Text 4] Vidura’s Talks with Maitreya 163
tat—therefore; sadhuvarya—O great one amongst the saints; ddisa—please
instruct; vartma—the path; Sam—auspicious; nah—for us; samradhitah—
being perfectly served; bhagavén—the Personality of Godhead; yena—
by which; purisdm—of the living entity; hydi sthitah—residing in the heart;
yacchati—awards; bhaktipite—unto the unalloyed devotee; jfidnam—knowl-
edge; sa—that; tattva—truth; adhigamam—by which one learns; purdnam—
authorized, old. '
TRANSLATION

Therefore, O great sage, please give me instruction on the transcendental
devotional service of the Lord, so that He who is situated in the heart of
everyone can be pleased to impart, from within, knowledge of the Absolute
Truth in terms of the ancient Vedic principles delivered only to those who
are purified by the process of devotional service.

PURPORT

As already explained in the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the
Absolute Truth is realized in three different phases—although they are
one and the same—in terms of the knower’s capacity to understand. The
most capable transcendentalist is the pure devotee of the Lord who is
without any tinge of fruitive actions or philosophical speculation. By
devotional service only does one’s heart become completely purified from
all material coverings like karma, jnana and yoga. Only in such a purified
stage does the Lord, who is seated in everyone’s heart with the individual
soul, give instruction so that the devotee can reach the ultimate destination
of going back home, back to Godhead. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-
gita (Bg. 10.10): tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam. Only when the Lord is
satisfied with the devotional service of the devotee does He impart
knowledge, as He did for Arjuna and Uddhava.

The jfianis, yogis and karmis cannot expect this direct cooperation of
the Lord. They are not able to satisfy the Lord by transcendental loving
service, nor do they believe in such service to the Lord. The bhakti process,
as performed under the regulative principles of vaidhi-bhak ti, or devotion-
al service following the prescribed rules and regulations, is defined by the
revealed scriptures and confirmed by great acaryas. This practice can help
the neophyte devotee to rise to the stage of raga-bhakti, in which the Lord
responds from within as the caitta-guru or the spiritual master as Super-
consciousness. All transcendentalists other than devotees do not make any
distinction between the individual soul and the Supersoul because they
miscalculate the Superconsciousness and individual consciousness to be
