60 The Nectar of Devotion
To Follow in the Footsteps of Saintly Persons

In the Skanda Purana it is advised that a devotee follow the past
acaryas and saintly persons because by such following one can achieve
the desired results, with no chance of lamenting or being baffled in
his progress.

In the scripture known as Brahma-ydmala it is stated as follows:
“If someone wants to pose himself as a great devotee without follow-
ing the authorities of the revealed scriptures, then his activities will
never help him to make progress in devotional service. Instead, he
will simply create disturbances for the sincere students of devotional
service.”’ Those who do not strictly follow the principles of revealed
scriptures are generally called sahajiya, those who have imagined
everything to be cheap, and who have their own concocted ideas, and
who do not follow the scriptural injunctions. Such persons are simply
creating disturbances in the discharge of devotional service.

In this connection, an objection may be raised by those who are
not in devotional service and who do not care for the revealed scrip-
tures. An example of this is seen in Buddhist philosophy. Lord
Buddha appeared in the family of a high-grade ksatriya king, but his
philosophy was not in accord with the Vedic conclusions and there-
fore was rejected. Under the patronage of a Hindu king, Maharaj
Asoka, the Buddhist religion was spread all over India and the adjoin-
ing countries. However, after the appearance of the great stalwart
teacher, Sankaracarya, this Buddhism was driven out beyond the
border of India.

The Buddhists or other religionists who do not care for revealed
scriptures sometimes say that there are many devotees of Lord
Buddha who show devotional service to Lord Buddha and who there-
fore should be considered devotees. In answer to this argument, Rupa
Gosvami says that the followers of Buddha cannot be accepted as
devotees. Although Lord Buddha is accepted as an incarnation of
Krsna, the followers of such incarnations are not very advanced in
their knowledge of the Vedas. To study the Vedas means to come to
the conclusion of the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead.
Therefore any religious principle which denies the supremacy of the
