How to become free from serious sins? What is the process of expiation?

What is the process for the expiation of serious sins? What a person who killed or did other serious crimes should do to atone for his past?

What is the process for the expiation of serious sins? What a person who killed or did other serious crimes should do to atone for his past?

The Vedas prescribe many different types of atonement according to the severity of one's sins. One who just made small mistakes during his life may atone by just practicing simple austerities, but one who committed serious crimes may have to perform serious penances for up to twelve years to atone for it. What happens if one dies before atoning for his or her past sins? That's described in the 5th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam: There are different hellish planets where sinful people go, and the conditions there are not exactly pleasant.

In the 6th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam Sukadeva Goswami explains "My dear King, if before one’s next death whatever impious acts one has performed in this life with his mind, words and body are not counteracted through proper atonement according to the description of the Manu-saṁhitā and other dharma-śāstras, one will certainly enter the hellish planets after death and undergo terrible suffering, as I have previously described to you. Therefore, before one’s next death comes, as long as one’s body is strong enough, one should quickly adopt the process of atonement according to śāstra; otherwise one’s time will be lost, and the reactions of his sins will increase. As an expert physician diagnoses and treats a disease according to its gravity, one should undergo atonement according to the severity of one’s sins." (SB 6.1.7-8)

There is however a serious problem with the processes of atonement mentioned in the scriptures. Although they are able to nullify the resulting karmic reactions, they are not able to clean the heart from the desire for material enjoyment. As a result, a person may practice austerities for a long time atoning for his previous mistakes, just to commit the same sins again when the process is concluded. Apart from that, most people at this age are not even able to follow this process.

This contradiction was caught by Pariksit Maharaja, who intelligently argued: "One may know that sinful activity is injurious for him because he actually sees that a criminal is punished by the government and rebuked by people in general and because he hears from scriptures and learned scholars that one is thrown into hellish conditions in the next life for committing sinful acts. Nevertheless, in spite of such knowledge, one is forced to commit sins again and again, even after performing acts of atonement. Therefore, what is the value of such atonement?" (SB 6.1.9)

This sharp answer shows how a disciple is not supposed to just passively hear from the spiritual master like a piece of furniture, but he should actively ask questions and even place arguments in a respectful way. Sukadeva Goswami was in fact very happy with this inquiry by Pariksit Maharaja because it allowed him to speak about a higher principle. What is it?

The processes of atonement prescribed in the Vedas are actually for materialistic people who are unable to surrender to the Lord. They want a mechanical process that allows them to nullify their negative karma, and therefore the Vedas offer it. However, not only this process is troublesome, but also ineffective since it doesn't remove the desire to commit sins from the heart. It is then just like a medicine that masks the symptoms without curing the disease. This process of atonement is part of the karma-kanda section of the Vedas, just like different processes to achieve material prosperity and promotion to the heavenly planets.

What is the solution then? The only real solution is to chant the holy names of the Lord with sincerity. Just like a small child can't do anything to save himself from a situation of danger apart from crying for his mother, a soul lost in the darkness of Kali-yuga can't do anything to save himself apart from chanting the holy names. By chanting one purifies himself not only from the sinful results of his past sins but also gradually becomes free from the material desires that lead him to commit sins in the first place. When this process is complete, one is free to go back home, back to Godhead. In this way, chanting the holy names can't even be compared with any fruitive process, because the results are eternal, and thus unlimitedly superior.

To illustrate this point, Sukadeva Goswami narrates the history of Ajamila. He abandoned his young wife and elderly parents, taking all the money from them. He was living with a prostitute for almost his entire life and was living a degrading life not only by drinking and eating meat but also by cheating, robbing, kidnapping, and killing people.

As a result, when he was lying infirm in his bet, at 89 years, the Yamadutas came to take him. Seeing this terrible sight he called for his son, who he had fortunately named Narayana. Although he was just calling his son, his desperate cry reached the Vaikuta planets, from where Lord Vishnu sent the Vishnudutas to help him.

This led to a peculiar situation, where the Yamadutas argued that they should take Ajamila because he was so sinful, while the Vishnudutas argued he was pure and thus innocent. It may sound laudable that a person who committed such crimes could be considered pure at this point, but this illustrates the potency of the holy names.

By just chanting the name of Narayana in a desperate situation, Ajamila instantly destroyed all his sins. In fact, he destroyed not only the sins from this life, but from all his previous lives. The Yamadutas failed to comprehend that, but the Vishnudutas were perfectly aware of what happened, and thus they protected him.

More than just becoming free from the results of his sins, Ajamila also became free from the desire to commit new sins. Before he was a very attached grhamedhi, who was determined to preserve his way of life up to the last minute, but after chanting the holy name he became renounced and immediately left home and went to live in a temple, where he was dutifully serving Lord Vishnu for the remaining years of his life. Originally, Ajamila was supposed to live 99 years, but he was dying at 89 because of the heavy load of his sins. However, once these results were destroyed, his lifespan was restored and he got 10 years more. At the end of his period, the same Vishnudutas came back to take him back home, back to Godhead.

This story shows the unlimited power of the holy names. Even if one chants by accident still the names work, just like a person who accidentally takes the right medicine becomes cured, despite his lack of knowledge.

This also illustrates the point that a devotee does not need to practice any process of atonement apart from chanting the holy names. Even if one falls and commits sins after starting the process, his expiatory penance is to go back to his spiritual practice and chant with renewed effort, regretting his mistakes. Anything apart from that is actually just a mundane pursuit. In fact, according to Srimad Bhagavatam, it is just another fall.