प्रायश्चित्तमथोऽपार्थं मन्ये कुञ्जरशौचवत् ॥१०॥
kvacin nivartate 'bhadrÄt
kvacic carati tat punaḥ
prÄyaÅ›cittam atho 'pÄrthaá¹
manye kuñjara-śaucavat
13 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: LSB(13)
kvacit - sometimes; nivartate - ceases; abhadrÄt - from sinful activity; kvacit - sometimes; carati - commits; tat - that (sinful activity); punaḥ - again; prÄyaÅ›cittam - the process of atonement; atho - therefore; apÄrtham - useless; manye - I consider; kuñjara-Å›aucavat - exactly like the bathing of an elephant.
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 the bathing of an elephant, for an elephant cleanses itself by taking a full bath, but then throws dust over its head and body as soon as it returns to the land.
When ParÄ«ká¹£it MahÄrÄja inquired how a human being could free himself from sinful activities so as not to be forced to go to hellish planetary systems after death, Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« answered that the process of counteracting sinful life is atonement. In this way Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« tested the intelligence of MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it, who passed the examination by refusing to accept this process as genuine. Now ParÄ«ká¹£it MahÄrÄja is expecting another answer from his spiritual master, Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ«.
