80 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 7
of Godhead should be accepted as the best. That process is clearly ex-
plained in Bhagavad-gita, where the Lord says, sarva-dharman
parityajya mam ekam Saranam vraja: “Abandon all varieties of religion
and just surrender unto Me.” This process is the best because the Lord
assures, aham tvdm sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma Sucah: “I shall
deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” There is no need to be
worried, for the Lord Himself assures that He will care for His devotee
and save him from the reactions of sinful activities. Material bondage is a
result of sinful activity. Therefore, since the Lord assures that He will
dissipate the results of fruitive material activities, there is no need to be
worried. This process of understanding one’s position as a spirit soul and
then engaging oneself in devotional service is therefore the best. The en-
tire Vedic program is based on this principle, and one can understand it
as recommended in the Vedas:
yasya deve para bhaktir
yathda deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah

“Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the
spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically
revealed.” (Svetdsvatara Upanisad 6.23) One must accept the pure de-
votee, the representative of God, as one’s guru and then offer him all the
respects one would offer the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the
secret of success. For one who adopts this method, the perfect process is
revealed. In this verse, the words yair afjasd ratih indicate that by offer-
ing service and surrendering to the spiritual master, one is elevated to
devotional service, and by performing devotional service one gradually
becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because of this
attachment to the Lord, one can understand the Lord. In other words,
one can understand what the Lord’s position is, what our position is and
what our relationship is. All this can be understood very easily by the
simple method of bhakti-yoga. As soon as one is situated on the platform
of bhakti-yoga, the root cause of one’s suffering and material bondage is
destroyed. This is clearly explained in the next verse, which gives the
secret of success.
