The dependence of karma-yoga on conditions of purity in place, time, candidate, materials and performance is well known from the smrti scriptures. This is not true of bhakti:
na desa-niyamas tatra na kala-niyamas tatha
nocchistadau nisedho'sti harer namani lubdhaka
In chanting the name of the Lord, there are no restrictions concerning place, time, purity and so on. (Visnu-dharma)
Nor is bhakti even dependent upon faith:
sakrd api parigitam sraddhaya helaya va
bhrgu-vara nara-matram tarayet krsna-nama
O best of Bhrgu's dynasty! Heard once with faith or in negligence, it can deliver any human being. (Prabhasa-khanda, Padma Purana)
Bhakti is not dependent on purity of practice, for whether the name is chanted purely or impurely it will deliver the fallen soul. The same cannot be said of karma-yoga, where impurity is a great obstacle to progress.
"A mantra devoid of proper intonation and pronunciation with improper use does not fulfill its purpose. Thus by saying 'enemy of Indra' improperly, the thunderbolt of the words killed the priest because of his offense." (Paniniya-siksa, quoted in SB 6.9.11, Visvanatha's commentary)
The necessity of internal purity for practice of jnana-yoga is well known. Jnana-yoga is, moreover, dependent on karma-yoga, for one may enter jnana-yoga only with a heart purified of gross desires, and such purity of heart stems from the performance of karma without gross desires (niskama-karma-yoga). Because of this dependency, if the practitioner of jnana-yoga commits even a small unworthy act by accident, he is condemned as a vantasin, an eater of vomit.
On the other hand, one on the path of bhakti, though afflicted by lust, has the qualification to begin the practice, and just by the practice of bhakti (bhaktim pratilabhya: after performing bhakti), lust and other impurities are destroyed.
vikriditam vraja-vadhubhir idam ca visnoh
sraddhanvito 'nusrnuyad atha varnayed yah
bhaktim param bhagavati pratilabhya kamam
hrd-rogam asv apahinoty acirena dhirah
Anyone who faithfully and continually hears or describes the Lord's playful affairs with the young gopis of vrndavan will attain the highest type of prema to the Lord, quickly destroy lust, the disease of the heart and immediately become steady. (SB 10.33.39)
And even though impurities such as lust may sometimes appear in the devotee; the scriptures never condemn that devotee.
api cet suduracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah samyag vyavasito hi sah
Even if the most sinful person worships me with no other desire than to please me, I consider that person to be my devotee, since he has fixed himself completely in me. (BG 9.30)
badhyamano 'pi mad-bhakto visayair ajitendriyah
prayah pragalbhaya bhaktya visayair nabhibhuyate
If my devotee has not fully conquered his senses, he may be harassed by material desires, but because of his generally strong bhakti, he will not be defeated by sense gratification. (SB 11.14.18)
Ajamila's position as a devotee was accepted by the Visnudutas. Even though people such as Ajamila utter the name of the Lord inadvertently (in Ajamila's case, out of affection for his son), they are universally praised as devotees, even though their chanting must be considered namabhasa (not pure).
- First shower of Madhurya Kadambini, commentary by Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur, translated by HH Bhanu Swami Maharaja
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