Text 27
tathāpi saṅgaḥ parivarjanīyo
guṇeṣu māyā-raciteṣu tāvat
mad-bhakti-yogena dṛḍhena yāvad
rajo nirasyeta manaḥ-kaṣāyaḥ
tathā api — nevertheless; saṅgaḥ — association; parivarjanīyaḥ — must be rejected; guṇeṣu — with the modes; māyā-raciteṣu — produced by the illusory material energy; tāvat — for that long; mat-bhakti-yogena — by devotional service to Me; dṛḍhena — firm; yāvat — until; rajaḥ — passionate attraction; nirasyeta — is eliminated; manaḥ — of the mind; kaṣāyaḥ — the dirt.
Nevertheless, until by firmly practicing devotional service to Me one has completely eliminated from his mind all contamination of material passion, one must very carefully avoid associating with the material modes, which are produced by My illusory energy.
The word tathāpi in this verse indicates that even though the material nature is nondifferent from the Supreme Lord (as elaborately described in this chapter), one who has yet to conquer material desire should not artificially associate with material things, declaring them to be nondifferent from the Lord. Thus one aspiring to be Kṛṣṇa conscious should not loosely associate with women, claiming them to be nondifferent from the Personality of Godhead, for by such imitation of the most advanced devotees one will become a sense gratifier. A neophyte devotee who presumes himself liberated is impelled by the mode of passion to become falsely proud of his position, and thus he neglects the actual process of devotional service to the Lord. One must have firm and steady engagement in the loving service of the Lord, under the direction of higher authorities; then advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness will be easy and sublime.