64 The Nectar of Devotion

accept this position rather than live with nondevotees who. are
through and through against the supremacy of the Lord. Similarly,
in Visnu-rahasya, there is a statement to the effect that one should
prefer to embrace a snake, a tiger or an alligator rather than associate
with persons who are worshipers of various demigods and who are
impelled by material desire.

In the scriptures it is instructed that one may worship a certain
demigod if he is desirous of achieving some material gain. For exam-
ple, one is advised to worship the sun god if he is desirous of getting
rid of a diseased condition. For a beautiful wife, one can worship
Umi, the wife of Lord Siva, and for advanced education one may
worship Sarasvati. Similarly, there is a list in the Srimad-Bhagavatam
for worshipers of all demigods, according to different material de-
sires. But all of these worshipers, although they appear to be very
good devotees of the demigods, are still considered to be nondevo-
tees. They cannot be accepted as devotees.

The mdydvddis (impersonalists) say that one can worship any
form of the Lord and that it doesn’t matter because one reaches the
same destination anyway. But it is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita
that those who are worshipers of the demigods will ultimately reach
only the planets of those demigods, while those who are devotees of
the Lord Himself will be promoted to the Lord’s abode, the kingdom
of God. So actually these persons who are worshipers of demigods
have been condemned in the Gita. It is described that due to their
lusty desires they have lost their intelligence, and therefore they
have taken to worshiping the different demigods. So in the Visnu-
rahasya these demigod worshipers are forcefully condemned by the
statement that it is better to live with the most dangerous animals
than to associate with these persons.

Another stricture is that a person may have many disciples, but he
should not act in such a way that he will be obliged to any of them
for some particular action or some favor. And one should also not be
very enthusiastic about constructing new temples, nor should one be
enthusiastic about reading various types of books, save and except
the ones which lead to the advancement of devotional service. Prac-
