6
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 14]
become factually liberated. When one understands the futility of the materialistic way of life, one becomes advanced in knowledge, and therefore he situates himself in the  vānaprastha  order, unattached to family, wife and children. One should then further progress to the platform of  sannyāsa , the actual renounced order, never to fall again and be afflicted by materialistic life. Even though one desires to be liberated, this does not mean he is liberated. Only rarely is someone liberated. Indeed, although many men take  sannyāsa  to become liberated, because of their imperfections they again become attached to women, material activities, social welfare work and so on.
Jñānīs ,  yogīs  and  karmīs  devoid of devotional service are called offenders. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,  māyāvādī kṛṣṇe aparādhī : one who thinks that everything is  māyā  instead of thinking that everything is  Kṛṣṇa  is called an  aparādhī , or offender. Although the Māyāvādīs, impersonalists, are offenders at the lotus feet of  Kṛṣṇa , they may nonetheless be counted among the  siddhas , those who have realized the self. They may be considered nearer to spiritual perfection because at least they have realized what spiritual life is. If such a person becomes  nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa , a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, he is better than a  jīvan-mukta , one who is liberated or perfect. This requires higher intelligence.
There are two kinds of  jñānīs . One is inclined to devotional service and the other to impersonal realization. Impersonalists generally undergo great endeavor for no tangible benefit, and therefore it is said that they are husking paddy that has no grain ( sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinaḥ ). The other class of  jñānīs , whose  jñāna  is mixed with  bhakti , are also of two kinds—those who are devoted to the so-called false form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and those who understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead as  sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha , the actual spiritual form. The Māyāvādī devotees worship Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu with the idea that Viṣṇu has accepted a form of  māyā  and that the ultimate truth is actually impersonal. The pure devotee, however, never thinks that Viṣṇu has accepted a body of  māyā ; instead, he knows perfectly well that the original Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person. Such a devotee is actually situated in knowledge. He never merges in the Brahman effulgence. As stated in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (10.2.32):