In every religious system there is a process of atonement. In Christian religion there is a process of atonement called confession. Some 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." The 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. I shall arrange for your livelihood. You give up this business."
So they followed the instruction of Nārada Muni, the spiritual master, and they came with Nārada Muni and sat down in a place on the bank of the Ganges at Prayāg. Nārada Muni gave them one Tulasī plant, and they sat down near the Tulasī plant, and he advised that "Go on chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." In the meantime, in the village it was advertised that "The hunter has become a Vaiṣṇava. Let us go and see him." So people who were coming to visit, they were bringing . . . It is the custom still now, India, that when you go to see some Deity or a Vaiṣṇava, sādhu, you bring some, one misti rice or āttā; you give them as contribution. So he thought that Nārada Muni was sending the āttā, rice, dāl, and everything. So he became confident that he would not die because he is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. In this way he gradually became a perfect Vaiṣṇava because he was chanting under the instruction of the spiritual master and committing no sinful activities. So, we being in the disciplic succession of Nārada Muni, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we are advising the same principle: that "Don't commit sinful activities, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra."
So one day Nārada Muni asked his friend, Parvata Muni, "I have got a disciple. Let us go and see him." (to translator:) Parvata Muni, his friend. Yes. So when Nārada Muni and Parvata Muni was coming to the same hunter who had become now a Vaiṣṇava, so he was going to receive his spiritual master by going forward. So while he was going forward towards his spiritual master to receive him, on the way he was jumping in so many places. So Parvata Muni asked him that "Why you are jumping on your way while coming to us?" The hunter, the Vaiṣṇava, he replied, "Sir, there were so many ants on the ground. Therefore I was trying to avoid trampling them." So Parvata Muni was surprised, that "This man was hunting and killing animal half. Now, because he has become a Vaiṣṇava, he is not prepared to kill even an ant."
So this is the practical instance, that if one becomes devotee of the Lord, all the good qualities manifest in his body. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied to Parīkṣit Mahārāja that "You are saying right, that simply by atonement, simply by punishment, one cannot become honest." Practically speaking, if you simply enact laws to make people honest, it is impossible to do that.