Text 12]
Mahārāja Pṛthu's Going Back Home
989
TRANSLATION
When he became completely free from the conception of bodily life, Mahārāja Pṛthu realized Lord Kṛṣṇa sitting in everyone's heart as the Paramātmā. Being thus able to get all instructions from Him, he gave up all other practices of yoga and jñāna. He was not even interested in the perfection of the yoga and jñāna systems, for he thoroughly realized that devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal of life and that unless the yogīs and jñānīs become attracted to Kṛṣṇa-kathā [narrations about Kṛṣṇa], their illusions concerning existence can never be dispelled.
PURPORT
As long as one is too much absorbed in the bodily conception of life, he becomes interested in many different processes of self-realization, such as the mystic  yoga  system or the system utilizing the speculative empiric methods. However, when one understands that the ultimate goal of life is to approach Kṛṣṇa, he realizes Kṛṣṇa within everyone's heart and therefore helps everyone who is interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Actually the perfection of life depends on one's inclination to hear about Kṛṣṇa. It is therefore mentioned in this verse:  yāvad gadāgraja-kathāsu ratiṁ na kuryāt . Unless one becomes interested in Kṛṣṇa, in His pastimes and activities, there is no question of liberation by means of  yoga  practice or speculative knowledge.
Having attained to the stage of devotion, Mahārāja Pṛthu became uninterested in the practices of  jñāna  and  yoga  and abandoned them. This is the stage of pure devotional life as described by Rūpa Gosvāmī:  anyābhilāṣitāśūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam/ ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā . Real  jñāna  means understanding that the living entity is the eternal servant of the Lord. This knowledge is attained after many, many births, as confirmed in  Bhagavad-gītā :  bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate  (Bg. 7.19). In the  paramahaṁsa  stage of life, one fully realizes Kṛṣṇa as everything:  vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ . When one understands fully that Kṛṣṇa is everything and that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the highest perfection of life, he becomes a  paramahaṁsa , or  mahātmā . Such a  mahātmā  or  paramahaṁsa  is very rare to find. A  paramahaṁsa  or pure devotee is never attracted by  haṭha-yoga  or speculative knowledge. He is simply interested in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord. Sometimes one who is formally addicted to these processes tries to perform devotional service and the  jñāna  and  yoga  practices at the same time, but as soon as one comes to the unalloyed stage of devotional service, he is