1022
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 25]
PURPORT
That knowledge and renunciation are never perfect unless joined by devotional service is explicitly explained here.  Na yujyamānayā  means without being dovetailed. When there is devotional service, then the question is where to offer that service. Devotional service is to be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul of everything, for that is the only reliable path of self-realization or Brahman realization. The word  brahma-siddhaye  means to understand oneself to be different from matter, to understand oneself to be Brahman. The Vedic words are  ahami brahmāsmi .  Brahma-siddhi  means that one should know that he is not matter; he is pure soul. There are different kinds of  yogīs , but every  yogī  is supposed to engage in self-realization or Brahman realization. It is clearly stated here that unless one is fully engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead one cannot have easy approach to the path of  brahma-siddhi .
In the beginning of the Second Chapter of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  it is stated that when one engages himself in the devotional service of  Vāsudeva , spiritual knowledge and renunciation of the material world automatically become manifest. Thus a devotee does not have to try separately for renunciation or knowledge. Devotional service itself is so powerful that by one's service attitude, everything is revealed. It is stated here,  śivaḥ panthā : this is the only auspicious path for self-realization. The path of devotional service is the most confidential means for attaining Brahman realization. That perfection in Brahman realization is attained through the auspicious path of devotional service indicates that the so-called Brahman realization or realization of the  brahmajyoti  effulgence is not  brahma-siddhi . Beyond that  brahmajyoti  there is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the  Upaniṣads  a devotee prays to the Lord to kindly put aside the effulgence,  brahmajyoti , so that the devotee may see within the  brahmajyoti  the actual eternal form of the Lord. Unless one attains realization of the transcendental form of the Lord, there is no question of  bhakti .  Bhakti  necessitates the existence of the recipient of devotional service and the devotee who renders devotional service.  Brahma-siddhi  through devotional service is realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The understanding of the effulgent rays of the body of the Supreme Godhead is not the perfect stage of  brahma-siddhi  or Brahman realization. Nor is the realization of the  Paramātmā  feature of the Supreme Person perfect because  Bhagavān , the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is  akhilātmā —He is the Supersoul. One who realizes the Supreme Personality