304 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

becomes liberated from the modes of material nature after surrendering
unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead is illustrated by a sleeping man
within a room. When a man is sleeping, everyone sees that he is present
within the room, but actually the man himself is not within that body, for
while sleeping a man forgets his bodily existence, although others may see
that his body is present. Similarly, a liberated person engaged in devotional
service of the Lord may be seen by others to be engaged in the household
duties of the material world, but since his consciousness is fixed in Krsna
he does not live within this world. His engagements are different, exactly
as the sleeping man’s engagements are different from his bodily engage-
ments. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita that a devotee engaged full
time in the transcendental loving service of the Lord has already surpassed
the influence of the three modes of material nature. He is already situated
on the Brahman platform of spiritual realization, although he appears to
be living with the body or within the material world.

Srila Ripa Gosvami stated in this connection in his Bhakti-rasamrta-
sindhu that the person whose only desire is to serve the Supreme Person-
ality of Godhead may be situated in any condition in the material
world, but he is to be understood as jivanmukta, that is to say he is to be
considered liberated while living within the body or the material world.
The conclusion, therefore, is that a person fully engaged in Krsna
consciousness is a liberated person. Such a person has actually nothing to
do with the material world. Those who are not in Krsna consciousness
are called karmis and jndnis, and they hover on the bodily and mental
platform and thus are not liberated. This situation is called kaivalya-
nirasta-yont. A person situated on the transcendental platform becomes
freed from the repetition of birth and death. This is also confirmed in
Bhagavad-gita, Fourth Chapter. Simply by knowing the transcendental
nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna, one becomes free
from the chains of the repetition of birth and death, and after quitting
his present body he goes back home, back to Godhead. This is the
conclusion of all the Vedas. Thus one should surrender unto the lotus feet
of Lord Krsna after understanding the prayers offered by the personified
Vedas.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Second Volume, Thirty-
Second Chapter of Krsna, “Prayers by the Personified Vedas.”
