Knowing Krishna in truth and practicing Krishna consciousness guarantees eternal transcendence beyond material cycles of birth and death.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Prabhupāda: ahaṃ hi sarva-yajñānāṃ bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca na tu mām abhijānanti tattvenātaś cyavanti te [Bg 9.24] [I am the only enjoyer and the only object of sacrifice. Those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down.] Because we do not know God in fact, simply understanding, "Oh, there is God," and little more advanced, "God is our order-supplier," that is not sufficient. You must know God, I mean to say, tat, tattvena, in truth, tattvena. That tattvena, in truth, as it is explained by Lord Caitanya, that is the highest explanation.
He has given the fullest information. Of course, it is not possible to understand God to the fullest extension, but as far as possible as a human being can understand, that has been explained in the..., by Lord Caitanya about Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has explained in the Bhagavad-gītā about Himself. That is more than sufficient.
And still more, Lord Caitanya has explained about Him. Kṛṣṇa has explained Himself that you require to surrender unto Him. Just like here also He says that ahaṃ hi sarva-yajñānāṃ bhoktā: "I am the beneficiary of all the activities of living entities." And bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca: "I am enjoyer, and I am the master." So in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that the Lord advises people in general that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vra... [Bg 18.66]: [Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.] "Just try to surrender unto Me, and I shall give you all protection." Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu... He's also Kṛṣṇa Himself. As a devotee, He's explaining Kṛṣṇa further.
Not only surrender, but after surrender what are the activities, that is explained by Lord Caitanya. So for the general, people in general, the first requisition is that they must learn how to surrender unto God. Tattvena na te abhijānanti: "They do not know what is the," I mean to say, "accurate situation of the Supreme Lord." Now here it is stated, yānti deva-vratā devān pitèn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām [Bg 9.25] [Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.] Now, the argument that "In whatever form you worship the Supreme..." This is the Māyāvādī theory, that "God is impersonal. Now, because we cannot worship or meditate upon something impersonal, therefore let us imagine something about Him and meditate upon that." Just like the impersonalist yogī. They put before them a lump of something and concentrate upon them.
So here that theory is refuted by Kṛṣṇa. That impersonal conception of the Supreme and our imagination of God, that is not the way of approaching God. He says clearly herewith that yānti deva-vratā devān: "Those who are worshiping the demigods..." The demigods have their different places in this material world. All the planets, heavenly planets... There are seven planetary systems up and seven planetary system down.
So this is called Bhūrloka, earthly planet, and there are many planets on this system. So Bhūrloka, Bhuvarloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, then Brahmaloka, Satyaloka, like that—so many planets there are. So there are different kinds of living entity and different kinds of comforts. They are highly intelligent, more intelligent than the human beings.
Therefore they are called demigods, almost God. So here Kṛṣṇa says, "Those who are trying to worship the demigods, they'll go to the planets of the demigods." Yānti deva-vratā devān pitèn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ [Bg 9.25]. Pitṛ-vratāḥ. There is a form of worship of the forefathers. So there is a particular planet. The worshiper of the forefathers, they go there.