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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 24]
Supreme Lord, it is to be understood that he has finished all kinds of austerities and penances and has attained efficiency in their execution. On the other hand, if one does not attain the perfect stage of devotional service, all austerities and penances actually have no meaning, for without the Supreme Lord no one can attain the highest results derived from performing them. As stated in  Bhagavad-gītā , Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the master of all penances and sacrifices.
bhoktāram yajña-tapasām sarva-loka-maheśvaram suhṛdam sarva-bhūtānām jñātvā mām śāntim ṛcchati
“The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.” (Bg. 5.29)
In  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  it is also stated that even if a person is born in a family of  caṇḍālas —the lowest birth one can get in human society—he is glorious if he chants the holy names of the Lord, for it is to be understood that by such chanting a devotee definitely proves that he underwent all kinds of austerities in his previous life. By the grace of Lord Caitanya, one who chants the  mahā-mantra  (Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare) attains the highest perfectional stage which had previously been attained by people who entered the ocean and executed austerities for ten thousand years. In this age of Kali, if a person does not take advantage of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mantra , which is offered as a great concession to the fallen human beings of this age, it is to be understood that he will become very much bewildered by the illusory energy of the Lord.
TEXT 15
यदुक्तं पथि दृष्टेन गिरिशेन प्रसीदता । तद्धथायन्तो जपन्तश्च पूजयन्तश्च संयताः ॥१५॥
yad uktam pathi dṛṣṭena giriśena prasīdatā tad dhyāyanto japantaś ca pūjayantaś ca samyatāḥ