Text 37]
Prayers by the Demigods
191
tād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi:  “All I want is Your causeless devotional service in My life, birth after birth.” ( Śikṣāṣṭaka 4 ) Even if a devotee, by the supreme will of the Lord, takes birth in this material world, he continues his devotional service. When King Bharata made a mistake and in his next life became a deer, his devotional service did not stop, although some slight chastisement was given to him because of his negligence. Nārada Muni says that even if one falls from the platform of devotional service, he is not lost, whereas nondevotees are lost entirely because they are not engaged in service.  Bhagavad-gītā  (9.14) therefore recommends that one always engage at least in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mahā-mantra :
satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā nitya-yuktā upāsate
“Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, the great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.”
One should not give up the process of devotional service, which is performed in nine different ways ( śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam , etc.). The most important process is hearing ( śravaṇaṁ ) from the  guru ,  sādhu  and  śāstra —the spiritual master, the saintly  ācāryas  and the Vedic literature.  Śādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya ,  cittete kariyā aikya . We should not hear the commentaries and explanations of nondevotees, for this is strictly forbidden by Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, who quotes from the  Padma Purāṇa :
avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīṛṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ
We should strictly follow this injunction and never try to hear from Māyāvādīs, impersonalists, voidists, politicians or so-called scholars.