When we do something evil, the sanction is from the Lord, but it is not willing sanction. Against the will of the Lord. And when you do something in cooperation with the Lord, that is called bhakti. We are doing everything... In the material world we are doing everything, all nonsense for sense gratification. There is also sanction of the Lord, but that is unwilling sanction. But when we execute devotional service, loving devotional service, that is very pleasing to the Lord.
So the bhakti-yoga means acting by pleasing the Lord. That's all. That is the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You are not forbidden to do this thing or that thing, but you have to see only whether by your action the Supreme Lord is satisfied. That's all. That much knowledge you must have. Then your life will be successful. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says,
- ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā
- varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ
- svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya
- saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam
- (SB 1.2.13)
Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā. This verse was spoken by Sūta Gosvāmī, who was speaking before a very learned gathering at Naimiṣāraṇya. It is the system of Vedic system, that... Not Vedic system; everywhere, all over the world. Any civilized society there is nice speaker, learned speaker, and many persons hear him. That is the system from very old time. So Sūta Gosvāmī, he was representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and he was addressing very learned brāhmaṇas. So he's addressing, dvija-śreṣṭhā. Śreṣṭhā means the, I mean to say, picked-up, the topmost of the brāhmaṇas. They were topmost of the brāhmaṇas; still, they require knowledge. Knowledge is so nice that even if you think that you are very learned, you are well versed in everything, still, you require knowledge. That should be our motto. Don't think that "I have finished." Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught this lesson in His life, that He represented Himself as a fool. So everyone should think of himself that "I am still a fool." Just like it is said that Sir Isaac Newton... He was such a learned man, but he used to say that "I have simply collected a few grains of sand from the beach of knowledge." Knowledge is so vast that his knowledge was simply a few grains of the vast amount of sand of knowledge. So everyone should think like that. Caitanya-caritāmṛta kaj, the author, he says that "I am lowest than the germs in the stool. I have no knowledge." So the more you become advanced in knowledge, you'll know that how insignificant you are in comparison to the Supreme. Yes.