Prabhupada 0736 - Give Up All These So-called or Cheating Type of Religious System
Arrival Lecture -- Calcutta, March 20, 1975
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not name any particular type of religion. It says, "That religion, that system of religion, is first class," sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ (SB 1.2.6), "transcendental." This Hinduism, Muslimism, Christianism, they are all prākṛta, mundane. But we have to go, transcend, this prākṛta, or mundane conception of religion—"We are Hindus," "We are Muslim," "We are Christian." Just like gold. Gold is gold. Gold cannot be Hindu gold or Christian gold or Muhammadan gold. Nobody... Because a lump of gold is in the hand of Hindu or in the Muslim, nobody will say, "It is Muslim gold," "It is Hindu gold." Everyone will say, "It is gold." So we have to select gold—not the Hindu gold or Muslim gold or Christian gold. When Lord Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), He did not mean this Hindu religion or Muslim religion. These are designated. So we have to come to the platform where it is pure; there is no designation. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." This is real religion. Without this conception, any kind of designated religion, that is prākṛta. That is not transcendental.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is transcendental, paro dharmaḥ. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ. Para means "above," above the so-called religious system. So this is not our manufactured things. It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the beginning, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra (SB 1.1.2): "Any kind of kaitavaḥ, pretentious or false, illusory," kaitavaḥ. Kaitavaḥ means cheating. "Cheating type of religion is rejected, thrown away," projjhita. Prākṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa ujjhita. Just like we sweep over the floor, we take the last particle of dust and throw it away, similarly, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious means we have to give up all these so-called or cheating type of religious system. Because experience has shown that following the so many different designated religious systems, nobody has attained the platform of how to love God. Nobody has attained. This is practical experience. It is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He introduced. But Lord Kṛṣṇa gave hint that "This is real religion, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. This is religion." Any other religion, system of religion, which does not train the followers how to love God, that is cheating type of religion. To... Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, premā pum-artho mahān. And Bhāgavata says also same thing. Real achievement of success in life is how to love God, or Kṛṣṇa. That is the highest perfection of life.