Choosing Human and Animal Lives 5
human society. All societies can take advantage of
Vedic knowledge to perfect human life. As pointed
out before, human life is not meant for sense
gratification, but for understanding God, the universe
and our own identity.

From Vedic literatures we can understand that
this material world is only a partial manifestation of
the complete creation of God. The larger portion of
God’s creation is found in the spiritual world of the
Vaikunthas. Above and beyond this material nature
there is a superior spiritual nature, as Sri Krsna states
in Bhagavad-gita:

bhumir apo ’nalo vayuh
kham mano buddhir eva ca
ahankara ittyam me
bhinna prakrtir astadha
apareyam itas tv anyam
prakrtim viddhi me param
jiva-bhutam maha-baho
yayedam dharyate jagat
“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and
false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separ-
ated material energies. Besides this inferior nature,
O mighty Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine
which is all living entities who are struggling
with material nature and sustaining the universe.”
(Bg. 7.4,5)

There are many material universes clustered to-

gether, and all these universes constitute the material
