अपि चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते मामनन्यभाक् ।
साधुरेव स मन्तव्य: सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि स: ॥
api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk |
sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 9.30)
“If even a person of extreme misconduct serves me exclusively, he should be regarded as a sādhu because he is rightly resolved.”
Commentary
astu tāvat sadācārasya tad-bhaktasya sattvam, ananya-devatā-bhaktatva-mātreṇāpi durācārasyāpi sattvānya-paryāyaṁ sādhutvaṁ vidhīyate ‘api cet sudurācāraḥ’ ity-ādau |
(Excerpted from Bhakti Sandarbha: 200)
“Certainly let it be [acknowledged] that a bhakta of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] possessed of right conduct (sadācāra) has [i.e., is endowed with] virtuousness (sat-tva). [Furthermore,] Even a bhakta [of Bhagavān] possessed of wrongful conduct is decreed [by Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa] in api cet sudurācāraḥ … [i.e., BG 9.30] to have sādhutva [i.e., “virtuousness”], a synonym of sat-tva [i.e., “virtuousness”] just because being a bhakta of no other devatā [than Śrī Bhagavān].”