So karma, jñāna, yoga, then bhakti. So karmaṇā, karma niyahara na tantritaṁ bhaviṣyati. We have discussed this. By karma you cannot nullify something . . . (break) So because everyone has got that tendency, the śāstra gives them chance to act, fruitive activities. Because by working, working, one day it will come when he will be not interested working any more. Then athāto brahma jijñāsā (Vedānta-sūtra). Jñāna. Jñāna also, theoretical. It has been seen that theoretical knowledge, even one has come to the platform of Brahman . . . āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho (SB 10.2.32). There are many examples. Simply theoretical knowledge will not help us. Our main aim is how to become perfect.
So by karma we cannot become perfect perpetually. Just like I have given several times the example that in spite of so much education and universities and advancement of civili . . . nobody is perfect in the modern civilization, even, not even honest. In spite of education, so much learning . . . I have given this example many times. This is tested in the airport, that everyone is examined about his dishonest. That means nobody is honest. So this will not help. If you want to make the world perfect, then not by karma, neither by mental speculation. That is not possible. The only means is bhakti, especially in this age. In this Kali-yuga people are very much embarrassed. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutaḥ (SB 1.1.10). Manda-bhāgyā. Even nobody is happy in his family life, so unfortunate, manda-bhāgyā. That is practical. So these things will not help, especially in this age.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī suggested for kecit, "somebody," not all. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness understanding is very easy, at the same time very difficult also. So therefore here it is said kevalā bhaktyā. Kevalā means only bhakti, without any jñāna, karma, yoga. That is kevalā bhakti. That is pure devotion, bhakti. Tan manye adhītam uttamam (SB 7.5.24). Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he was asked by his father that "What the best thing you have learned? What is the best thing?" he said this: kevalā bhakti. Kevalā bhakti.
- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
- sākhyam ātma-nive . . .
- (SB 7.5.23)
If we simply stick to these principles of kevalā bhakti, even simply by hearing, śravaṇaṁ . . . just like we are holding class everywhere, in every center. If somebody simply hears attentively, he'll be perfect. This is bhakti: simply hearing. Or śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, or describing or chanting the holy name, he'll be perfect. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇu . . . but Viṣṇu, about Lord Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa.