There is a story how habit is the second nature. There was a thief, and he went to pilgrimage with some other friends. So at night, when other friends were sleeping… Because his habit was to steal at night, so he got up at night and he was taking one body’s baggage and tried to pickpocket or take something. But he was thinking, “Oh, I have come to this holy place of pilgrimage. Still, shall I do that, committing theft, my habit? No, no. I shall not do it.” So he was taking the bag of one person and was keeping in another place. So in the whole night the poor fellow did like that. But due to his conscience that, “I have come to this holy place. At least, during my stay here, I shall not do this stealing business.“
So in the morning, when all other friends got up, everyone said, “Oh, where is my bag? I don’t see!” Another man says, “Oh, I don’t see my bag.” Then somebody says, “Oh, here is your bag!” So there was some row. So they thought, “What is the matter? How it so happened?” Then the thief rose up and told all friends, “My dear gentlemen, I am a thief by occupation, but because I have that habit to steal at night, so I wanted to steal something from your bag, but I thought that, ‘I have come to this holy place. I shall not do it.’ So I placed, I might have placed one man’s bag in another man’s place. So excuse me.” So this is the habit. He does not want to commit theft, but he has got the habit of doing that. So similarly, here he has decided not to commit theft anymore, but because he’s habituated, sometimes he does.
So therefore Krishna says, “In that condition, one who has decided to stop all bad or immoral habits and just to make his progress in Krishna consciousness, even by chance, if he does something which is immoral in the face of the society, that should not be taken account of.” Of course, that is by chance. And in the next verse, you’ll find, kshipram bhavati dharmatma: “Because he has dovetailed himself in Krishna consciousness, it is sure that he will become a saintly, I mean to say, a pure saint very soon. Very soon.“
The example is… Just like the electric fan is going on, and if you put off the switch, you’ll see the fan is still going on. But that going on will stop because the switch is already off. Similarly, if one dovetails himself in Krishna consciousness, then automatically he’ll become a saintly person. Automatically. Because his switch is made off. Just like the fan, when the switch is made off, the current supply is stopped. Now… There was a force of running. You may see that it is running for few minutes. But it will stop. Similarly, anyone, it doesn’t matter what he is, if he puts himself, dovetails himself in Krishna consciousness, then all his material contamination will be washed off. Washed off.
