Learning the Science of the Soul 7
turned into fire by constant association with fire. Similarly, detachment
from material activities can be effected by spiritual activities, not by
material inertia. Material inertia is the negative side of material action,
but spiritual activity is not only the negation of material action but the ac-
tivation of our real life. We must be anxious to search out eternal life, or
spiritual existence in Brahman, the Absolute. The eternal kingdom of
Brahman is described in the Bhagavad-gitd as that eternal country from
which no one returns. That is the kingdom of God.

The beginning of our present material life cannot be traced, nor is it
necessary for us to know how we became conditioned in material exis-
tence. We have to be satisfied with the understanding that somehow or
other this material life has been going on since time immemorial and now
our duty is to surrender unto the Supreme Lord, who is the original cause
of all causes. The preliminary qualification for going back to Godhead is
given in the Bhagavad-gita [15.5]: ‘‘One who is free from illusion, false
prestige, and false association, who understands the eternal, who is done
with material lust and is free from the duality of happiness and distress,
and who knows how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attains that
eternal kingdom.”

One who is convinced of his spiritual identity and is freed from the
material conception of existence, who is free from illusion and is tran-
scendental to the modes of material nature, who constantly engages in
understanding spiritual knowledge and who has completely severed him- .
self from sense enjoyment can go back to Godhead. Such a person is
called amtdha, as distinguished from mddha, or the foolish and ignorant,
for he is freed from the duality of happiness and distress.

And what is the nature of the kingdom of God? It is described in the
Bhagavad-gitad [15.6] as follows: ‘‘That abode of Mine is not illumined by
the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to
this material world.”’

Although every place in the creation is within the kingdom of God
because the Lord is the supreme proprietor of all planets, there is still the
Lord’s personal abode, which is completely different from the universe
in which we are now living. And this abode is called paramam, or the
supreme abode. Even on this earth there are countries where the stan-
dard of living is high and countries where the standard of living is low.
Besides this earth, there are innumerable other planets distributed all
over the universe, and some are considered superior places and some in-
ferior places. In any case, all planets within the jurisdiction of the exter-
nal energy, material nature, require the rays of a sun or the light of fire
