So simply to realize that, "I am Brahman," ahaṁ brahmāsmi, that is not perfection. That is aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, uncleansed intelligence. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Simply understanding ahaṁ brahmāsmi will not help us, because it is stated in the śāstra that āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ: even by severe austerities and penances one comes to the stage of merging into Brahman, sāyujya mukti, still, there is chance of falling down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ. Why? Na, anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: one who has not realized the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, he falls down.
We have seen many big, big sannyāsī in India, very learned scholar, and very nicely they can describe śāstra also, but they are entangled in politics. Why? If this world is mithyā, jagat mithyā, you have rejected it, then why you are again coming to politics? Why you are coming in the mithyā world? Because there is no realization. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. They are thinking that "We have now become liberated," māninaḥ. Actually, they are not liberated, because aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, their intelligence is not yet clear. Therefore, even after severe austerities, penances, they come to the point of Brahman realization, because they have no realization of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, they fall down. Because there is no engagement.
I do not wish to name the big, big sannyāsīs of India who fell down in this way. But you know that the Māyāvādī sampradāya, they take this world as mithyā. Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. If jagat is mithyā, then why you come down again for philanthropic activities, for political activities? That is called māyā. That is the last snare of māyā. Māyā dictates that, "Now we have failed to become minister, to (become) president, and so many other big, big posts. Now you become Brahman." You are already Brahman. Simply you have to realize. That's all. That is knowledge, that, "I am not the . . ." Brahman realization means that "I am not this body." Because so long one identifies with this body, he is no better than animal. That is the first lesson. Kṛṣṇa says in the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Dehi and dehina.
So that is preliminary knowledge of Brahman realization. But if you do not fix up in your Brahman realization . . . that is parā-bhakti.
- brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
- na śocati na kāṅkṣati
- samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
- mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām
- (BG 18.54)
When actually one is liberated from the bodily concept of life and he sees spiritual identity everywhere, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18), then he can be situated in the activities of Brahman. The bhakti-yoga is the activities of Brahman. The Māyāvādī philosopher, they think that after Brahman realization there is no more activity. But that is not the fact. Real activity begins after Brahman realization. That is Brahman activity. That is bhakti-yoga. Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman, and we are Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel. Naturally we are also Brahman, because part and parcel of gold must be gold. There is no doubt about it. But it does not mean that the small particle of gold is equal to the gold mine. That is not possible. Part is never equal to the whole.