We are told, «If you want to enquire, enquire about the Centre.» That is the call of the Upanisads: «Don’t waste your time trying to analyse the smallest part of this creation, trying to be its master; it is not possible. Your enquiry should be properly guided.» Krishna says, «I am the centre, and I say, ‘Come to know Me, and through Me you will be able to know everything because I know everything and I control everything. Your connection with Me can give you that capacity. Approach everything through Me. Then you will be able to know the proper position of all things. Otherwise, you will become acquainted with only a partial aspect of reality, and that will be external and incomplete. And you will pass millions of lives trying to know and understand reality to no end.»’ Bhagavatam says:
athapi te deva padambhuja-dvaya-
prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi
janati tattvam bhagavan-mahimno
na chanya eko ‘pi chiram vichinvan
«Only one who is blessed with the mercy of the Lord can know His true nature. On the other hand, those who try empirically to understand His inconceivable glories can study and speculate forever without arriving at the proper conclusion.»
Here, through Bhagavatam, Krishna tells us, «You may devote yourself for eternity in an erroneous direction, with no possibility of coming to the end of understanding. But if you try to approach the Absolute Centre, then in no time you will be able to know what is what.» That is the direction given by the Upanisads and Srimad Bhagavatam. That is the direction we must take, and that is devotion.
It is so satisfying that once you have attained it, you won’t care to know any other thing. We need only concentrate on Krishna’s service. Srimad Bhagavatam (10.14.3) declares:
jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva
jivanti san-mukharitam bhavadiya vartam
sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhir
ye prayaso ’jita jito ’py asi tais tri-lokyam
«Hatefully giving up all intellectual attempts to understand the Supreme Truth, those who want to realise You should completely surrender unto You. They should hear from self-realised devotees about Your Holy Name and transcendental Pastimes. Whatever situation they may find themselves in, they should progress by fully dedicating their mind, body, and words to You. In this way, the Infinite, who is never conquered by anyone, becomes conquered through love.»
We can approach the Supreme Lord only through submission, and when we achieve Him, we won’t care for knowing anything else. We will have no regard for what is happening or not happening in the outside world. We will deeply engage in His service for His satisfaction. There, in His service, we will find the object of our lives fulfilled. And this external knowledge of «things outside» will seem to us as rubbish. We will realise, «What is the necessity of wasting time with all kinds of calculation — the nectar is here! It is far deeper than what is found in the external plane.» And at that time, we shall give all our attention to His service.
The question is often asked why varnasram-dharma, the Vedic system of social stratification, was ignored by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and why it is that anyone from any social position is accepted by our devotional school. We have to cross over the constraints of the caste system (varnasram-dharma), offering the results of our work to Krishna (Krishna-karmarpanam), devotion mixed with the desire to enjoy the fruits of work (karma-misra-bhakti), and devotion mixed with the desire for liberation (jnana-misra-bhakti). They have all been rejected by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His slogan was, «Eho bahya, age kaha ara: these things are external; go deeper, go deeper.» When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked what is further and higher than all these different conceptions of theism, Ramananda Ray suggested jnana-sunya-bhakti, unalloyed devotion. When this was suggested by Ramananda Ray, Mahaprabhu said, «Yes, here real theism begins.»