172
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 5]
activities. Speculative knowledge and pious activity do not solve the problems of material life. One should be inquisitive to understand his spiritual position. As stated in  Bhagavad-gītā  (4.37):
yathaidhāṁsi samiddho 'gnir bhasmasāt kurute 'rjuna jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi bhasmasāt kurute tathā
“As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.”
Unless one understands the self and its activities, one has to be considered in material bondage. In  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (10.2.32) it is also said:  ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ . A person who doesn't have knowledge of devotional service may think himself liberated, but actually he is not.  Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ : such people may approach the impersonal Brahman effulgence, but they fall down again into material enjoyment because they have no knowledge of devotional service. As long as one is interested in  karma  and  jñāna , he continues enduring the miseries of material life—birth, old age, disease and death.  Karmīs  certainly take on one body after another. As far as  jñānīs  are concerned, unless they are promoted to the topmost understanding, they must return to the material world. As explained in  Bhagavad-gītā  (7.19):  bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate . The point is to know  Kṛṣṇa ,  Vāsudeva , as everything and surrender unto Him.  Karmīs  do not know this, but a devotee who is one hundred percent engaged in the devotional service of the Lord knows fully what is  karma  and  jñāna ; therefore a pure devotee is no longer interested in  karma  or  jñāna .  Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādyanāvṛtam . The real  bhakta  is untouched by any tinge of  karma  and  jñāna . His only purpose in life is to serve the Lord.
TEXT 6
एवं मनः कर्मवशं प्रयुङ्क्ते अविद्ययाऽऽत्मन्युपधीयमाने