Man (9): Do you believe in the essential unity of religious paths in such a way that soon people will take to God and yoga?
Madhudviṣa: He said do you believe in any unity between religious paths.
Prabhupāda: Yes, religion is only one. Just like religion . . . our definition of religion is dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19):
(Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṇas.)
"Religion means the laws and the codes given by God." That is religion. Now, God is one. God cannot be two. And what He says, that is also one. So if we accept that one law of God, that is religion. Then there is unity. But if you create your own religion by your imagination, that is another thing. Religion means the laws given by . . . just like state law. State law is acceptable by everyone. I have given this instance: the state law is that "Keep to the right" or "left." Everyone accepts. There is no disunity. So if we actually take the words of God, then there is unity. But if we do not take, if we create our own system of religion, that is a different thing.
Man (9): But this is, in fact, what we do. This is how we exist, by our own government. By no other government, by no other observable government.
Prabhupāda: But the question was unity. If you take only the word and the codes of God, there is unity. Otherwise there is disunity. If you say that "State may say that 'Keep to the left.' I will go to the right," that is your decision. But people accept. This is law. Similarly . . . that is our definition, that "First-class religion is that which teaches its follower how to love God." That is first-class religion. We don't say that Christianity is first class or Hinduism first class, or . . . no. Any religion which teaches or trains one perfectly how to love God, that is first-class religion.