Śrīla Śrīdhara Swami says, tad daiva suśīlāḥ kṛpalavaḥ sādhavaḥ niṣkāma. Suśīlāḥ means those who have received the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, suśīlāḥ, kṛpalavaḥ, or those who can bestow benediction to others, suśīlāḥ. Sādhava. Who are sādhava, sādhu? Niṣkāma, those who have no desire for material enjoyment. That is . . . he is called sādhu. And that niṣkāma means those who are devotee. Without being devotee, nobody can be niṣkāma, without any desires. Without any desires . . . desire there must be. We cannot subdue our desires, because we are living entities. Desire must be there. But desire for sense gratification has to be given up. That is called desireless. Otherwise, it is not possible to become desireless. Desire must be there.
So sādhava. Sādhava, Śrīdhara Swami is giving note, niṣkāma, those who have no desire. So this desire . . . niṣkāma means those who have no desire for sense gratification. They are sādhu. And who are they? Devotees. Akāma. Their other name is akāma. They have no desires. Personally they have no desires. Their only business is how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is their only desire. That is natural. Because we are eternally servants of Kṛṣṇa, or God, our desire should be how to please God, how to please Kṛṣṇa. Just like obedient servant, sincere servant, they are always waiting for the order of the master, and they try how to please him, how to make him happy.
Of course, this is not possible in this material world. Material world nobody is servant of anybody. Everyone wants to be master of another. Actually, he does not serve anyone. He serves because he gets some money. So as soon as the money payment is stopped, immediately servant becomes disobedient. Therefore there is no service in the material world. It is exchange of money.
The service is niṣkāma. That is brāhmaṇa, devotee. They do not expect anything from the Personality of Godhead. They want simply His satisfaction. Sādhava niṣkāmān yatra yasmin mārge. Therefore we have to follow mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186), great personality, the path of the great personalities. The great personalities means the devotees. We have to follow the path of the devotees.
(Sanskrit) Śrīdhara Swami says that bhakti mārga, the path of devotion, is immune from all kinds of fearfulness because jñāna-mārga, jñāna mārga, the path of knowledge, is full of difficulties. Because I am trying myself, I have no protector. I do not know, if I am in danger, who will give me protection. Jñānīs, they try to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of their knowledge. So Śrīdhara Swami says they are atahaya. Atahaya means without any protection. If they make any mistake . . .
Just like a little student, they are learning something, but there is protection of the teacher. As soon as he commits a mistake, immediately the teacher rectifies: "My dear boy, do like this." But anyone who has no teacher, no protector, simply trying himself, if he commits any mistake there is nobody protecting him. Therefore jñāna-mārga, the path of knowledge, is risky.
Similarly, the path of karma is also risky. Mataraka. If you prosecute the path of karma, there is envy between the karmīs. If you become greater than me in execution of your fruitive activities, I become envious of you, "Oh, this man is making so much progress in business or in some other way, in practice. I could not do." So I become envious. Similarly, if I advance, my friend becomes envious. So karma-mārga is the path of enviousness. Therefore Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says paramo nirmatsarāṇām (SB 1.1.2). The Bhāgavata is meant for persons who are absolutely free from enviousness.
So both paths, karma-mārga, jñāna-mārga, they are not very safe. So in Bhagavad-gītā, you will find in the Seventh Chapter, asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (BG 7.1). Asaṁśaya, "Without any doubt." Just like our path, devotional service, we are fully convinced that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no doubt. So others, they are finding who is God, what is God, they have got doubt. And they do not know also completely what is God. But we know what is God: Supreme Personality . . . Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).
Because we have taken the path of devotional service that with firm conviction, and we are making progress in that way. Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (BG 7.1). Mayā stitha mano buddhiḥ. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. "Anyone who," yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ, "by accepting a devotee, by taking shelter of a devotee, one who practices this yoga," Kṛṣṇa says in the Seventh Chapter then, "he can understand Me," asaṁśayam, "without any doubt," and samagram, "completely." Yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu.
In other path . . . actually, there are so many parties, especially the impersonalist party, they are also searching after the Absolute Truth, but they have got only vague idea, not complete, perfect idea. It is saṁśayam, with doubts, and asamagram, not complete. That's a fact. They cannot give you any clear idea of the concept of God. That is not possible. And sādhu. The Bhagavad-gītā . . . who is sādhu? That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). One who is performing devotional service without any deviation, ananya-bhāk, undivided mind, simply unto Kṛṣṇa, he is sādhu.