Although there are thousands and thousands of universities in the world, they teach the same science. Sometimes students from one university get student visa and travel to another country to take a certain course in that country's respective university to further their education. Similarly, the science of Krishna, or God consciousness is taught in various religious traditions according to time, place, circumstances and audience without any differentiation of opinion in the essential conclusive understanding, but the aim of all bona fide saints and teachers is to turn the face of the conditioned soul back to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and detach him from the absurd pursuit of sense gratification in the world of shadows.
The material world is a mere reflection of transcendental reality of Krsnaloka, the kingdom of God and the conditioned soul who is very much addicted to chasing shadow pleasures of family, society, philanthropy and mundane religiosity tinged with material motives is always given a chance by the Lord to turn his face to Him assisted by the ever-present urging voice of the Supersoul. The atmaryami, or the God within one's heart is always ready to guide the spirit soul on the path of pure unconditional bhakti or devotion.
Unfortunately, because the spirit soul accustomed to self-centered way of life is constantly trying to exploit others for his ulterior purposes, He also misguides the soul by fulfilling the soul's perverted desires. If the Lord did not purposefully misguide the conditioned soul in this way, there would be no meaning to the soul's independence and without independence there would be no question for the soul to have an option of unconditional surrender. Krishna, for example misguides the soul to worship demigods, or powerful men of this world in the form of pseudo philanthropists, pseudo gurus and pseudo politicians when the soul wants to acquire speedy fulfillment of his materialistic lust. He says: I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship the demigods, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular deity.(Bg 7.21) In this way there are recommendations in the scriptures for different modes of worship. And because a particular living entity wants to enjoy a particular material facility, the Lord inspires him with a strong desire to achieve that benediction from that particular form of worship or religious sect, and so he successfully receives the benediction.
Since such fulfillment of the desire of the living entity is temporary, the Lord calls such worshippers less intelligent. Their materialistic lust lacks the proper direction and causes sectarian hate by purposefully avoiding the principle of Isavasya.
Factually, no one has
to do anything more than render devotional service to the Lord. However, in the lower stages of life one cannot immediately adopt the activities of pure devotional service, nor can one completely stop fruitive work. A conditioned soul is accustomed to working for sense gratification -- for his own selfish interest, immediate or extended and he thus professes religion for that purpose only. He works for his own sense enjoyment, and when this principle of sense enjoyment is extended to include his society, nation or humanity in general, it assumes various attractive names such as altruism, socialism, communism, nationalism and humanitarianism. There is no harm in becoming a family man, or an altruist, a socialist, a communist, a nationalist or a humanitarian, provided that one executes his activities in relation with isavasya, the God-centered conception. In such God-centered conception, a devotee makes the Lord the first and foremost beneficiary of all his activities. Since the Lord is the Supreme Purusha, or Enjoyer He must posses transcendental senses. If the Lord is formless or senseless, there is no meaning to devotional service since there would be no purpose in pleasing Him. His supreme and transcendental pleasure and our minute and material pleasure are diametrically opposed to another and any one who compares the two immediately falls down from the path of true understanding, but the nature of transcendental reality is that one must seek the way how to please the Lord's transcendental senses.
One is therefore advised by the Lord in all bona fide scriptures of the world to transcend the boundaries of materialistic functions of religious sectarianism and try to understand this supreme purpose of all religions and act on it.
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