Devotional Service Surpasses All Liberation 39

There is a similar statement in the Tenth Canto, 87th Chapter,
17th verse, when the Srutis, the Vedas personified, prayed to the
Lord as follows: ‘“‘My dear Lord, it is very difficult to understand
spiritual knowledge. Your appearance here just as You are, is to
explain to us this most difficult subject of knowledge of the spirit.
As such, Your devotees who have left their domestic comforts to
associate with the liberated dcdryas [teachers] are now fully merged
in the devotional service of Your Lordship, and thus they do not
care for any so-called liberation.”

In explaining this verse it should be noted that spiritual knowledge
means understanding the self and the supersoul, or superself. The
individual soul and the supersoul are qualitatively one, and therefore
both of them are known as Brahman, or spirit. But knowledge of
Brahman is very difficult to understand. There are so many philoso-
phers engaged in the matter of understanding the soul, but they are
unable to make any tangible advancement. It is confirmed in the
Bhagavad-gita that out of many millions of persons, only one may
try to understand what is spiritual knowledge, and out of many
such persons who are trying to understand, only one or a few may
know what is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So this verse
says that spiritual knowledge is very difficult to achieve, and so
in order to make it more easily attainable, the Supreme Lord Himself
comes in His original form as Sri Krsna and gives His instruction
directly to an associate like Arjuna, just so that the people in general
may take advantage of this spiritual knowledge. This verse also
explains that liberation means having completely given up all
the material comforts of life. Those who are impersonalists are
satisfied by simply being liberated from the material circumstances,
but those who are devotees can automatically give up material life
and also enjoy the transcendenfal bliss of hearing and chanting the
wonderful activities of Lord Krsna.

In the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, 20th Chapter, 34th
verse, Lord Krsna says to Uddhava as follows: ‘‘My dear Uddhava,
the devotees who have completely taken shelter of My service are so
steadfast in devotional service that they have no other desire. Even
