In this world, there are more than 200 religions. Are they all going to reach Krishna through pure bhakti? Unfortunately, the answer is ‘no’ and is very deep.
Lord Krishna wants only His pure hearted devotees to reach Him – not others. For others, He has His expansions, demi-gods and devatas, who can be reached instead.
*1. Mundane Religions cannot reach Krishna*
Srimad Bhagavatam says that Lord Krishna cannot be understood or reached by following mundane religions that come and go in hundreds. All these are targeted to get comfort, wealth, material happiness and heavenly pleasure: dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Krishna bhakti is way higher.
dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt… SB 1.1.2
“Completely rejecting all religious activities which are *materially motivated*, this Bhāgavata Purāṇa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all…”
The core point in the above sloka is that any religion that has material and selfish motives should be thrown away, and Srimad Bhagavatam is the one that gives the ultimate goal of pure devotion to Krishna. Thus, by this verse, all the mundane religions are thrown out.
*2. Asuric people are thrown away from Krishna*
Lord Krishna took a step of throwing all the asuric minded people away from Him. He asked Lord Siva to cheat those by teaching the Mayavada philosophy. Thus Lord Siva who is the first Vaishnava, came down as Sripad Sankaracharya to teach the ‘asad sastram’ the mayavada. Here is a segment from Jaiva Dharma (chapter 18) about this as why Krishna did that:
*Vrajanātha:* Prabhu, why did Mahadeva (Lord Siva) perform such an ugly task,
when he is the leader of the devatas and the foremost among Vaishnavas?
*Babaji:* Sri Mahadeva is Bhagavãn’s guna-avatara. The supremely merciful Lord saw the asuras taking to the path of bhakti and wor-shiping Him to get fruitive results and to fulfill their wicked desires. He then thought, “The asuras are troubling the devotees by polluting the path of devotional service, but the path of bhakti should be freed from this pollution.” Thinking thus, He called for Lord Shiva and said, “O Sambhu! It is not auspicious for this material world if My pure bhakti is taught amongst those who are in the mode of ignorance and whose character is asurika. You should preach from sastra and spread Mayavada philosophy in such a way that the asuras become enamored and I remain concealed from them. Those whose character is asurika will leave the path of pure devotional service and take shelter of Mayāvãda, and this will give My gentle bhaktas the chance to taste pure devotional service unhindered.”
*3. Even the so called Krishna devotees also may not get Krishna*
In the name of Krishna Consciousness there are big businesses, controlling people, politics and all they all are going on nowadays. Even though they think that they are under a parampara to give pure devotion, one should think deeply by seeing what these organizations are actually doing. Organizations cannot give Krishna. Only a pure devotee of Krishna can give Krishna. Those jivas who fall as the victims of these money making and fame oriented organizations cannot give pure bhakti to Krishna. We are seeing recently how these organizations are fighting against one another even on basic philosophy!
In summary, why should Lord Krishna arrange so many ways so that most of the jivas are getting cheated? The answer is due to the intrinsic nature of the individual jivas. Preme bhakti to Krishna is not for everyone, and can be obtained only by the mercy of pure devotees. Who is a pure devotee?
na dhanaḿ na janaḿ na sundarīḿ
kavitāḿ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi .. Sikshashtakam – 4
“O Lord of the universe, I do not desire wealth, followers (many disciples) and relations such as wife, sons, friends and relatives, or mundane knowledge (jnana). My only desire, O Lord, is that in birth after birth I may have unmotivated devotion unto Your lotus feet.”
So, let us genuinely cry for Krishna for help and let Him send a pure devotee with above qualification as a guru. Otherwise we all will be cheated and cannot get prema bhakto to Krishna.