Progressive steps towards the Absolute Truth

We live in a world of duality – good and bad. We do good and bad. Law of karma dictates that we get good if we do good and bad if we do bad. In the scriptures, in the karma kanda portion of it, there are atonement practices. Atonement is a fruitive practice countering another fruitive behavior. We atone for bad things we have done in the past so as to nullify our sinful reactions. 

In Canto 6 chapter 1, King Parikshit inquires about such atonement. His conclusion was that one fruitive act even though countering another act cannot provide relief because the person will again commit a bad act. In other words, externally countering the effects of a sin will not actually prevent future suffering. He says such atonement is futile and is like an elephant bath where the elephant after a bath comes out showers dust over himself.

Sukadev Goswami very expertly answers the futility of superficial atonement. He replies in a sequential order.

1. A person who is bound by the actions within the three modes is acting due to lack of knowledge (ignorance). So the beginning is to engage in the culture of knowledge.
2. Then he says that knowledge is not theoretical. It should culminate in practical work (niyamakrt).
3. Then he qualifies the niyama by saying one should engage in tapasya (voluntarily giving up sense enjoyment). Other factors of tapasya are (1) celibacy (2) mind/sense control (3) sacrifice (4) truthfulness (5) clean/non-violent (6) follow rules and regulations like chanting etc. By doing such activities a person who is bound by the actions of the three-modes gets relief. However, even now just as dried leaves get burnt still the plant grows in the first opportunity.

So what is the method to uproot the plant of material desires even after tapasya?

Sukadev Goswami continues. He says;

1. Rare people adopt complete and unalloyed devotional service to Vasudeva Krishna (Vasudeva Parayana). Doing so all the fog of sinful desires in the heart will dissipate like the rising sun dissipating fog.
2. He qualifies this more by saying that actually more than serving Krishna, serving the pure representative (Krishnarpita prana tat-purusha) of Krishna will completely purify the soul and he also states clearly that mere austerity, penance, brahmacharya etc will not completely purify the soul.

We can see from Sage Sukadeva that there is a hierarchy of activities; it reads like this;

1. To counter previous sins/suffering, atonement is recommended.
2. That is not enough since we have desires for fruitive acts impelled by the three gunas. So to get out of the clutches of the three gunas, one must become enlightened in spiritual knowledge and consequently engage in tapasya (penance) as a result of the knowledge.
3. Still there is a chance we can go back to materialism. Therefore we should become devotees of Krishna and engage in Krishna bhakti.
4. Still, we may dabble with materialism, therefore to be completely free from any tinge of materialism, we should surrender to the spiritual master and dedicate our life to Krishna following in the footsteps of these great souls (mahajans).

These steps are progressive stages to realization of the Absolute Truth.

Hare Krishna