The prakrta, or third-class devotees, are temple worshipers without specific knowledge of the Lord and the Lord’s devotees.
Third-class devotees: “One who offers prescribed worship with faith to the Deity of Lord Visnu but has no devotion for Vaisnavas and things related to Visnu is a materialistic devotee.
The third-class devotees, or the neophytes, who have no knowledge and are not detached from material association, but who are simply attracted by the preliminary process of worshiping the Deity in the temple, are called material devotees. Material devotees are more attached to material benefit than transcendental profit. Therefore, one has to make definite progress from the position of material devotional service to the second-class devotional position.
Even third-class devotees who have no literary knowledge or no time to read Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita get the opportunity to hear about the pastimes of the Lord. In this way their minds may remain always absorbed in the thought of the Lord — His form, His activities and His transcendental nature. This state of Krsna consciousness is a liberated stage. Lord Caitanya, therefore, recommended five important processes in the discharge of devotional service: (1) to chant the holy names of the Lord, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, (2) to associate with devotees and serve them as far as possible, (3) to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, (4) to see the decorated temple and the Deity and, if possible, (5) to live in a place like Vrndavana or Mathura. These five items alone can help a devotee achieve the highest perfectional stage. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita and here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. That third-class devotees can also imperceptibly achieve liberation is accepted in all Vedic literatures.
Even the third-class devotees are liberated souls.
