People who are thinking, "By going to the church, by confession, I become free from all sinful activities, and then let me go again, commit the same thing for the whole week, come again and confess," this is not very good business. (laughter) This is not very good business. Similarly, if you think also—you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra—Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra means you become free from all sinful reaction of life. But if you think that, "I have got an instrument, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, so let me commit all sinful activities, and I shall chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, it will be nullified," no. That is the greatest offense. That is the greatest offense. Out of ten kinds of offenses, this is the greatest offense. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ (Padma Purāṇa, Brahma-khaṇḍa).
So God can excuse you once, twice, thrice, not more than that. Then you will be punished. Because you are knowingly criminal, your punishment will be very severe. So those who think that, "This atonement, confession, or chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa is the counteraction of our sinful activities," they're greatest sinners. They're greatest sinners. They'll be severely punished. Just like a police, a policeman, a constable, if he commits theft, he's severely punished. He's to detect criminality, but he becomes himself criminal, then he's very highly punished. That is the law.
So here Śukadeva Goswāmī says that unless one atones his sinful activities done in this life, then he has to accept severe punishment in the next life. There is no excuse. This is the conclusion. Dhruvaṁ sa vai pretya narakān upaiti. Dhruvam. Dhruvam means sure. Surely he must suffer the hellish condition of life next life if he does not atone in this life. That is called prāyaścitta, confession, so many things. Ye kīrtitā me: "And I've already described them in the Fifth Chapter, that if you commit this kind of sin, you suffer like this; if you commit this kind of sin, you suffer like this."