even after performing acts of atonement. Therefore what is the value of such atonement?" kvacin nivartate 'bhadrāt kvacic carati tat punaḥ prāyaścittam atho 'pārthaṁ manye kuñjara-śaucavat [SB 6.1.10] Mahārāja Parīkṣit said: "Sometimes one who is very alert so as not to commit sinful acts is victimized by sinful life again. I therefore consider this process of repeated sinning and atoning to be useless.
It is like bathing of an elephant, for an elephant cleanses itself by taking a full bath but then thrown dust over its head and body as soon as it returns to the land." [devotees translates throughout] In every religious system there is a process of atonement. In Christian religion there is a process of atonement called confession. The Parīkṣit Mahārāja is practical politician. He said that...
He had also experience that a criminal is punished and again he commits the criminal act. Nowadays we practically see also that government has enacted so many laws against criminality, but criminality is going on without any stoppage. We have got practical experience, as we have explained last night, that in the airport the security checking is going on for everyone, which means that after so much education, every one of us, we are dishonest. This answer is there in the śāstra: yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ This means that if one is turned to be a pure devotee, then all the good qualities automatically become manifest in him.
Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā manorathenāsato dhāvato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12]. Whereas a nondevotee, he has no good qualification because he is acting on the mental platform, as such he will be always attracted by material things. In this connection I shall recite one historical incident from the Purāṇas. There was a hunter in Prayāg. Prayāg you know, in Allahabad.
So he was hunting in the forest indiscriminately. So Nārada Muni was passing through the jungle, and he was very compassionate to see the animals being half dead and half killed by the hunter. Nārada Muni, being Vaiṣṇava, he was very kind to all living entities, so he went to the hunter, whose name was Mṛgāri. So the Mṛgāri thought that "This saintly person is coming to me for some deerskin," so he said, "Sir, don't disturb in my business.
If you want deerskin I shall give you. Please get out of my activities for the present." Nārada Muni said that "I have not come here to ask for deerskin, but I simply ask you that if you want to kill the animals, you kill them total. Why you are killing half?" The hunter said, "What is the difference between killing whole and killing half?" Actually he had no idea about pāpa and puṇya. Actually, those who are animal-hunter, they cannot understand what is spiritual life, what is God, what is sinful life, what is pious life.
There is a verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam quoted by Mahārāja Parīkṣit, nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt ka uttamaśloka guṇānuvādāt virajyeta vinā paśughnāt [SB 10.1.4] Unless one is animal-hunter, he cannot be away from chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So Nārada Muni said that "If you kill the animal totally, it is less sinful than you kill them half." Nārada Muni said, "No, if you kill the animal half, it is more sinful than you kill them whole." The hunter said that "From my childhood I have been taught like this by my father. I do not know which is sinful, which is pious." Nārada Muni, as Vaiṣṇava, advised him that "You stop this hunting business and I will give you your livelihood." So hunter, having seen a Vaiṣṇava, was little convinced about spiritual life. Then he said that "Sir, if you give me my livelihood, then I can give up my this business." Then Nārada Muni suggested that "You and your wife may come with me.