- ato vai kavayo nityaṁ
- bhaktiṁ paramayā mudā
- vāsudeve bhagavati
- kurvanty ātma-prasādanīm
- (SB 1.2.22)
Bhaktim ātma-prasādanīm. Devotional service is ātmā, means self, or mind also, even body. Ātmā means the body, this mind and the self also. So ātma-prasādanīm means if you want to satisfy your mind, if you want to satisfy your self, or even you want to satisfy your body . . .
we are living in three stages: bodily concept of life, mental concept of life and spiritual concept of life. Those who are grossly in ignorance, they are thinking in terms of bodily concept of life. Those who are little more advanced, they are thinking in terms of mental or psychological concept of life.
And those who are still more advanced, they are thinking in terms of spiritual concept of life. The spiritual concept of life, as it is described before: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). Tattvam means truth. The truth is spirit, not this matter. Matter is truth, subordinate to spirit. On the basis of spirit, the matter grows, just like our body has grown on the basis of our spiritual existence.
So spiritual realization is the ultimate goal of our life. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. We have discussed these verses previously. This human form of life, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā . . . jijñāsā, about the truth, inquiry about the truth, that is the main business of the living entity. But lower than human being—animals, birds, beasts, trees, aquatics, insects—they have no privilege to inquire about the Absolute Truth. It is in the human form of life one can inquire about the Absolute Truth. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. So when one is actually inquisitive about the Absolute Truth, he realizes three transcendental subject: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).
So ultimately one has to reach to the platform of Bhagavān, Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). One who reaches to the point of understanding Vāsudeva, he is the perfect mahātmā. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti. According to Vedic description, mahātmā means one who has reached to the point of Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who has reached . . . all of them are transcendentalists, kovidāḥ, men of knowledge, but one who has reached to the point of understanding Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he's called mahātmā.