112
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 8, Ch. 12]
PURPORT
Factually speaking, even those who are situated in the material mode of goodness cannot understand the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What then is to be said of those who are situated in  rajo-guṇa  and  tamo-guṇa , the base qualities of material nature? How can we even imagine the Supreme Personality of Godhead? There are so many philosophers trying to understand the Absolute Truth, but since they are situated in the base qualities of material nature and are addicted to so many bad habits, like drinking, meat-eating, illicit sex and gambling, how can they conceive of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? For them it is impossible. For the present day, the  pāñcarātrikī-vidhi  as enunciated by Nārada Muni is the only hope. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, therefore, has quoted the following verse from the  Brahma-yāmala :
śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi- pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā aikāntikī harer bhaktir utpātāyaiva kalpate
“Devotional service of the Lord that ignores the authorized Vedic literatures like the  Upaniṣads ,  Purāṇas  and  Nārada-pañcarātra  is simply an unnecessary disturbance in society.” ( Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu  1.2.101) Those who are very advanced in knowledge and are situated in the mode of goodness follow the Vedic instructions of the  śruti  and  smṛti  and other religious scriptures, including the  pāñcarātrikī-vidhi . Without understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this way, one only creates a disturbance. In this age of Kali, so many  gurus  have sprung up, and because they do not refer to the  śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-pañcarātrika-vidhi , they are creating a great disturbance in the world in regard to understanding the Absolute Truth. However, those who follow the  pāñcarātrikī-vidhi  under the guidance of a proper spiritual master can understand the Absolute Truth. It is said,  pañcarātrasya kṛtsnasya vaktā tu bhagavān svayam : the  pañcarātra  system is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, just like  Bhagavad-gītā .  Vāsudeva-śaraṇā vidur añjasaiva : the truth can be understood only by one who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Vāsudeva.