The Way to jivan-mukti

One can attain to salvation in the mundane body itself even if one's account of past virtues and vices (prārabdha karma) is not closed, when one becomes detached from all the objects that the mind or subtle body (linga-sarira) on the mind's behest, runs after and absolute knowledge (paramārtha jnāna) dawns on one's heart. This state is called jivan-mukti.

For the earnest seeker of this kind of liberation, Sankaradeva lays down the following path (of bhakti):

Visnu-bhakatara sanga laibā prathamata
guru māni susrusā karibā bhālamata
laiyā upadesa Mādhavaka ārādhibā
yateka sukriti māne Krishnata arpibā
Krishna-kathā sravanata suddha haiba mana
sarbadāye karibeka Krishnara kirttana
Krishnara carana cintibeka hridayata
[Sankaradeva, Kirttana]

He, at first, should associate with a devotee of Visnu and accepting him as the preceptor, should attend to him properly. He should (then) worship Mādhava as instructed by him and should offer all his religious merits to Krishna. From the listening to Krishna-kathā, his mind will be purified and (hence) he should, at all times, sing the glories of Krishna. He should think of the feet of Krishna in his heart.

Harira sevāta kichu nāhike prayāsa
āpuni laibanta Hari hridayata bāsa
nalāge bhakatita deva-dvija-risi huibe
nalāge sambhrita sāstra bistara jānibe
tapa-japa-yagna-dāna sabe bidambana
kevala bhakatita tusta honta Nārāyana
yaksa-rāksa-stri-sudra yata brajavāsi
paksi-mrigo Visnu bhailā Krishnaka upāsi
[Sankaradeva, Kirttana]

There is no exertion involved in the worship of Hari. Automatically, he will present Himself in one's heart. For devotion, one need not be a god, a Brāhmana or a sage. He need not master all the written scriptures. Penance, muttered prayers, sacrifices, charity - all these are mockery. Nārāyana becomes pleased only through bhakti (devotion). (Look how) By worshipping Krishna, the yaksas, the demons, women and sudras, all the dwellers of Vraja and even the birds and animals became Visnu.

Karibā abhyāsa tumi sthira kari mati
samasta bhutata byāpi acho mai Hari
sabāko mānibā tumi Visnu-buddhi kari
brāhmanara cāndālara nibicāri kula
dātāta corata yāra dristi eka tula
nicata sādhuta yāra bhaila eka jnāna
tāhākese pandita buliya sarbajana
dekhi sakhigane yono hāsai āsi bedhi
mai sādhu ito cora hena lajjā edi
kukkura-srigāla-gardhabharo ātmā Rāma
jāniyā sabāko padi karibā pranāma
samasta bhutata Vishnu-buddhi nohe yeve
kāya-bākya-mane abhyāsibā ehi bhāve
Visnumaya dekhai yito samasta jagate
jivante mukuta hovai acira kālate
[Sankaradeva, Kirttana]

(Krishna says) Practise the following with an undeviating mind:
I, who am God, pervade every object. Do, therefore, regard all and everything as though they were God Himself. Seek not to know the caste of a Brāhmana nor of a Chandāla. Look to a thief with the same eyes as to a great donor. He who thinks the noble and ignoble as the same, can alone be regarded as an omniscient scholar. Envy, malice, condemnation and pride forthwith vanish from the heart of a person who particularly regards all beings as Visnu.
Abandon all such false conceptions as 'I am a saint, he is a thief, I may be a laughing stock in the circle of my friends'; know that even the soul of the dog, of the outcaste and of the donkey is that of God Himself, and prostrate before them with all your heart. Practise in person, mind and speech such things until and unless you can thus feel that every object is no other than Visnu.
He is at once free while he is yet in the corporeal cage who can see this world consisting alone of Visnu.

Release comes through this knowledge (jnāna) attained only through bhakti. This knowledge comes as a by-product or natural result of devotion through God's grace. Bhakti has therefore been indicated as the sole way to the Lord. Even the one who attains jivan-mukti (release of the soul in the human body) solely through knowledge may be subjected again to the vagaries of māyā if he does not take the path of bhakti.