Liberation means piercing the heart's knots through Krishna consciousness and renouncing material attachment.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.21 — November 1, 1972, Vṛndāvana 721101SB-VRNDAVAN [35:11 Minutes] SB-01.02.21_721101SB-VRNDAVAN Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse, etc.] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi dṛṣṭa evātmanīśvare [SB 1.2.21] [break] [leads chanting of synonyms] [break] bhidyate—pierced; hṛdaya—heart; granthiḥ—knots; chidyante—cut to pieces; sarva—all; saṁśayāḥ—misgivings; kṣīyante—terminated; ca—and; asya—his; karmāṇi—chain of fruitive actions; dṛṣṭe—having seen; eva—certainly; ātmani—unto the self; īśvare—dominating. [02:28] Translation: "Thus the knots of the heart and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions, karma, is terminated when one sees the self as master." Prabhupāda: bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi dṛṣṭa evātmanīśvare [SB 1.2.21] This is complete liberated stage. In the previous verse it has been spoken, bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ mukta-saṅgasya jāyate [SB 1.2.20].
The science of God, bhagavat-tattva, the science of Absolute Truth, becomes manifest to the liberated soul. We find sometimes that one man is posing to have very much advance in spiritual understanding, or a great devotee, but mukta-saṅga..., he's not mukta-saṅga; he cannot give up smoking bīḍī. You see? These are the small tests. One who has actually tasted spiritual life, his unwanted things of life would at once diminish.
There is no need. Anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. Anartha. Anartha, things which are not wanted, which has no meaning.
So mukta-saṅga means no material attachment. That is mukta-saṅga. When one is actually liberated, these are the signs. Bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiḥ. Our material life begins by a knot in the heart.
What is that knot? That is sex desire. This is the knot. A man is hankering after a woman, and a woman is hankering after a man.
This attachment is the beginning of material life. Everyone, not only human society. In animal society, in bird society, in beast society you'll find this sex attachment. This is the hṛdaya-granthiḥ, beginning. Therefore, according to Vedic civilization, the first teaching to a student is to give him lesson how to become brahmacārī.
How not to become attached in sex life, that is called brahmacārī. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa [SB 6.1.13]. Tapasā, to become brahmacārī, to become..., abstaining from sex life, it requires tapasya. It is not so easy thing.