344 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 9
there were many sages who tried to invent their own systems of religion
without reference to devotional service to the Supreme Lord, but there
cannot be any religious principle without devotional service to the Lord.
The Supreme Lord is the leader of the entire range of living entities, and
no one can be equal to or greater than Him. Even the Lord’s impersonal
feature and all-pervading localized feature cannot be on an equal level with
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, there cannot be any
religion or system of genuine philosophy for the advancement of the
living entities without the principle of devotional service.

The impersonalists, who take much trouble in penance and austerity for
self-liberation, may approach the impersonal brahmajyoti, but ultimately,
because of not being situated in devotional service, they glide down again
to the material world to undergo another term of material existence. This
is confirmed as follows:

ye “nye ’ ravindaksa vimuktamaninas
tvayy astabhavad avisuddha-buddhayah
aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah
patanty adho ‘nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah
“Persons who are falsely under the impression of being liberated, without
devotional service to the Lord, may reach the goal of the brahmajyoti, but
because of their impure consciousness and for want of shelter in the
Vaikunthalokas, such so-called liberated persons again fall down into
material existence.” (Bhag. 10.2.32)

Therefore, no one can manufacture any system of religion without the
principle of devotional service to the Lord. As we find in the Sixth Canto
of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the initiator of religious principles is the Lord
Himself. In Bhagavad-gita also we find that the Lord condemns all forms of
religion other than that which entails the process of surrendering unto the
Supreme. Any system which leads one to the devotional service of the
Lord, and nothing else, is actually religion or philosophy. In the Sixth
Canto we find the following statements of Yamaraja, the controller of all
unfaithful living entities:

dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam
na vai vidur rsayo napi devah

na siddha-mukhya asura manusyah
kutas ca vidyadhara-caranadayah
