Text 4]
Vidura's Talks with Maitreya
163
tat —therefore;  sādhuvarya —O great one amongst the saints;  ādiśa —please instruct;  vartma —the path;  śam —auspicious;  naḥ —for us;  saṁrādhitaḥ —being perfectly served;  bhagavān —the Personality of Godhead;  yena —by which;  puṁsām —of the living entity;  hṛdi sthitaḥ —residing in the heart;  yacchati —awards;  bhaktipūte —unto the unalloyed devotee;  jñānam —knowledge;  sa —that;  tattva —truth;  adhigamam —by which one learns;  purāṇam —authorized, old.
TRANSLATION
Therefore, O great sage, please give me instruction on the transcendental devotional service of the Lord, so that He who is situated in the heart of everyone can be pleased to impart, from within, knowledge of the Absolute Truth in terms of the ancient Vedic principles delivered only to those who are purified by the process of devotional service.
PURPORT
As already explained in the First Canto of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , the Absolute Truth is realized in three different phases—although they are one and the same—in terms of the knower's capacity to understand. The most capable transcendentalist is the pure devotee of the Lord who is without any tinge of fruitive actions or philosophical speculation. By devotional service only does one's heart become completely purified from all material coverings like  karma ,  jñāna  and  yoga . Only in such a purified stage does the Lord, who is seated in everyone's heart with the individual soul, give instruction so that the devotee can reach the ultimate destination of going back home, back to Godhead. This is confirmed in  Bhagavadgītā  (Bg. 10.10):  teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatām . Only when the Lord is satisfied with the devotional service of the devotee does He impart knowledge, as He did for Arjuna and Uddhava.
The  jñānīs ,  yogīs  and  karmīs  cannot expect this direct cooperation of the Lord. They are not able to satisfy the Lord by transcendental loving service, nor do they believe in such service to the Lord. The  bhakti  process, as performed under the regulative principles of  vaidhī-bhakti , or devotional service following the prescribed rules and regulations, is defined by the revealed scriptures and confirmed by great  ācāryas . This practice can help the neophyte devotee to rise to the stage of  rāga-bhakti , in which the Lord responds from within as the  caitta-guru  or the spiritual master as Superconsciousness. All transcendentalists other than devotees do not make any distinction between the individual soul and the Supersoul because they miscalculate the Superconsciousness and individual consciousness to be