Answer
Impersonalists are certainly struggling against maya, but they do so in a different way.
They practice severe tapasya (austerity), and through that austerity they accumulate pious credits (punya).
Punya has its own effect. Although it cannot purchase devotion to Vishnu, it acts as a kind of spiritual currency that counteracts sinful reactions (papa). As a result, a person performing genuine austerities may experience relief from many material miseries.
This benefit does not come because Krishna is personally intervening in the way He does for His devotees. Rather, it comes through the laws of material nature, which are established by the Supreme Lord. The material system itself is designed so that sincere austerity produces corresponding results.
The impersonalist's struggle against maya is essentially an effort to reject material variety.
Form, individuality, taste, relationships, and all varieties of experience are regarded as maya, and the goal is to dissolve all variety into undifferentiated oneness.
This is not easy.
It requires tremendous determination and mental discipline to withdraw one's identification from the body and constantly maintain the conception, "I am not this material identity."
That sustained effort itself is tapasya, and therefore it produces material piety and corresponding benefits.
In this sense, it is an independent path. Krishna is not personally guiding the impersonalist in the same intimate way that He guides His surrendered devotees.
Of course, the Supersoul is always present, and the entire system of material nature functions under His supervision. The laws governing karma and material reactions ultimately operate under His authority.
However, this is different from Krishna's personal involvement in the life of a devotee.
When someone sincerely surrenders to Krishna, He personally guides that devotee and even arranges circumstances to help the devotee advance toward Him. He may alter the devotee's destiny according to the devotee's sincere desire to approach Him.
But Krishna never violates free will.
The extent to which He draws a devotee closer depends upon the devotee's own desire.
If the desire is strong, Krishna reciprocates accordingly.
If the desire is weak, Krishna allows the person to remain where he is.
He cannot arbitrarily elevate one person while ignoring another. There must be genuine willingness on the part of the individual.
Although it is often said that Krishna cannot be attained by personal effort alone, there is still something every devotee must do.
One cannot earn Krishna's mercy as one earns material rewards through the law of karma.
Rather, Krishna's mercy is a gift.
However, what the devotee can cultivate is the intensity of longing—the sincerity of wanting Krishna and the earnestness of begging for His mercy.
That heartfelt desire is what distinguishes one devotee's spiritual progress from another's.
Different devotees advance to different levels because they differ in the depth of their longing for Krishna and, consequently, in the degree to which they receive His mercy.
Ultimately, spiritual advancement is not a matter of accumulating qualifications but of sincerely seeking and receiving the Lord's grace.
