804
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 20]
भवत्पदानुसरणादते सतां निमित्तमन्यद्भगवत्र विब्रहे ॥२९॥
bhajanty atha tvām ata eva sādhavo vyudasta-māyā-guṇa-vibhramodayam bhavat-padānusmaraṇād ṛte satām nimittam anyad bhagavan na vidmahe
bhajanti —they worship;  atha —therefore;  tvām —You;  ata eva —therefore;  sādhavaḥ —all saintly persons;  vyudasta —who dispel;  māyā-guṇa —the modes of material nature;  vibhrama —misconceptions;  udayam —produced;  bhavat —Your;  pada —lotus feet;  anusmaraṇāt —constantly remembering;  ṛte —except;  satām —of great saintly persons;  nimittam —reason;  anyat —other;  bhagavan —O Supreme Personality of Godhead;  na —not;  vidmahe —I can understand.
TRANSLATION
Great saintly persons who are always liberated take to Your devotional service because only by devotional service can one be relieved from the illusions of material existence. O my Lord, there is no other reason for the liberated souls to take shelter at Your lotus feet except for the fact that they are constantly thinking of them.
PURPORT
The  karmīs  are generally engaged in fruitive activities for material bodily comforts. The  jñānīs , however, are disgusted with searching after material comforts. They understand that they have nothing to do with this material world, being spirit souls. After self-realization, the  jñānīs  who are actually matured in their knowledge must surrender unto the lotus feet of the Lord, as is stated in  Bhagavad-gītā  ( bahūnām janmanām ante ). Self-realization is not complete unless one comes to the devotional platform. Therefore it is stated in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  that those who are  ātmārāma , self-satisfied, are freed from all contaminations of the material modes of nature. As long as one is affected by the modes of material nature, especially by  rajaḥ  and  tamaḥ , he will be very greedy and lusty and will therefore engage in hard tasks, laboring all day and night. Such false egoism carries one from one species of life into another perpetually, and there is no rest in any species of life. The  jñānī  understands this fact and therefore ceases to work and takes to  karma-sannyāsa .