So bhakti-yoga means chanting. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). This is the beginning. Hear about Viṣṇu, chant about Viṣṇu. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. No, not any other. Śāstra says Viṣṇu. But there are many rascals, they say you can chant any name. Why? Why the śāstra says śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, chanting and hearing about Viṣṇu, not for any other god? That is not recommended. But they make. Because they are impersonalists, they have no God, they have made "God means imagination." But God is not imagination. God—here is Kṛṣṇa. He's not imagination. He says aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2), "I am the origin of everyone."
- ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
- mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
- iti matvā bhajante māṁ
- budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
- (BG 10.8)
So because you do not know what is God, so our life is void. But here Kṛṣṇa is personally coming, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). What is that glāni? Dharmasya glāniḥ. That you are very dharmika, so-called dharmika, but you have no understanding what is God—that is nonsense. That is not dharma. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharma means the order of God. That if you do not know God, if you manufacture your God, "God has no head, no mouth, no nose, no nothing, no, no, no, ultimately zero..." Ultimately zero. So there are two kinds of dangerous person. One person is atheist, agnostic. And another person is Māyāvādī, impersonalist. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādī. Therefore these two things are mentioned: Māyāvādī, "God means has no head, no leg," and śūnyavādī, "There is no God." So the person who says "There is no God," he's gentleman, because he does not believe. But the person who takes the shelter of Vedas and professes that "I am vaidika, I am vedāntī," and refuses the form of God, he's more dangerous.
It is the statement of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika
vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda bauddhake adhika
The nāstika, the Buddhists, they are called nāstika according to our śāstra, because Lord Buddha denied the existence, the authority of the Vedas.
- nindasi yajña-vidher ahaha śruti-jātaṁ
- sadaya-hṛdaya darśita-paśu-ghātam
- keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare
Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra. Keśava, Kṛṣṇa has come, taking the form of Lord Buddha. We Vaiṣṇava, we worship Lord Buddha as the incarnation of Keśava, Kṛṣṇa, but we don't accept his philosophy. So there is a great history. We have mentioned many times. So these Buddhists, they say that "We do not recognize your Vedas." So veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika. Therefore we call them agnostic. They do not... Because why we do not accept them authority? Because if you do not accept the authority of the Vedas, then you become godless immediately. Because Kṛṣṇa said vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). If you do not understand Vedic knowledge, if you do not understand Vedānta, if you do not understand Upaniṣad—without understanding this Vedic knowledge, understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is vague. It is no clear idea. Therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has said,
- śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-
- pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā
- aikāntikī harer bhaktir
- utpātāyaiva kalpate
- (Brs. 1.2.101)
If one is not in awareness of the conclusion of Vedas, conclusion of the smṛti, conclusion of the Purāṇas, and pañcarātra-vidhi. Nārada-pañcarātra, aikāntikī harer bhaktiḥ, without reference to this Vedic literature, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has said utpāta, simply disturbance. Simply a disturbance.