Do devotees realize Brahman first, then Paramatma and then Bhagavan?

Thank you. The question is do devotees also go through the realization of Brahman, then Paramatma and then Bhagawan? Answer is not necessarily. The Bhagavad Gita describes a gradual process of spiritual elevation and then it describes a rapid process so the gradual process is what is talked about through Karma Yoga, Gyan Yoga and then ultimately Bhakti Yoga so 18.41 to 18.56 of course there are several places in which Bhagawan talks about it but 18.41 to 18.55 talks about his gradual process and then afterwards it talks about from 18.56 it talks about the rapid process so sarva karma nipsada kurvano madhya pashlaya whatever karma one is doing, one can take shelter of me and one can attain the Param Gati, the supreme destination so when one takes this rapid process Prabhupada would often compare it with a staircase and an elevator now when I am going through a staircase it's a slow gradual ascent and it's laborious also Krishna talks about it in 12.5 those who are attached to impersonal realization it's troublesome for them klesha is there but he contrasts that with the bhaktas, he says in 8.14 he says that I am attained very easily for my devotees so when we are going through an elevator if I am going to the 10th story, 10th floor do I go to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th floors yes naturally I go through them but do I have to actually do I see all those floors do I have to wander through all those floors no I don't have to do that I just go through that very rapidly so as devotees when devotees get spiritual realization, it is not that devotees first realize brahman then they realize paramatma then they realize bhagwan they will go through these aspects of realization but the devotees focus is always on bhagwan only and when the focus is on bhagwan when bhagwan is realized then automatically along with that how brahman is an impersonal aspect of bhagwan how the paramatma is the localized manifestation of bhagwan this is also realized so it's not that a devotee first realizes brahman and then paramatma and then bhagwan no devotee always focuses on bhagwan only and as bhagwan is realized then along with at that stage how brahman and paramatma are parts of bhagwan they are also realized so that's how bhaktas don't have to go through the brahman and paramatma realization they don't have to go through means they don't, the difference between brahmavadis or paramatmavadis or the jnanis or the yogis is when the jnanis realize brahman they don't understand that brahman is an aspect of bhagwan when they realize paramatma they don't understand that paramatma is a feature of bhagwan but the bhaktas when they realize they realize it in completeness they understand that it's bhagwan and then bhagwan also has these aspects so it is not that a devotee will have the jnanis can have a realization of brahman but not have realization of bhagwan but a devotee has realization of bhagwan and also has realization of brahman it's not that the devotee while going through spiritual advancement will one day forget Krishna and pursue only brahman no, that's what may happen with the yogi, with the jnanis but a devotee's focus is always on Krishna and as one's realization of Krishna becomes deeper and deeper then one understands also yes, brahman is a feature of Krishna and then one understands that higher than brahman is the personal aspect of Krishna and that personal aspect also becomes clearer so in as far as conceptual analysis is concerned the devotee does go through the brahman and paramatma levels but in terms of conscious experience the devotee doesn't experience these as separate aspects of the absolute truth devotee perceives them as the integral features of the same bhagwan on which the devotee was focusing right from the beginning so it's not like a it's like a realization of connection it's not independent realization it's not that here there is brahman at one extreme and there is paramatma at another extreme and bhagwan at another extreme no, all three are connected and advancement means we can see the connection so the devotee's focus is always on bhagwan and along with bhagwan the other features are also seen and bhagwan is also seen more clearly as one advances more in spiritual life.