148 THE PATH OF PERFECTION The Path of Perfection 149

has the same features as the Lord. There are five kinds of libera- yatra kale tv anavrttim

tion: sdyujya, sdripya, sadlokya, sarsti, and samipya. Sdyujya-mukti avrttim caiva yoginah

means merging into God’s impersonal effulgence, the brahma- prayata yanti tam kalam

Jyoti. We have discussed this, and have concluded that the attempt vaksyami bharatarsabha

to merge and lose individuality is not desirable and is very risky.

Sarupya-mukti means attaining a body exactly like God’s. Salokya- ‘“‘O best of the Bharatas, I shall now explain to you the different

mukti means living on the same planet with God. Sarsti-mukti times at which, passing away from this world, one does or does not

means having the opulence of God. For instance, God is very come back.”’ (Bg. 8.23) In India, unlike in the West, it is common

powerful, and we can become powerful like Him. That is called for astrologers to make minute calculations of the astronomical

sarsti. Sdmipya-mukti means always remaining with God as one of situation at the moment of one’s birth. Indeed, a person’s

His associates. For instance, Arjuna is always with Krsna as His horoscope is read not only when he is born but also when he dies,

friend, and this is called samipya-mukti. We can attain any one of in order to determine what his situation will be in the next life. All

these five types of liberation, but out of these five, sdyujya-mukti, this can be determined by astrological calculation. In this verse,

merging into the brahmajyoti, is rejected by Vaisnava philosophy. Lord Krsna is accepting those astrological principles, confirming

According to the Vaisnava philosophy, we worship God as He is that if one leaves his body at a particular time, he may attain

and retain our separate identity eternally in order to serve Him. liberation. If one dies at one moment, he may be liberated, or if he

According to the Mayavada philosophy, impersonalism, one tries dies at another moment, he may have to return to the material

to lose his individual identity and merge into the existence of the world. It is all a question of ‘‘chance,”’ but that chance someway

Supreme. That, however, is a suicidal policy and is not recom- or other is what one has. For the devotee, however, there is no

mended by Krsna in Bhagavad-gita. question of chance. Whatever the astrological situation, the devo-
This has also been rejected by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, tee in Krsna consciousness is guaranteed liberation. For others,

who advocated worship in separation. As stated before, the pure there are chances that if they leave their body at a particular mo-

devotee does not even want liberation; he simply asks to remain ment, they may attain liberation and enter the spiritual kingdom,

Krsna’s devotee birth after birth. This is Lord Caitanya Maha- or they may be reborn.

prabhu’s prayer, and the words ‘“‘birth after birth’? indicate

that there is no liberation. This means that the devotee doesn’t agnir jyotir ahah suklah

care whether he is liberated or not. He simply wants to engage in san-masa@ uttardyanam

Krsna consciousness, to serve the Supreme Lord. Always wanting tatra prayata gacchanti

to engage in God’s transcendental loving service is the symptom brahma brahma-vido janah

of pure devotion. Of course, wherever a devotee is, he remains in

the spiritual kingdom, even though in the material body. On his ‘‘Those who know the Supreme Brahman pass away from the

part, he does not demand any of the five types of liberation, nor world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an

anything for his personal superiority or comfort. But in order to auspicious moment, during the fortnight of the moon and the six

associate with God in the spiritual planets, one must become His months when the sun travels in the north.”” (Bg. 8.24) As we all

pure devotee. know, the sun’s movements are different: six months it is north of
For those who are not pure devotees, Lord Krsna explains at the equator, and six months it is south. The sun is also moving,

what times one should leave the body in order to attain liberation. according to Vedic calculations, and from Srimad-Bhagavatam we
