SB 1.2.12

तच्छ्रद्दधाना मुनयो ज्ञानवैराग्ययुक्तया ।
पश्यन्त्यात्मनि चात्मानं भक्त्या श्रुतगृहीतया ॥१२॥

tac chraddadhānā munayo
jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā
paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ
bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā

tatplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtat

establishment of the statement tat tvam asi.—that; śraddadhānāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsraddadhanah

with faith.—seriously inquisitive; munayaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmunayaḥ

all sages; all the great sages; all the great sages and saintly persons; all the saintly brāhmaṇas; all those great saintly persons; great philosophers and exalted sages; great sages; great saintly persons; great saintly persons who have completely rejected material aspirations, fruitive activities and so forth; great saintly persons who have completely rejected material aspirations, fruitive activities, and so forth; great thinkers and sages; O great sages; O sages; sages; saintly persons; saints; the muni followers of the Vedānta; the great sages; the great sages, headed by Vyāsadeva, etc; the great saintly persons; the great thinkers; the Kumāras; the philosophers; the sages; the saintly persons; the seven sages; thinkers.—sages; jñānaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigjñāna

and knowledge; as knowledge; by acquired knowledge; by knowledge; by the knowledge of the philosophy of the monist Māyāvādīs; cultivation of knowledge; empiric knowledge; having full knowledge; knowledge; knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; knowledge, philosophical speculations; knowledge-acquiring; knowledge-acquiring senses; material knowledge; notion; of knowledge; of knowledge through Vedic scriptures; of perfect knowledge; of philosophical speculation; of real spiritual knowledge; of scriptural knowledge; perfect knowledge; philosophical speculation; speculative cultivation of knowledge; speculative knowledge; such a consideration; such knowledge; the knowledge; the path of knowledge; the path of philosophical speculation; the path of speculative knowledge; with knowledge.—knowledge; vairāgyaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvairāgya

and renunciation; by detachment; complete renunciation; detachment; detachment from everything that does not help develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness; of renunciation; of the renounced order; regulative principles of the renounced order of life; renouncement; renunciation; renunciation or nonattachment; with renunciation.—detachment; yuktayāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigyuktaya

strengthened; thus being equipped; well equipped with.—well equipped with; paśyantiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigpaśyanti

can see; do observe; observe; one can see; see; they see; they see in trance.—see; ātmaniplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigātmani

being situated in Him; in her heart; in herself; in himself; in his body; in his body and existence; in his own mind; in his own self; in His own self, or in the ordinary living entities; in intelligence; in my mind; in one's self; in person; in relation to Me; in relation to the Supreme Lord; in the body; in the heart; in the living entity; in the mind; in the pure state of the soul; in the self; in the soul; in the Superself; in the Supersoul; in the Supreme; in the Supreme Self; in the Supreme Soul; in the Supreme Spirit; in the Transcendence; in your own heart; in Your own self; in yourself; internal; of the ordinary living entity; of the self; on the self or the Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; on the Supersoul; on their own; own self; self; the basic principle of all existence; the self; to himself; to the mind; to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the soul; unto Himself; unto the demons and demigods; unto the ego; unto the living entity; unto the Lord; unto the self; unto the soul; unto the Supersoul; unto the Supreme Lord; unto the Supreme Soul; unto Vāsudeva, the original person; upon the self; when the living entity; whom he considered to be himself; with the Supreme Supersoul; within himself; within the core of your heart; within the mind; within your self.—within himself; caplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigca

ca; all these; also; also other bodily forms; also that I have not been able to ask; and (the five gross material elements and the ten acting and knowledge-gathering senses); and; and also; and Devahūti; and for all; and the paraphernalia; as also; as much as; as well; as well as; but; certainly; either; however; indeed; only; or; over and above; respectively; the word ca; this word ca; thus; totally; unlimitedly; verily.—and; ātmānamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigatmanam

and of the mind; by His energies; living entities; mind; most dear; of all living entities; of all other souls; of all the living entities; of men; of such a mind; of the body; of the living entities; of the people; of the subtle body; of those whose minds; the mind; thus inclined; whose minds are absorbed.—the Paramātmā; bhaktyāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbhaktyā

because of pure devotion; by a devotional attitude; by devotion; by devotional service (executed in nine different processes); by devotional service; by pure devotion; by pure devotional service; by rendering service in devotion; by the devotion; devotion; devotional service; in devotion; in devotional service; in full devotion; simply by devotional service; through devotion; whose devotional service; with a devotional attitude; with devotion; with devotion and faith; with devout attention; with faith and devotion; with great devotion; with great devotional love.—in devotional service; śrutaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigśruta

and sound; and Vedic knowledge; by hearing; education; heard; hearing; in education; knowledge from studying the Vedas; learning; the Vedas; Vedic knowledge; Vedic literatures; Śruta.—the Vedas; gṛhītayāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biggṛhītayā

well received.—well received. ¶

The seriously inquisitive student or sage, well equipped with knowledge and detachment, realizes that Absolute Truth by rendering devotional service in terms of what he has heard from the Vedānta-śruti. ¶

The Absolute Truth is realized in full by the process of devotional service to the Lord, Vāsudeva, or the Personality of Godhead, who is the full-fledged Absolute Truth. Brahman is His transcendental bodily effulgence, and Paramātmā is His partial representation. As such, Brahman or Paramātmā realization of the Absolute Truth is but a partial realization. There are four different types of human beings—the karmīs, the jñānīs, the yogīs and the devotees. The karmīs are materialistic, whereas the other three are transcendental. The first-class transcendentalists are the devotees who have realized the Supreme Person. The second-class transcendentalists are those who have partially realized the plenary portion of the absolute person. And the third-class transcendentalists are those who have barely realized the spiritual focus of the absolute person. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures, the Supreme Person is realized by devotional service, which is backed by full knowledge and detachment from material association. We have already discussed the point that devotional service is followed by knowledge and detachment from material association. As Brahman and Paramātmā realization are imperfect realizations of the Absolute Truth, so the means of realizing Brahman and Paramātmā, i.e., the paths of jñāna and yoga, are also imperfect means of realizing the Absolute Truth. Devotional service, which is based on the foreground of full knowledge combined with detachment from material association and which is fixed by the aural reception of the Vedānta-śruti, is the only perfect method by which the seriously inquisitive student can realize the Absolute Truth. Devotional service is not, therefore, meant for the less intelligent class of transcendentalist. There are three classes of devotees, namely first, second, and third class. The third-class devotees, or the neophytes, who have no knowledge and are not detached from material association, but who are simply attracted by the preliminary process of worshiping the Deity in the temple, are called material devotees. Material devotees are more attached to material benefit than transcendental profit. Therefore, one has to make definite progress from the position of material devotional service to the second-class devotional position. In the second-class position, the devotee can see four principles in the devotional line, namely the Personality of Godhead, His devotees, the ignorant and the envious. One has to raise himself at least to the stage of a second-class devotee and thus become eligible to know the Absolute Truth. ¶

A third-class devotee, therefore, has to receive the instructions of devotional service from the authoritative sources of Bhāgavata. The number one Bhāgavata is the established personality of devotee, and the other Bhāgavatam is the message of Godhead. The third-class devotee therefore has to go to the personality of devotee in order to learn the instructions of devotional service. Such a personality of devotee is not a professional man who earns his livelihood by the business of Bhāgavatam. Such a devotee must be a representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, like Sūta Gosvāmī, and must preach the cult of devotional service for the all-around benefit of all people. A neophyte devotee has very little taste for hearing from the authorities. Such a neophyte devotee makes a show of hearing from the professional man to satisfy his senses. This sort of hearing and chanting has spoiled the whole thing, so one should be very careful about the faulty process. The holy messages of Godhead, as inculcated in the Bhagavad-gītā or in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, are undoubtedly transcendental subjects, but even though they are so, such transcendental matters are not to be received from the professional man, who spoils them as the serpent spoils milk simply by the touch of his tongue. ¶

A sincere devotee must, therefore, be prepared to hear the Vedic literature like the Upaniṣads, Vedānta and other literatures left by the previous authorities or Gosvāmīs, for the benefit of his progress. Without hearing such literatures, one cannot make actual progress. And without hearing and following the instructions, the show of devotional service becomes worthless and therefore a sort of disturbance in the path of devotional service. Unless, therefore, devotional service is established on the principles of śruti, smṛti, purāṇa or pañcarātra authorities, the make-show of devotional service should at once be rejected. An unauthorized devotee should never be recognized as a pure devotee. By assimilation of such messages from the Vedic literatures, one can see the all-pervading localized aspect of the Personality of Godhead within his own self constantly. This is called samādhi. ¶