So Śrīdhara Swami says, atra mokṣavisandi api nirastam: to desire for mokṣa is also not ultimate goal of life. Ultimate goal of life is to accept the shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Actually who is jñānavān, he'll take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. If not in this life, he'll have to come to this status. Therefore nirviśeṣavadi, impersonalists . . . Kṛṣṇa says, kleṣaḥ adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta cetasām. Avyakta. Kṛṣṇa is vyakta. But one who is not after this vyakta, he's after impersonal Brahman, their labor is still more hard than the bhaktas.
So the bhakti-mārga means directly giving you the ultimate goal of life—Viṣṇu. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇu. People do not know that what is the aim of life. The aim of life is to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is the aim of life. But they have no information. There is God. "Who is God? Who is Viṣṇu?" No information. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32). So without understanding Viṣṇu, without understanding Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all other attempts, they are not successful. That is the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ.
Without understanding Kṛṣṇa, if one is thinking that "I have become liberated," that is vimukta-maninaḥ. He's thinking like that. Actually he's under the clutches of māyā. He's thinking like that. Why? Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Because his intelligence is not yet clear. Still it is contaminated by māyā. Therefore āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛtaḥ-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Āruhya kṛcchreṇa. They . . . they take too much hardship for rising to the Brahman platform, nirviśeṣa Brahman platform. Kṛccha sādhana. Their austerities, penances are very severe. Taking shelter underneath a . . . as Śaṅkarācārya exhibited himself: he was living underneath a tree, thrice, four times taking bath. Very kathin (difficult) vairāgya. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa. But if they do not approach Kṛṣṇa, then there is chance of falling down. There is chance of falling down again into this material world.
Because we are living entities, we want variety. As I have explained several times, just like if you go in the sky . . . the sky is very brilliant, all shining, but still you'll not like it. You'll come down. You'll want to come down again, because you want variety. So if you go very high in the sky, if you actually enter into some planet where there is varieties of life, then you become satisfied. Otherwise, if you remain only in the sky, nirviśeṣa, nirākāra, then you'll hanker after: "Where is viśeṣa? Where is varieties? Where is variety?" This is natural. Therefore śāstra says, āruhya kṛcchreṇa param . . .
You can go very high with your aero . . . aeroplane, but if you don't get any shelter in the sky, then you'll have to come back. As they are doing. They're trying to go to the moon planet, not in the sky. The sky, you can remain in the sky. Why you are coming back? No, that is not very pleasing. That is not very pleasing.
So bhakti-mārga means that bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). You can understand Kṛṣṇa as He is. "As He is" means He's not a human being like you or me. He's the Supreme Personality of Godhead, sac-cid-ānanda vigraha.