Ādi-līlā, Chapter 1
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lead one to a distressful position of material want and scarcity. However, even if one is put into the most perfect situation of material happiness, he cannot in that way become free from the pangs of birth, death, old age and disease. A materially happy person is therefore in need of the eternal relief that mundane religiosity in terms of fruitive work can never award.
The paths of the culture of knowledge ( jīnāna-mārga ) and of mystic powers ( yoga-mārga ) are equally hazardous, for one does not know where he will go by following these uncertain methods. An empiric philosopher in search of spiritual knowledge may endeavor most laboriously for many, many births in mental speculation, but unless and until he reaches the stage of the purest quality of goodness—in other words, until he transcends the plane of material speculation—it is not possible for him to know that everything emanates from the Personality of Godhead Vāsudeva. His attachment to the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord makes him unfit to rise to that transcendental stage of  vāsudeva  understanding, and therefore because of his unclean state of mind he glides down again into material existence, even after having ascended to the highest stage of liberation. This falldown takes place due to his want of a  locus standi  in the service of the Supreme Lord.
As far as the mystic powers of the  yogīs  are concerned, they are also material entanglements on the path of spiritual realization. One German scholar who became a devotee of Godhead in India said that material science had already made laudable progress in duplicating the mystic powers of the  yogīs . He therefore came to India not to learn the methods of the  yogīs'  mystic powers but to learn the path of transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord, as mentioned in the great scripture  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam . Mystic powers can make a  yogī  materially powerful and thus give temporary relief from the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease, as other material sciences can also do, but such mystic powers can never be a permanent source of relief from these miseries. Therefore, according to the  Bhāgavata  school, this path of religiosity is also a method of cheating its followers. In  Bhagavad-gītā  it is clearly defined that the most elevated and powerful mystic  yogī  is one who can constantly think of the Supreme Lord within his heart and engage in the loving service of the Lord.
The path of worship of the innumerable  devas , or administrative demigods, is still more hazardous and uncertain than the above-mentioned processes of  karma-kāṇḍa  and  jīnāna-kāṇḍa . This system of worshiping many gods, such as Durgā, Śiva, Gaṇeśa, Sūrya and the impersonal Viṣṇu form, is accepted by persons who have been blinded by an intense desire for sense gratification. When properly executed in terms of the rites mentioned in the  śāstras , which are now very difficult to perform in this age of want and scarcity, such worship can certainly fulfill one's desires for sense gratification, but the success obtained by such methods is certainly transient, and it is suitable only for a less intelligent person. That is the verdict of  Bhagavad-gītā . No sane man should be satisfied by such temporary benefits.
None of the above-mentioned three religious paths can deliver a person from the threefold miseries of material existence, namely, miseries caused by the body and mind, miseries caused by other living entities, and miseries caused by the demigods. The process of religion described in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , however, is able to give