Here is one type of order, "Thou shalt not kill," and here is one type of order, that,
- sarva-dharmān parityajya
- mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja
- (BG 18.66)
"You give up all types of occupational duty and you simply surrender unto Me." To whom the instruction is given? To Arjuna. So according to the country, according to the position, time, religious instructions are there. So therefore you cannot say all religions are on the same platform—because the people are different. But if you can transcend all types of religions and simply surrender unto the Supreme Lord, that is real religion. That is real religion.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says,
- sarva-dharmān parityajya
- mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja
- (BG 18.66)
And in the Bhagavad-gītā . . . Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo (SB 1.2.6). That is first-class religion. You can compare all types of religion. According to your judgment, you can say, "This religion is first class, this religion is third class." That you can say, and there is like that, because the whole material nature is controlled by three modes of material nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. So some of the religions are on the group of goodness; some of them are on the group of passion; some of them are in the group of ignorance. But everyone's aim is to make some link with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But it is executed according to the time, circumstances, mentality, like that.
Therefore if the chief aim is God realization, by any religion, the Bhāgavata recommends that type of religion is first class which directly gives connection with God. That is first class.
- sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
- yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
- (SB 1.2.6)
Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whom you cannot realize by your material senses. God is there, but because we cannot realize, therefore somebody is saying, "God has no form," "There is no God," "God is dead," "God is impersonal," "God is void." That means they have no actually knowledge what is God. They have, they know that there is God, but they do not know actually what is God. But this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is giving, presenting, the Supreme Personality of Godhead direct: "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa. Here is God." God says personally,
- mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
- kiñcid asti dhanañjaya
- (BG 7.7)
"There is no more superior truth than beyond Myself." And śāstra confirms, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28): the Supreme Personality of Godhead, personally.