Prabhupada 0106 - Take the Lift of Bhakti to Krsna Directly
Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972
So mama vartmānuvartante means that just like on the top of, just like there so many skyscraper buildings in America. A hundred and five stories. I think that is the latest. So suppose you have to go to the topmost flat. There is staircase. So everyone is trying to go there. But someone has passed, say, ten steps. Another had passed, say, fifty steps. Another has hundred steps. But you have to complete, say, two thousand steps. So the staircase is the same. Mama vartmānuvartante. Because the aim is to go to the topmost flat. But the one who has passed ten steps, he is lower that one who has passed fifty steps. And the one who has passed fifty steps, he's lower than who has passed hundred steps. So similarly, there are different processes. But all the processes are not the same. They're aiming at the same goal, karma, jñāna, yoga, bhakti, but bhakti is the highest step. Because when you come to the platform of bhakti, then you can understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Not by karma, jñāna, yoga. That is not possible. You are trying, you are going towards that aim, but Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). He does not say, "By jñāna, by karma, by yoga." No. That you cannot understand. You can go forward, steps. But if you want to know Kṛṣṇa, then bhakti. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). This is the process. Therefore mama vartmānuvartante means "Everyone is trying to come to Me, according to their capacity, ability, but one who actually wants to understand Me, the simple process..." Just like the staircase is there, but not in this country, in Europe and American countries, side by side, there is lift, elevator. So instead of going step by step to the highest flat, you take the help of this lift. You go immediately, within a second. So if you take the lift of bhakti, then immediately you come in contact with Kṛṣṇa directly. Instead of going by step by step by step. Why should you take? Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You simply surrender unto Me. Your business is finished." Why should you labor so much, step by step by step by step by...? [break]