Without Krishna's shelter, even the highest spiritual achievements inevitably collapse into material entanglement.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 25.29 — January 21, 1967, San Francisco 670121CC-SAN FRANCISCO [25:17 Minutes] Prabhupāda: [sings] ...snapanaṁ paraṁ vijāyate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. [Cc. Antya 20.12] [Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.] harer nāma-ślokera yei karilā vyākhyāna sei satya sukhadārtha parama pramāṇa [Cc. Madhya 25.29] [Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s explanation of the verse beginning ’harer nāma harer nāma’ is not only pleasing to the ear but is strong, factual evidence.] So one of the chief disciple of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, he very much appreciated Caitanya Mahāprabhu's presentation of Vedānta-sūtra and excellent presentation of harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam [Cc. Ādi 17.21] [In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.] That "In this age there is no other alternative for self-realization than chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare," harer nāma, the holy name of God.
So considering the fallen age at the present moment, God is so merciful and kind that He presents Himself as sound, sound vibration, which everyone can produce by his tongue and can hear, and God is present there. So we have been discussing this... Śreyaḥ sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labhaye [SB 10.14.4, Cc. Madhya 22.22]. [My dear Lord, devotional service unto You is the best path for self-realization. If someone gives up that path and engages in the cultivation of speculative knowledge, he will simply undergo a troublesome process and will not achieve his desired result. As a person who beats an empty husk of wheat cannot get grain, one who simply speculates cannot achieve self-realization. His only gain is trouble.] Don't waste your time simply, "What is this? What is that? What is this? What is that?" Just immediately take shelter of the Supreme Lord.
That is your immediate necessity. Because we do not know when death will come. So this is an opportunity. Suppose if you do something and if you are given ultimatum, the deadline, that "Within five minutes you must finish," similarly, this spot of life, in the comparison of our eternal life, it is only five minutes. But if five minutes is wasted simply for eating, sleeping, and for a little comfort of this body, and our mission is forgotten, oh, it is simply suicidal policy. Therefore Bhāgavata says, bhaktim udasya.
Giving up the devotional service, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if one is foolishly simply engaged in understanding, "What is this? What is that...?" That will be understood. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam etaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3]. [If one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of all controllers, one can understand everything else.] If you understand Kṛṣṇa, if you understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, then there will be nothing unknown. Everything will be known because He is everything.
Teṣāṁ kleśala eva śiṣyate nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām [SB 10.14.4, Cc. Madhya 22.22]. Such persons who are simply wasting time, "What is this? What is this? What is this?" their profit is simply labor of love, that's all. ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32] [[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.] There is another verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, Second Chapter, twenty-sixth verse [SB 10.2.26]. [The demigods prayed: O Lord, You never deviate from Your vow, which is always perfect because whatever You decide is perfectly correct and cannot be stopped by anyone. Being present in the three phases of cosmic manifestation-creation, maintenance and annihilation—You are the Supreme Truth. Indeed, unless one is completely truthful, one cannot achieve Your favor, which therefore cannot be achieved by hypocrites. You are the active principle, the real truth, in all the ingredients of creation, and therefore you are known as antaryāmī, the inner force. You are equal to everyone, and Your instructions apply for everyone, for all time. You are the beginning of all truth. Therefore, offering our obeisances, we surrender unto You. Kindly give us protection.] It is said there, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa. God is addressed, Kṛṣṇa is addressed, as lotus-eyed. His eyes are very nice, so His another name is Aravinda, Aravinda-akṣa.
Akṣa means eyes, and aravinda means lotus flower. So one devotee is praying: ye, persons those; aravindākṣa, O the lotus-eyed God. There are persons who, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta... They are falsely thinking that "I am now liberated.
I have become one with God." Falsely thinking. It is just like on some purchasing matter that we have become one with God. Bhāgavata says, "What, fool, you have become one with God? You are being kicked by the laws of nature.