114
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 2]
may be compared to certain species of fish, who, being born in the rivers and rivulets, migrate to the great ocean. They cannot stay in the ocean indefinitely, for their urge for sense gratification brings them back to the rivers and streams to spawn. Similarly, when the materialist becomes frustrated in his attempts to enjoy himself in the limited material world, he may seek impersonal liberation by merging either with the Causal Ocean or with the impersonal  brahmajyoti  effulgence. However, as neither the Causal Ocean nor the impersonal  brahmajyoti  effulgence afford any superior substitute for association and engagement of the senses, the impersonalist will fall again into the limited material world to become entangled once more in the wheel of births and deaths, drawn on by the inextinguishable desire for sense engagement. But any devotee who enters the kingdom of God by transcendental engagement of senses in devotional service, and associates with the liberated souls and the Personality of Godhead there, will never be attracted to the limited surroundings of the material world.
In the  Bhagavad-gītā  (Bg. 8.15) also the same is confirmed, as the Lord says, “The great  mahātmās , or the  bhakti-yogīs , after attaining My association, never come back to this material world, which is full of miseries and is nonpermanent.” The highest perfection of life is therefore to attain His association, and nothing else. The  bhakti-yogī , being completely engaged in the Lord’s service, has no attraction for any other process of liberation like  jñāna  or  yoga . A pure devotee is a one hundred percent devotee of the Lord and nothing more.
We should further note in this verse the two words  śāntam  and  ānandam , which denote that devotional service of the Lord can really bestow upon the devotee two important benedictions, namely peace and satisfaction. The impersonalist is desirous of becoming one with the Supreme, or in other words, he wants to become the Supreme, which is a myth only; and the mystic  yogīs  become encumbered by various mystic powers and so have neither peace nor satisfaction. So neither the impersonalist nor the  yogī  can have real peace and satisfaction, but the devotee can become fully peaceful and satisfied because of his association with the complete whole. Therefore merging in the Absolute or attaining some mystic powers have no attraction for the devotee.
Attainment of love of Godhead means complete freedom from any other attraction. The conditioned soul has many attractions, such as becoming a religious man, or a rich man, or a first-class enjoyer or becoming God himself, or becoming powerful like the mystics and acting wonderfully by getting anything or doing anything, but all these aspirations should be