492
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 9]
go back home, back to Godhead, without any doubt. In other places also the same order is there, that one should give up all other engagements and fully surrender unto the Lord without any hesitation. And the Lord will give such a devotee all protection. And these are the secrets of attaining the highest perfectional stage. Lord Brahmā exactly followed these principles without any superiority complex, and thus he attained the highest perfectional stage of experiencing the abode of the Lord and the Lord Himself with all His paraphernalia. Impersonal realization of the effulgence of the body of the Lord is not the highest perfectional stage, nor is the stage of Paramātmā realization. The word  manīṣita  is significant. Everyone is falsely or factually proud of his so-called learning. But the Lord says that the highest perfectional stage of learning is to know Him and His abode, devoid of all illusion.
TEXT 23
प्रत्यादिष्टं मया तत्र त्वयि कर्मविमोहिते । तपो मे हृदयं साक्षादात्माहं तपसोऽनघ ॥२३॥
pratyādiṣṭam mayā tatra tvayi karma-vimohite tapo me hṛdayam sākṣād- ātmāham tapaso 'nagha
pratyādiṣṭam—ordered by; mayā—by Me; tatra—because of; tvayi—unto you; karma—duty; vimohite—being perplexed; tapah—penance; me—Mine; hṛdayam—heart; sākṣāt—directly; ātmā—life and soul; aham—Myself; tapasah—of one who is engaged in penance; anagha—O sinless one.
TRANSLATION
O Brahmā, the sinless, you may know from Me that it was I who ordered you to undergo penance at first on your being perplexed in your duty, because such penance is My heart and soul, and because of that, penance and I are nondifferent.
PURPORT
The penance by which one can see the Personality of Godhead eye to eye is to be understood as devotional service to the Lord and nothing else