124
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 9, Ch. 11]
devotees are persons. Indeed, the living entities, like the Lord, were persons in the past, they are persons in the present, and they will continue to be persons even after giving up the body. This is also confirmed in  Bhagavad-gītā .
TEXT 23
पुरुषो रामचरितं श्रवणैरुपधारयन् । आनृशंस्यपरो राजन् कर्मबन्धैर्विमुच्यते ॥२३॥
puruṣo rāma-caritam   śravaṇair upadhārayan   āṇṛśaṁsya-paro rājan   karma-bandhair vimucyate
puruṣaḥ —any person;  rāma-caritam —the narration concerning the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Rāmacandra;  śravaṇaiḥ —by aural reception;  upadhārayan —simply by this process of hearing;  āṇṛśaṁsya-paraḥ —becomes completely free from envy;  rājan —O King Parikṣit;  karma-bandhaiḥ —by the bondage of fruitive activities;  vimucyate —one becomes liberated.
TRANSLATION
O King Parikṣit, anyone who aurally receives the narrations concerning the characteristics of Lord Rāmacandra’s pastimes will ultimately be freed from the disease of envy and thus be liberated from the bondage of fruitive activities.
PURPORT
Here in this material world, everyone is envious of someone else. Even in religious life, it is sometimes found that if one devotee has advanced in spiritual activities, other devotees are envious of him. Such envious devotees are not completely freed from the bondage of birth and death. As long as one is not completely free from the cause of birth and death, one cannot enter the  sanātana-dhāma  or the eternal pastimes of the Lord. One becomes envious because of being influenced by the designations of the body, but the liberated devotee has nothing to do with the