To understand the personal activities of the Lord, one has to seek the association of devotees and by such association, when one contemplates and tries to understand the transcendental activities of the Lord, the path to liberation is open and he is freed.
One must seek the association of persons who are Krishna Conscious and who engage in devotional service. Without such association one cannot make advancement.
In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation and thereafter he is freed and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.
One cannot compare the association of a pure devotee to anything material. Such association is always desirable, it is worshipable, it is praiseworthy.
The topmost benediction for those who are living in this material world and are subjected to the repetition of birth and death (transmigration) is association with pure devotees.
A pure devotee considers a moment's association with another pure devotee to be far superior than residing in a heavenly planet or merging in the Brahman effulgence.