12. Some may say that we are here giving a narrow meaning to the word "jnana," that if jnana cannot cleanse
the mind, its value is reduced. I accept this objection, but what I say is that as long as we are in this physical body, our knowledge, however pure it is, will have some impurity, some distortion, some imperfection - its power will be limited. When pure jnana rises, I have not the slightest doubt that it will destroy every impurity, along with the mind. But in this troubled and passionate flesh its power is reduced, and it cannot remove the subtler impurities. 

This is why bhakti is necessary. Hence I say that in bhakti man is better protected. Saguna
bhakti is easy. It relies on the Supreme, while nirguna bhakti trusts in oneself. But what is the self that one trusts? It is reliance on the Supreme that dwells within oneself. There is no man who attained purity with the help of the mind alone  Through self-reliance, that is, through realization of the Self within, pure knowledge is attained. In other words, even in the self-reliance of nirguna bhakti, the ground is the atman, the self.

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