Purity of Devotional Service 49

sticks to devotional service and is conducted by regulative principles
given by the authorities and dcdryas, that is the best qualification.”

This statement is supported in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Can-
to, 5th Chapter, 17th verse, wherein Sri Narada Muni advises Vyasa-
deva thusly: “Even if one does not execute his specific occupational
duty, but immediately takes direct shelter of the lotus feet of Hari
[Krsna], there will be no fault on his part, and in all circumstances
his position is secure. Even if, by some bad association, he falls down
while executing devotional service, or if he doesn’t finish the com-
plete course of devotional service and dies untimely, still he is not at
a loss. A person who is simply discharging his occupational duty in
varna and asrama, however, with no Krsna consciousness, practically
does not gain the true benefit of human life.” The purport is that all
conditioned souls who are engaged very frantically in activities for
sense gratification, without knowing that this process will never help
them to get out of material contamination, are awarded only with
repeated births and deaths.

In the Fifth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam it is clearly stated by
Rsabhadeva to his sons: “Persons engaged in fruitive activities are re-
peatedly accepting birth and death, and until they develop a loving
feeling for Vasudeva, there will be no question of getting out from
these stringent laws of material nature.” As such, any person who
is very seriously engaged in his occupational duties in the varnas and
asramas, and who does not develop love for the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Vasudeva, is to be understood as simply spoiling his
human form of life.

This is confirmed also in the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-
Bhagavatam, 11th Chapter, 32nd verse, in which the Lord says to
Uddhava, “My dear Uddhava, any person who takes shelter of Me in
complete surrender and follows My instructions, giving up all occupa-
tional duties, is to be considered the first-class man.” In this state-
ment of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is understood that
people who are generally attracted to philanthropic, ethical, moral,
altruistic, political and social welfare activities may be considered
nice men only in the calculation of the material world. From Srimad-
Bhagavatam and other authentic Vedic scriptures we learn further
