Surrender to Krishna through devotional service alone liberates; dry knowledge without bhakti remains spiritually fruitless.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.21–28 — January 11, 1967, New York 670111CC-NEW YORK [28:00 Minutes] Prabhupāda: kevala jñāna 'mukti' dite nāre bhakti vine kṛṣṇonmukhe sei mukti haya jñāna vinā [Cc. Madhya 22.21] [Speculative knowledge alone, without devotional service, is not able to give liberation. On the other hand, even without knowledge one can obtain liberation if one engages in the Lord’s devotional service.] Mukti, liberation... The impersonalists think that simply by cultivating knowledge that "I am not matter; I am spirit," or "I am one with the Supreme Spirit; I am now...
Out of ignorance, I am thinking different, but when I am fully elevated to the platform of knowledge, then I become liberated." But the..., there is no answer that "Why you have become conditioned?" The impersonalists think that "I am one with the Supreme. Now, due to my ignorance, I have forgotten that I am the Supreme." Because they do not recognize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so they think that impersonal conception of the spirit soul: "I am now... Out of ignorance, I am thinking matter, but as soon as my ignorance is over, I shall become one with the Supreme." So this is the theory of the impersonalist. But they...
They cannot give any answer that "Why you have become under the influence of ignorance? If you are the Supreme, then what is the cause that you have become conditioned? Then the Supreme it become conditioned under the material nature. Then how one can become the Supreme?
Supreme cannot be conditioned." So there is no answer for this question from the impersonalists' school. But real fact is that the Supreme never falls down. The part and parcel of the Supreme, they fall down—some of them; not all. So therefore the living entity, they are different from the Supreme.
They are one in quality with the Supreme, but not in quantity. So Lord Caitanya says that "Simply by thinking that 'I am not this matter; I am spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, I am Brahman,' that will not help you to get liberation." The real fact is that the individual living entities, they are part and parcel of the Supreme, but somehow or other, they wanted separation from the Supreme and wanted to lord it over the material nature. Therefore they are entangled. That is the real fact. And as such, we find from the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord asked that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]: "Just surrender." [Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.] So therefore, unless there is surrender of the individual soul to the Supreme, there is no question of liberation. There is no question of liberation. You can cultivate knowledge that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," but that will not help for your liberation. Because real thing is that you have or we have rebelled against the supremacy of the Supreme Lord. That is the attitude, everywhere we can see actually.
Everyone is: "Oh, what is God? What is God?" especially in this age. So this impersonalism is another type of atheism, and this impersonal theory of the Absolute Truth has converted practically the major portion of the world into atheism. So therefore Lord Caitanya says that simply by cultivation of knowledge that "I am not this matter.
I am not this matter. I am spirit soul," that will not help. Now He gives again evidence from scriptures. Every step, whatever He says, He gives some evidence from authoritative scripture. Mostly He gives evidence from Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because for the Vaiṣṇava school these two books are sufficient for acquiring knowledge.