Devanagari
अज्ञानादथवा ज्ञानादुत्तमश्लोकनाम यत् ।
सङ्कीर्तितमघं पुंसो दहेदेधो यथानल: ॥ १८ ॥
Verse text
ajṣānād athavā jṣānād
uttamaśloka-nāma yat
saṅkīrtitam aghaṁ puṁso
dahed edho yathānalaḥ
Synonyms
ajṣānāt
—
out of ignorance
;
athavā
—
or
;
jṣānāt
—
with knowledge
;
uttamaśloka
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
nāma
—
the holy name
;
yat
—
that which
;
saṅkīrtitam
—
chanted
;
agham
—
sin
;
puṁsaḥ
—
of a person
;
dahet
—
burns to ashes
;
edhaḥ
—
dry grass
;
yathā
—
just as
;
analaḥ
—
fire .
Translation
As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one’s sinful activities.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Chanting the name of the Lord with or without knowledge of its powers destroys a man’s sins, just as fire destroys dry grass.
“But chanting in this way is not done with knowledge that it is atonement.” Just as fire lit innocently by a child burns dry grass, so chanting without knowledge burns up heaps of sins.
Purport
Fire will act, regardless of whether handled by an innocent child or by someone well aware of its power. For example, if a field of straw or dry grass is set afire, either by an elderly man who knows the power of fire or by a child who does not, the grass will be burned to ashes. Similarly, one may or may not know the power of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra,
but if one chants the holy name he will become free from all sinful reactions.