Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Now Sri Krishna is saying OK all living entities are born in illusion can they be free from illusion? He describes that in next verse BG 07.28

Bg 7.28

yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ
janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām
te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā
bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ

Word for word: 

yeṣām — whose; tu — but; anta–gatam — completely eradicated; pāpam — sin; janānām — of the persons; puṇya— pious; karmaṇām — whose previous activities; te — they; dvandva — of duality; moha — delusion; nirmuktāḥ— free from; bhajante — engage in devotional service; mām — to Me; dṛḍha–vratāḥ — with determination.

Translation: 

Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination.

 

yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ

That when papa for those people has ended 

janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām

they have performed Punya for janānāṁ, for those people they have performed Punya. When they have performed Punya Srila Prabhupada has explained in this life as well as previous life, considerable Punya they have performed, 

te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā
They will become free from Moha. The Moha of dvandva then

bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ

they will start worshiping Me determinately

So what is the point of this verse? We have to understand in the flow, first Sri Krishna said in 7.14 if you know Me you can be liberated

Then in 7.25 He says that not everyone knows Me

Then He is saying I am not in illusion the living entities are in illusion

How can they come out of illusion? Sri Krishna is telling over here if they give up papa and then gain punya, then they come to a position where they will do my Bhakti steadily dṛḍha-vratāḥ, determinately. So here Sri Krishna is talking about how one can become a serious steady devotee, so for that we have to give up sinful activity and do pious activity. 

In principle devotional services can be started from any mode, when a person is a drunkard he has drunken and devotees are doing Kirtan and the person started dancing and singing so that person is also doing devotional service by some way, chanting the holy names hearing the holy names but that person who is in drunken state everyday he cannot wake up and chant and do mangal arati, no, if one has to do that then bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ. Little bit of Bhajan like Sri Krishna has used earlier Chatur Vida Bhajante Mam in 7.16 four kinds of people come to Me, and in 7.17 He says the Gyanis are the best, because these Gyani will be practicing steadily since he is not motivated by anything material but is motivated at platform of knowledge.

So Sri Krishna is saying if one wanted to become steady one has to become free from sin and one has to do piety, so as devotees we know there are regulative principles and if we know these regulative principles and we commit sinful activities which leads to consequences which we need to avoid. These consequences when we avoid we will move forward and we practice devotional service by that way te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā. Actually dvandva-moha is always there but when dvandva-moha is far-far crippling then it is in ignorance or passion. In ignorance the person doesn’t like anything which is connect with transcendence or goodness it likes only those things which are in ignorance so one may like to smoke, drink, take drugs, like violence etc.. In goodness also there is dvandva this is good and this is bad but a dvandva in goodness is much-much closer to reality then dvandva in ignorance so duality is always there with three modes and ultimately when we come to transcendence dvandva goes off completely that is when we attain liberation. So Sri Krishna is saying here when one keeps doing piety keeps avoiding sin then gradually the effect of lower modes decreases and when the effect of lower modes decreases and one become more and more situated in goodness then eventually from goodness one can come to transcendence. And in goodness and transcendence one can practice Bhakti steadily dṛḍha-vratāḥ. So Sri Krishna is not talking about initiating Bhakti Yoga that He has already talked in 07.16. He is talking about installing oneself in Bhakti steadily for that one need to get rid of sinful activities we will also see in our spiritual life that to the extent we will scum to sin to that extent our Bhakti will be disturbed actually the scum to sin itself is a break in Bhakti but along with that also before we scum to sin there is temptation and after that there is lamentation so it is like if we are going at one level of consciousness there is fall but before the fall there is temptation O’ should I do it should I don’t do it, I want to do it …no I will not do it for that whole hesitation is there and after doing Oh why I did it…I shouldn’t have done that … I am so fallen…so there is lamentation and what happens is we will go a little bit and again the same temptation so it doesn’t allow our consciousness to steady what to speak of go upwards steadily it has just keep falling down so when we start avoiding sinful activities determinately we let the process of Bhakti work. Our heart is illumined with Bhakti when we come in contact with Bhakta so whenever we associate with devotees who are serious practitioners of Bhakti then in their association we also get Bhakti our heart become illumined but if the wood is wet then the contact (Bhaktas contact) doesn’t cause the wood to catch fire, little bit part of the wood that is dry may catch fire, but if the wood has to catch fire then the wood has to be dried and further fall of water on the wood has to be avoided. Similarly when our heart is in Tamoguna it is like the wood which is wet, when the wood is wet we really can’t make much steady spiritual practices that is why these two things, giving up sin and doing piety that helps our heart to come to goodness then Bhakti can go forward steadily so Bhakti can be started in any mode but for the Bhakti to be sustained goodness is important then we can do dṛḍha-vratāḥ Bhakti steady devotional service. 
Srila Prabhupada’s Purport: 

It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.5.2) that if one actually wants to be liberated he must render service to the devotees (mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ – we have to serve the great souls); but one who associates with materialistic people is on the path leading to the darkest region of existence (tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam – we have to give up the association of non-devotees materialistic people those who are attached to material enjoyment and we have to associate with the great devotees then by that we can make spiritual advancement).

End of transcription.