Returning to the Eternal Religion 261

samah sarvesu bhitesu
mad-bhaktim labhate param

‘One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme
Brahman. He never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally
disposed to every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional
service unto Me.”’ [Bg. 18.54]

This world is miserable for the materially infected person, but for the
devotee, the entire world is as good as Vaikuntha. For the impersonalist,
achieving the Brahman stage, becoming one with the Absolute, is the last
word.

Mr. O’Grady: Is the Absolute external or internal?

Srila Prabhupada: There is no external or internal. The Absolute is
without duality.

Mr. O’Grady: OK, but on an individual level...

Srila Prabhupada: We are not absolute. When we are situated on the ab-
solute platform, we are absolute. However, now we are in the relative
world. The Absolute Truth is here also, but our senses are not suffi-
ciently elevated to understand that Absolute Truth. As long as we are
under the control of time, there is no question of becoming absolute.
Mr. O’Grady: So ‘‘absolute’’ means life beyond time?

Srila Prabhupada: That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita [4.9]:

janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah

tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so ’rjuna

‘‘One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and ac-
tivities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this ma-
terial world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.”’

That is absolute—going back home, back to Godhead. As long as one
is in the material world and identifies with this body, he transmigrates
from one body to another. That is not absolute. This is clearly stated
here. When one goes back to the spiritual world, he attains the absolute
position.

Mr. O’Grady: All right, but this is my question: Is it sufficient for us to
sit here—you sitting there and we as friends sitting with you engaging in
the gentle art of conversation, while across the ocean...

Srila Prabhupada: The point you have missed is that although you are
