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Chapter 18: Conclusion-The Perfection of Renunciation

Bg 18.71
TEXT 71
sraddhavan anasuyas ca
srnuyad api yo narah
so 'pi muktah subhal lokan
prapnuyat punya-karmanam
SYNONYMS
sraddhavan—faithful; anasuyah ca—and not envious; srnuyat—does hear; api—certainly; yah—who; narah—man; sah api—he also; muktah—being liberated; subhan—auspicious; lokan—planets; prapnuyat—attains; punya-karmanam—of the past.
TRANSLATION
And one who listens with faith and without envy becomes free from sinful reaction and attains to the planets where the pious dwell.
PURPORT
In the 67th verse of this chapter, the Lord explicitly forbade the Gita's being spoken to those who are envious of the Lord. In other words, Bhagavad-gita is for the devotees only, but it so happens that sometimes a devotee of the Lord will hold open class, and in that class all the students are not expected to be devotees. Why do such persons hold open class? It is explained here that although everyone is not a devotee, still there are many men who are not envious of Krsna. They have faith in Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If such persons hear from a bona fide devotee about the Lord, the result is that they become at once free from all sinful reactions and after that attain to the planetary system where all righteous persons are situated. Therefore simply by hearing Bhagavad-gita, even a person who does not try to be a pure devotee attains the result of righteous activities. Thus a pure devotee of the Lord gives everyone a chance to become free from all sinful reactions and to become a devotee of the Lord.
Generally those who are free from sinful reaction are righteous. Such persons very easily take to Krsna consciousness. The word punya-karmanam is very significant here. This refers to the performance of great sacrifice. Those who are righteous in performing devotional service but who are not pure can attain the planetary system of the polestar, or Dhruvaloka, where Dhruva Maharaja is presiding. He is a great devotee of the Lord, and he has a special planet which is called the polestar.

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Copyright (c) 1972 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada