1042
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 25]
येऽन्योन्यतो भागवताः प्रसज्य सभाजयन्ते मम पौरुषाणि ॥३४॥
naikātmatām me spṛhayanti kecin- mat-pāda-sevābhiratā mad-īhāḥ ye 'nyonyato bhāgavatāḥ prasajya sabhājayante mama pauruṣāṇi
na —never;  eka-ātmatām —merging into oneness;  me —My;  spṛhayanti —they desire;  kecit —any;  mat-pāda-sevā —the service of My lotus feet;  abhiratāḥ —engaged in;  mat-īhāḥ —endeavoring to attain Me;  ye —those who;  anyonyataḥ —mutually;  bhāgavatāḥ —pure devotees;  prasajya —assembling;  sabhājayante —glorify;  mama —My;  pauruṣāṇi —glorious activities.
TRANSLATION
A pure devotee who is attached to the activities of devotional service and who always engages in the service of My lotus feet never desires to become one with Me. Such a devotee, who is unflinchingly engaged, always glorifies My pastimes and activities.
PURPORT
There are five kinds of liberation stated in the scriptures. One is to become one with the Supreme Personality of Godhead or to forsake one's individuality and merge into the Supreme Spirit. This is called  ekātmatām . A devotee never accepts this kind of liberation. The other four liberations are to be promoted to the same planet as God,  Vaikuṇṭha , to associate personally with the Supreme Lord, to achieve the same opulence as the Lord and to attain the same bodily features as the Supreme Lord. A pure devotee, as will be explained by Kapila Muni, does not aspire for any of the five liberations. He especially despises as hellish becoming one with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, a great devotee of Lord Caitanya, said  kaivalyam narakāyate : "The happiness of becoming one with the Supreme Lord, which is aspired to by the Māyāvādīs, is considered to be hellish." That oneness is not for pure devotees.
There are many so-called devotees who think that in the conditioned state we may worship the Personality of Godhead, but ultimately there is no personality; they say that since the Absolute Truth is impersonal, one