This text offers a warning that those who worship the demigods rather than the Absolute enter into the darkest regions of ignorance; but it also warns that those who worship the impersonal Absolute are even worse. The Mayavadi thinkers look to God in an impersonal fashion, they see only the Brahman as the Absolute, which means that they never come to know the personality of the Godhead.
Bhagavad-Gita (2.2) teaches that we can know the Absolute in three stages. The initial stage is that of Brahman, the second is that of Paramatma, and the final stage is that of Bhagavan. If, like the Mayavadi, one perceives of the Brahman as the Absolute, then one imagines the Godhead to be formless and lacking in qualities. However, as Srila Prabhupada explains, “such negative qualities are simply the reversals of relative material qualities and are therefore also relative. By conceiving of the Absolute in this way, one can at the utmost reach the impersonal effulgence of God, known as Brahman, but one cannot make further progress to Bhagavan, the Personality of Godhead” (p.84). Such a person looks forward to simply fading into non-existence. However, as Vedic scripture indicates, Lord Sri Krsna is the Absolute, as Bhagavan, the Personality of Godhead, and only those devotees who have surrendered unto Him will escape the material bondage of this world and return to Godhead.
Those who worship the demigods are also misled. To worship the demigods (Brahma, Agni, etc.) is to worship a temporary, created, deity for the purpose of sense-gratification. The demigods may have incredibly long lives, but they are not eternal. They still have a beginning, and therefore will have an end. One will offer sacrifice to a demigod to aid one through areas of material difficulty, but this is a temporary fix. If one puts all of their faith in the demigods, then on may be elevated to a different celestial sphere, but it is still material, and will lead to suffering and death.
For example, if one were to worship Brahma, the first created being, one might be elevated to Brahmaloka, the planet of Brahma, and one might live for 100.000 years, whereas on this earth one would at best reach 100 years. However, this is still temporal and subject to the problems of temporality. Only when one surrenders through loving devotion and service to Bhagavan, Lord Sri Krsna, does one have the opportunity of being transported back to Godhead. While Krsna is manifest throughout the universe, He never leaves Krsnaloka. He remains there so that those who are taken there are with Him and able to serve Him and enjoy His pastimes eternally.
This is another reason it is so important to have a bona fide guru within the disciplic succession as others are apt to mislead. A genuine acarya such as Srila Prabhupada does not mislead.
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