6 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 6, Ch. 14

become factually liberated. When one understands the futility of the ma-
terialistic way of life, one becomes advanced in knowledge, and therefore
he situates himself in the vanaprastha order, unattached to family, wife
and children. One should then further progress to the platform of san-
nyadsa, 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 sannydsa to become liberated, because of their imperfec-
tions they again become attached to women, material activities, social
welfare work and so on.

Jiiénis, yogis and karmis devoid of devotional service are called of-
fenders. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, maydavadi krsne aparadhi: one
who thinks that everything is maya instead of thinking that everything
is Krsna is called an aparadhi, or offender. Although the Mayavadis, im-
personalists, are offenders at the lotus feet of Krsna, they may nonethe-
less 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
narayana-pardyana, a devotee of Lord Narayana, he is better than
a jivan-mukta, one who is liberated or perfect. This requires higher
intelligence.

There are two kinds of jridnis. 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 (sthitla-tusdvaghatinah). The other
class of janis, whose jridna is mixed with bhakti, are also of two kinds—
those who are devoted to the so-called false form of the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead and those who understand the Supreme Personality
of Godhead as sac-cid-Gnanda-vigraha, the actual spiritual form. The
Mayavadi devotees worship Narayana or Visnu with the idea that Visnu
has accepted a form of mdyd and that the ultimate truth is actually im-
personal. The pure devotee, however, never thinks that Visnu has ac-
cepted a body of maya; instead, he knows perfectly well that the original
Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person. Such a devotee is actually situ-
ated in knowledge. He never merges in the Brahman effulgence. As

stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.2.32):
