Text 32]
Prayers by the Demigods
173
achieving;  kṛcchreṇa —by undergoing severe austerities, penances and hard labor;  param padam —the highest position (according to their imagination and speculation);  tataḥ —from that position;  patanti —they fall;  adhaḥ —down into material existence again;  anādṛta —neglecting devotion to;  yuṣmat —Your;  aṅghrayaḥ —lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.
PURPORT
Aside from devotees, there are many others, nondevotees, known as  karmīs ,  jñānīs  or  yogīs , philanthropists, altruists, politicians, impersonalists and voidists. There are many varieties of nondevotees who have their respective ways of liberation, but simply because they do not know the shelter of the Lord's lotus feet, although they falsely think that they have been liberated and elevated to the highest position, they fall down. As clearly stated by the Lord Himself in  Bhagavad-gītā  (9.3):
aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani
“Those who are not faithful on the path of devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of foes, but return to birth and death in this material world.” It doesn't matter whether one is a  karmī ,  jñānī ,  yogī , philanthropist, politician or whatever; if one has no love for the lotus