In plain words
In short, it showed that Bhakti, Jñāna, Vairāgya and Tattva, these four steps, are the paths to Mukti.
It is the Bhāgavatam that teaches the supreme meaning of these five. The Bhāgavatam is what tells of God's divine plays and of the glories of His many virtues. By reading them, by experiencing them, by delighting in them, we become good: bāgavutām. So the very meaning of Bhāgavatam is ‘we become good’, bāgavutām. This Bhāgavatam has five letters. Bhā-ga-va-ta-mu. Bha, the first letter. It stands for Bhakti. Ga, the second letter. It stands for Jñāna. Va, the third letter, stands for Vairāgya. Ta, the fourth letter, shows Tattva. By the path of these four alone, the fifth, Mokṣa, which is called mumukṣatva, brings this to light. The Bhāgavatam is what grants Bhakti, Jñāna, Vairāgya, Tattva and Mukti.
In such a Bhāgavatam, Prahlāda's words are ideals. Prahlāda was a student. This student went on studying many kinds of learning. He recognised the principle at the root of these kinds of learning. He is telling his fellow students:
There is no good in it, and no divine glory either: being born and born again in the world, dying and dying again; why should we live on so? The way where we are neither born nor die: to seek that way is great wisdom.
‘To seek the way is great wisdom,’ he said. This itself is the mantra of twelve syllables. Trōva vedukukonuṭa doḍḍabuddhi. These are twelve syllables. This itself is the twelve-syllable mantra. But then, this seeking of the way: we have forgotten the way to go back to where we came from. Because we have forgotten, the searching for it again comes about. If there were no forgetting, there would be no need to search. But what is the basis for where we came from?
In the teachings given directly in the Bhagavad Gītā, in the fifteenth chapter, in the seventh verse, what one is oneself: ‘Mamaivāṃśo jīvaloke, jīvabhūtas sanātanaḥ’: ‘O man, you are not merely a part of Prakṛti. You are not a part of your parents. You are not a part of the five elements. Mamaivāṃśo: a part of Me alone,’ He said. So a part cannot stay away from its source even for half a moment. The branch is a part of the tree. But the branch cannot live on its own, away from the tree. The child is a part of the mother. Away from the mother, the child cannot live. In the very same way, man is a part of God. So he cannot exist away from that divine part. You may think,