Srimad Bhagavatam — Dashama Skandha, Shloka 32
The Lord’s Advent: Yoga-māyā’s Mission, Saṅkarṣaṇa’s Transfer, and the Demigods’ Prayers
येऽन्येऽरविन्दाक्ष विमुक्तमानिन- स्त्वय्यस्तभावादविशुद्धबुद्धय: । आरुह्य कृच्छ्रेण परं पदं तत: पतन्त्यधोऽनादृतयुष्मदङ्घ्रय: ॥ ३२ ॥
ye ’nye ’ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ
[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord’s lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.
Aside from devotees, there are many others, nondevotees, known as karmīs, jñānīs or yogīs, philanthropists, altruists, politicians, impersonalists and voidists. There are many varieties of nondevotees who have their respective ways of liberation, but simply because they do not know the shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet, although they falsely think that they have been liberated and elevated to the highest position, they fall down. As clearly stated by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā (9.3) :
FAQs
This verse teaches that those who attain an impersonal ‘liberated’ state through austerity but neglect Krishna’s lotus feet eventually fall down, because their realization lacks devotional anchoring.
‘Aravindaksha’—the lotus-eyed Lord—refers to Lord Krishna, whom the demigods praise while He is present in Devakī’s womb.
Cultivate steady bhakti—hearing, chanting, and remembering Krishna—so spiritual progress is rooted in devotion rather than only discipline, pride in knowledge, or a dry idea of liberation.