Just see. For the last five hundred, six hundred years . . . why? . . . for thousands of years the Hindu society is so fallen. Therefore so many Muhammadans have increased here. They are not imported. In this way the Hindu population, they have been forced to accept Mohammadan religion, you see, by the Muhammadans. Just like Aurangzeb. He imposed one tax for the Hindus. So all the poor men class, to avoid the tax they become Muhammadans. And there was so much punishment by the Hindus. And so he became a Muhammadan, so-called Muhammadan, by the diagnosis of the bhaṭṭācārya.
So this kind of prāyaścitta was current during the fallen days of the Vedic society. But in the śāstras there are . . . in every scripture . . . just like in Christian, their prāyaścitta is to confess, similarly, there are different types of prāyaścitta. So here Parīkṣit Mahārāja is advised, yathā puraiva. Yathā evaṁ tasmāt pāpasya niṣkṛtau prāyaścitta yateta kadā mṛtyu puraiva.
So prāyaścitta. If you want to be free from the reaction of the sinful activities in this life—exactly in the same way as Christian Bible advises that you have to make some atonement, go to the church and confess your sinful activities and pay some fine—exactly in the same way in Vedic scriptures also, that "Before death you must make some atonement; otherwise you will continue in your next life." Tasmāt puraivaṣv iha pāpa-niṣkṛtau yateta mṛtyor avipadyatātmanā (SB 6.1.8). "Before you meet your death, that you should take." Doṣasya dṛṣṭvā guru-lāghavaṁ yathā: and you have to make atonement according to the gravity of your sinful activities. Yathā bhiṣak cikitseta rujāṁ nidānavit. Just like nidānavit. Nidāna means a expert physician. He prescribes medicine and advises treatment according to the gravity of the disease. Similarly, you have to undergo atonement for the sinful activities according to its gravity. That is the system.
Then . . . the king is very intelligent. He is not only king but he's a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa conscious. So he replied: "What is the use of this kind of atonement?"
- dṛṣṭa-śrutābhyāṁ yat pāpaṁ
- jānann apy ātmano 'hitam
- karoti bhūyo vivaśaḥ
- prāyaścittam atho katham
- (SB 6.1.9)
"Sir, what is the value of this atonement? If people continue to act sinfully, then what is the use of this kind of prāyaścitta?" This is a very intelligent question. If . . . suppose a man suffering from venereal disease goes to a doctor and he prescribes some medicine and gives him some diagnosis that, "You should live in this way, in that way," but after the disease is cured, immediately if he commits the same sinful act, then what is the value of the treatment?
The same thing, just like nāmnād balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. In every society this is going on. In our Kṛṣṇa conscious Society, or those who are Vaiṣṇava, they are, some of them are thinking like that, that "I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, so if I commit some sinful act, then I shall again chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and it will be adjusted." And Christians also think like that, that "I may commit sins throughout the whole week, and on Sunday I shall go to the church and confess it. It will be counteracted." So this defective conclusion of the human society is interrupted here by the question of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, that:
- dṛṣṭa-śrutābhyāṁ yat pāpaṁ
- jānann apy ātmano 'hitam
- karoti bhūyo vivaśaḥ
- prāyaścittam atho katham
- (SB 6.1.9)
So people, they know that, "There is resultant action of this kind of sinful activity." He knows. Even if he does not know, he sees. Just like a man who has stolen, committed theft. One sees that he is arrested or he is punished, he is put into the prison, and still, he commits stealing. He knows. So similarly, we are hearing from the śāstra that, "If you commit this sin . . ." Just like māṁsa. Māṁsa, this very thing, means māṁ sa khadati. Therefore flesh is called māṁsa. "The animal which I am killing, he will have the right to kill me and eat me." That is going on—repetition, "I kill you this life. Next life you kill me. In this life you have become a cow or goat. Next time I'll become a cow or goat. You have the right to kill me." This is called karma-bandhana.