Associating with Krsna 55

president or prime minister, but in the spiritual sky
everyone acknowledges the Supreme Personality of
Godhead to be supreme. Those who do not ac-
knowledge 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 pris-
on forms a very insignificant part of the whole city,
so the material universe is a prison for the condi-
tioned 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 Vaikuntha planets in the
spiritual sky are all liberated souls. In Srimad-
Bhagavatam we are informed that their bodily fea-
tures are exactly like God’s. On some of these plan-
ets 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. Sayujya-mukti is a
form of liberation in which one merges into the im-
personal existence of the Supreme Lord, called
Brahman. Another form of liberation is sarupya-
mukti, by which one receives features exactly like
God’s. Another is salokya-mukti, by which one can
live in the same planet with God. By sarsti-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 Kysna as His friend. One can have any of
these five forms of liberation, but of the five the
