Daily Reading

Beyond Birth and Death

Associating with Kṛṣṇa
If one gets something superior, he naturally gives up all inferior things. We want enjoyment, but impersonalism and voidism have created such an atmosphere that we have become addicted to material enjoyment. There must be enjoyment in connection with the Supreme Person (puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ), whom we can see face to face. In the spiritual sky we are able to speak personally with God, play with Him, eat with Him, etc. All of this can be attained by bhaktyā – transcendental loving service. However, this service must be without adulteration, that is to say, we must love God without expecting material remuneration. Loving God to become one with Him is also a form of adulteration.

One of the major differences between the spiritual sky and the material sky is that in the spiritual sky the head or leader of the spiritual planets has no rival. In all cases, the predominating personality in the spiritual planets is a plenary expansion of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The Supreme Lord and His multifarious manifestations preside over all the Vaikuṇṭha planets. On earth, for instance, there is rivalry for the position of president or prime minister, but in the spiritual sky everyone acknowledges the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be supreme. Those who do not acknowledge Him and attempt to rival Him are placed into the material universe, which is just like a prison house. As in any city there is a prison, and the prison forms a very insignificant part of the whole city, so the material universe is a prison for the conditioned souls. It forms an insignificant part of the spiritual sky, but it is not outside the spiritual sky, just as a prison is not outside of the city.

The inhabitants of the Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky are all liberated souls. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we are informed that their bodily features are exactly like God’s. On some of these planets God is manifested with two arms, and on others He has four. The inhabitants of these planets, like the Supreme Lord, also manifest two and four arms, and it is said that one cannot distinguish between them and the Supreme Person. In the spiritual world there are five kinds of liberation. Sāyujya-mukti is a form of liberation in which one merges into the impersonal existence of the Supreme Lord, called Brahman. Another form of liberation is sārūpya-mukti, by which one receives features exactly like God’s. Another is sālokya-mukti, by which one can live in the same planet with God. By sārṣṭi-mukti one can have opulences similar to the Supreme Lord’s. Another type enables one to remain always with God as one of His associates, just like Arjuna, who is always with Kṛṣṇa as His friend. One can have any of these five forms of liberation, but of the five the sāyujya-mukti, merging with the impersonal aspect, is not accepted by Vaiṣṇava devotees. A Vaiṣṇava wishes to worship God as He is and retain his separate individuality to serve Him, whereas the Māyāvādī impersonal philosopher wishes to lose his individuality and merge into the existence of the Supreme. This merging is recommended neither by Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā nor by the disciplic succession of Vaiṣṇava philosophers. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu wrote on this subject in His Śikṣāṣṭaka (4):

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
“O almighty Lord! I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor have I any desire to enjoy beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is that I may have Your causeless devotional service in my life, birth after birth.”

Here Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu refers to “birth after birth.” When there is birth after birth, there is no liberation. In liberation one either attains the spiritual planets or merges into the existence of the Supreme – in either case, there is no question of rebirth into the material world. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu doesn’t care whether He is liberated or not: His only concern is to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to serve the Supreme Lord. The devotee doesn’t care where he is, nor does he care whether he is born in the animal society, human society, demigod society, or whatever – he only prays to God that he not forget Him and that he always be able to engage in His transcendental service. These are symptoms of pure devotion. Of course, a devotee, wherever he is, remains in the spiritual kingdom, even while in this material body. But he does not demand anything from God for his own personal elevation or comfort.