Here someone may protest: The dindima drum of the Vedic conclusion proclaims: "Knowledge brings liberation!" As for you, why do you emphasize the words 'spiritual knowledge?' Why must this knowledge be spiritual in its character?
To refute this objection, the author speaks the following words:
Sutra 37
One kind of knowledge brings liberation, and another kind of knowledge brings bondage.
Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
The first kind of knowledge here is spiritual knowledge, or knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The word 'muktih' here means 'liberation from material bondage'. The second kind of knowledge here is material knowledge, or also the dry theories of the impersonalists. The word 'bandhah' here means 'bondage in the cycle of repeated births and deaths'. In the following words the Supreme Personality of Godhead affirms that material knowledge binds one to the material world. He says (Bhagavad-gita 14.6):
"Those situated in that mode (goodness) develop knowledge, but they become conditioned by the concept of happiness."
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WHO ARE YOU? DISCOVERING YOUR REAL IDENTITY
What is your essence? Is it matter—a mere collection of material atoms and molecules? Or is it something else?
Siddhaswarupananda – Chris Butler Speaks
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The conclusion of the atheists and blasphemers is given in these words of the Vidvan-moda-tarangini:
"'What is action? Who is the seer of things? When and by whom are karmic reactions obtained? How does one attain another birth in this world?' If someone asks these questions, then I reply: These questions have no answers. There is no way anyone can find answers to these questions. The truth is that life is like a flowing river that brings sometimes pleasures and sometimes pains. The material body is temporary. It will die. The truth is that the entire world is unreal. It does not really exist. It is all an illusion."
In the Sri Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka (7.77), Srila Ramananda Raya explains:
"They who cannot taste sweetness will drink the bitter nimb juice of impersonal liberation. We, however, who know what is sweet, drink the dark, sweet nectar the amorous gopis drank through the corners of their eyes."
In response to Lord Caitanya's questions, Sri Ramananda Raya explained (Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka 7.61):
"They who love Krsna's lotus feet and do not love anything else, who delight in bhakti-yoga, the yoga of devotional service, and are not attracted to astanga-yoga or any other kind of yoga, and who place their love in the transcendental form of Lord Krsna, and not in their own external material body, are actually liberated and free from the material world. Non devotees who claim to be liberated are not so."
In Bhagavad-gita (18.64-66) the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains:
"Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you the most confidential part of knowledge. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit.
"Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer Your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear."
