The pañcarātriki-vidhi means that if anyone has got little tendency for being elevated to the śreyaḥ platform, he should be given chance. That is called pañcarātriki-vidhi. Just like dīkṣā, initiation. Śūdras are not given initiation. A śūdra cannot be initiated. Only the brāhmins can be initiated, or dvija, or the vaiśyas and the kṣatriyas, the higher caste, not the śūdras. But according to pañcarātriki-vidhi, even the śūdras or less than the śūdras, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā (SB 2.4.18), everyone can be initiated by a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa; not by others. That is the system.
Devotee: Does one become elevated by following the karma-yoga principles only?
Prabhupāda: It will take a long, long time, and failure is possible. In this age, nothing is possible for the fallen people.
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
This is the injunction. If you want to be elevated to the perfectional stage of life, then you must chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. That will help you. No other method, measures, will help you. You can try for it, but there is every chance of failure. But if you follow this path, as enunciated by the śāstras and elaborated by Lord Caitanya, then there is chance. And actually we are seeing that is being done.
Revatīnandana: In the First Chapter, God Realization booklet, First Chapter, Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the process described there where it says that the gross materialists can begin meditating on the syllable oṁ, and then try to contemplate the universal form. That is not recommended for this age, right?
Prabhupāda: No, that is not for the advanced stage. Those who cannot . . . just like the materialistic person, they cannot understand why we are worshiping Deity. They are puzzled. They think, "Why these fools are taking one brass doll and worshiping as God?" They laugh. You see? They cannot understand. They are hard . . . what is called?
It is impossible for them. Therefore they have been recommended that "You think of God, the universal form." That they like, their meditation, that universal form. They cannot understand or concentrate on this form, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28), dvi-bhuja-muralīdhara, Śyāmasundara form. They cannot.
But by this arca process we are giving chance to everyone. But for the materialistic person it is difficult. They think that they are idol worshiper. But actually, the Vaiṣṇavas, they are not so fools that they will worship an idol. Therefore they have been recommended to concentrate on the universal form.