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THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION
God. Our business is not to ask God for our necessities. God gives necessities to everyone—even to one who has no religion. For example, cats and dogs have no religion, yet Kṛṣṇa supplies them with the necessities of life. So why should we bother Kṛṣṇa for our daily bread? He is already supplying it. Real religion means to learn how to love Him. The  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  [1.2.6] says,
sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati
First-class religion teaches one how to love God without any motive. If I serve God for some profit, that is business—not love. Real love of God is  ahaituky apratihatā : it cannot be checked by any material cause. It is unconditional. If one actually wants to love God, there is no impediment. One can love Him whether one is poor or rich, young or old, black or white.
Ms. Nixon:  Do all paths lead to the same end?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  No. There are four classes of men—the  karmīs , the  jñānīs , the yogis, and the  bhaktas —and each achieves a different goal. The  karmīs  work for some material profit. For example, in the city, many people work hard day and night, and their purpose is to get some money. Thus, they are fruitive workers, or  karmīs . A  jñānī  is a person who thinks, “Why am I working so hard? The birds, bees, elephants, and other creatures have no profession, yet they are also eating. So why should I unnecessarily work so hard? Rather, let me try to solve the problems of life—birth, death, old age, and disease.”  Jñānīs  try to become immortal. They think that if they merge into God’s existence, then they will become immune to birth, death, old age, and disease. And yogis try to acquire some mystic power to exhibit a wonderful show. For instance, a yogi can become very small: if you put him into a locked room, he can come out through any little space. By showing this kind of magic, the yogi is immediately accepted as a very wonderful man. Of course, modern yogis simply show some gymnastics—they have no real power. But a real yogi has some power, which is not spiritual but material. So the yogi wants mystic power, the  jñānī  wants salvation from the miseries of life, and the  karmī  wants material profit. But the  bhakta —the devotee—doesn’t want anything for himself. He simply wants to serve God out of love, just as a mother serves her child. There is no question of profit in a