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Krṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
A devotee is never afraid of death or of changing his body; his consciousness is transformed into Krṣṇa consciousness, and even if he does not go back to Godhead, even if he transmigrates to another material body, he has nothing to fear. A vivid example is Bharata Mahārāja. Although in his next life he became a deer, in the life after that he became completely free from all material contamination and was elevated to the kingdom of God. The  Bhagavad-gītā  affirms, therefore, that a devotee is never vanquished. A devotee's path to the spiritual kingdom, back home, back to Godhead, is guaranteed. Even though a devotee slips in one birth, the continuation of his Krṣṇa consciousness elevates him further and further until he goes back to Godhead. Not only does a pure devotee purify his own personal existence, but whoever becomes his disciple also ultimately becomes purified and able to enter the kingdom of God without difficulty. Not only can a pure devotee easily surpass death, but by his grace his followers also can do so without difficulty. The power of devotional service is so great that a pure devotee can electrify another person by his transcendental instruction on crossing over the ocean of nescience.
The instructions of a pure devotee to his disciple are also very simple. No one feels any difficulty in following in the footsteps of a pure devotee. Anyone who follows in disciplic succession from recognized devotees of the Lord, such as Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, the Kumāras, Manu, Kapila, King Prahlāda, King Janaka, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Yamarāja, etc., very easily finds the door of liberation open. On the other hand, those who are not devotees but are engaged in uncertain processes of self-realization, such as  jñāna ,  yoga  and  karma , are understood to be still contaminated. Such contaminated persons, although apparently advanced in self-realization, cannot even liberate themselves, not to speak of others who follow them. Such nondevotees are compared to chained animals, for they are not able to go beyond the jurisdiction of the formalities of a certain type of faith. In the  Bhagavad-gītā  they are condemned as  veda-vādah . They cannot understand that the  Vedas  deal with activities of the material modes of nature—goodness, passion and ignorance.
Lord Krṣṇa advised Arjuna that one has to go beyond the jurisdiction of the duties prescribed in the  Vedas  and take to Krṣṇa consciousness, devotional service. It is said in the  Bhagavad-gītā ,  nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna , “My dear Arjuna, just try to become transcendental to the Vedic rituals.” This transcendental position beyond the Vedic ritualistic performances is devotional service. In the  Bhagavad-gītā  the Lord clearly says that persons who are engaged in His devotional service without adulteration are situated in Brahman. Actual Brahman realization means Krṣṇa consciousness and