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TEXT 55 bhaktya mam abhijanati
SYNONYMS  bhaktya--by
pure devotional service; mam--Me; abhijanati--one can know;
yavan--as much as; yah ca asmi--as I am; tattvatah--in
truth; tatah--thereafter; mam--Me; tattvatah--by truth;
jnatva--knowing; visate--enters; tat-anantaram--thereafter.
TRANSLATION One can understand
the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one
is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter
into the kingdom of God.
PURPORT The Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Krsna, and His plenary portions cannot be understood
by mental speculation nor by the nondevotees. If anyone wants to understand
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he has to take to pure devotional service
under the guidance of a pure devotee. Otherwise, the truth of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead will always be hidden. It is already stated (naham
prakasah) that He is not revealed to everyone. Everyone cannot
understand God simply by erudite scholarship or mental speculation. Only
one who is actually engaged in Krsna consciousness and devotional service
can understand what Krsna is. University degrees are not helpful.
One who
is fully conversant with the Krsna science becomes eligible to enter into
the spiritual kingdom, the abode of Krsna. Becoming Brahman does not mean
that one loses his identity. Devotional service is there, and as long as
devotional service exists, there must be God, the devotee, and the process
of devotional service. Such knowledge is never vanquished, even after liberation.
Liberation involves getting free from the concept of material life; in
spiritual life the same distinction is there, the same individuality is
there, but in pure Krsna consciousness. One should not misunderstand that
the word visate, "enters into Me," supports the monist theory that
one becomes homogeneous with the impersonal Brahman. No. Visate
means that one can enter into the abode of the Supreme Lord in his's individuality
to engage in His association and render service unto Him. For instance,
a green bird enters a green tree not to become one with the tree but to
enjoy the fruits of the tree. Impersonalists generally give the example
of a river flowing into the ocean and merging. This may be a source of
happiness for the impersonalist, but the personalist keeps his personal
individuality like an aquatic in the ocean. We find so many living entities
within the ocean, if we go deep. Surface acquaintance with the ocean is
not sufficient; one must have complete knowledge of the aquatics living
in the ocean depths.
Because
of his pure devotional service, a devotee can understand the transcendental
qualities and the opulences of the Supreme Lord in truth. As it is stated
in the Eleventh Chapter, only by devotional service can one understand.
The same is confirmed here; one can understand the Supreme Personality
of Godhead by devotional service and enter into His kingdom.
After attainment
of the brahma-bhuta stage of freedom from material conceptions,
devotional service begins by one's hearing about the Lord. When one hears
about the Supreme Lord, automatically the brahma-bhuta stage develops,
and material contamination--greediness and lust for sense enjoyment--disappears.
As lust and desires disappear from the heart of a devotee, he becomes more
attached to the service of the Lord, and by such attachment he becomes
free from material contamination. In that state of life he can understand
the Supreme Lord. This is the statement of Srimad-Bhagavatam also.
Also after liberation the process of bhakti or transcendental service
continues. The Vedanta-sutra confirms this: aprayanat tatrapi
hi drstam. This means that after liberation the process of devotional
service continues. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, real devotional liberation
is defined as the reinstatement of the living entity in his own identity,
his own constitutional position. The constitutional position is already
explained: every living entity is the part and parcel fragmental portion
of the Supreme Lord. Therefore his constitutional position is to serve.
After liberation, this service is never stopped. Actual liberation is getting
free from misconceptions of life.
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