Beyond The Material Universe

We have freedom of action, and God rewards us the results-whatever we want. If we worship material things, then we attain them. In other words, we remain on the material platform life after life. If we worship highly elevated living entities (the demigods) then we go to the worlds of these beings. Similarly, if we worship our ancestors, we will go to their worlds also. And if we wish to go to the planet where Krsna resides, known as Goloka Vrndavana, we have to worship Krsna. This is certainly not unreasonable; if we wish to attain a particular destination, we must purchase a ticket for that destination and not another. Bhagavad-gita explains that the planet of Krsna is different from others, for when one attains it he has no longer to return to this material world.

"From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again." (Bg. 8.16)

Regardless of where we go in this material world-even to the highest planets-we have to return, sometimes to a higher position, and sometimes to a lower. Just as the soul transmigrates from one body to another, it also transmigrates from one planet to another. We should attempt to go to that realm from which we do not have to return, and that is known as the realm of Vaikuntha, the spiritual sky, which is beyond the material universe. If we remain always in Krsna consciousness, our transfer to that planet of Krsna is guaranteed. It is a question of practice, for the mental condition that prevails at the time of death determines the form of body one acquires in the next life. Just as we have to prepare for examinations in an ordinary school, we also have to prepare for the examination known as death. If we at all want to transfer ourselves to that planet known as Krsnaloka, cintamani-dhama, then we have to practice. The human life is specifically meant for the practice of Krsna consciousness. Those who are even apprentices in this realm are already considered liberated, just as a sincere student who is preparing himself for his examinations may already be considered to have passed them. In other words, he prepares himself so thoroughly that his passing of the examination is guaranteed.

The method of preparing for the examination of death, the method of Krsna consciousness, is outlined by Krsna in this way:

"O son of Kunti, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me." (Bg. 9.27)