Text 15

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.4) condemns the path of non-devotion:

श्रेयः-सृतिं भक्तिम् उदस्य ते विभो क्लिश्यन्ति ये केवल-बोध-लब्धये
तेषाम् असौ क्लेशल एव शिष्यते नान्यद् यथा स्थूल-तुषावघातिनाम्

śreyaḥ-sṛtiṃ bhaktim udasya te vibho kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye
teṣām asau kleśala eva śiṣyate nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām

O Lord, devotional service unto You is the main source of all kinds of auspiciousness. Those who give up this path only to cultivate jñāna will simply undergo hard work, suffer pain and achieve difficulty, just as the only gain of a person who beats empty husks is hard work, not rice.

भक्ति-पथ छाडि’ करे ज्ञानेर प्रयास
मिछे कष्ट पाय तार हय सर्व-नाश

bhakti-patha chāḍi’ kare jñānera prayāsa
miche kaṣṭa pāya tāra haya sarva-nāśa

अति कष्टे तुष कुटि’ तण्डुल ना पाय
भक्ति-शून्य ज्ञाने तथा वृथा दिन याय

ati kaṣṭe tuṣa kuṭi’ taṇḍula nā pāya
bhakti-śūnya jñāne tathā vṛthā dina yāya

Commentary: Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti:

Śrī Brahmā says, “O Lord, the hard work of those who disrespect the path of all-auspicious bhakti and strive to attain nirviśeṣa-brahma-jñāna (knowledge aimed at impersonal liberation) will only result in trouble. The path of bhakti is extremely straightforward, simple and easily attained without any effort. Śrī Bhagavān is pleased merely with a leaf or flower if it is offered with a heart full of love. But someone who leaves the service of the Supreme

Lord and endeavours to merge into brahma will only obtain misery.”