ATTAINING AN ETERNAL BODY AND A LIFE OF IMMORTALITY.
His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedantaswami Prabhupada:
There is life after death, and there is also the chance to free oneself from the cycle of repeated birth and death and attain a life of immortality. But because we have been accustomed to accepting one body after another since time immemorial, it is difficult for us to think of a life that is eternal. And the life of material existence is so troublesome that one may think that if there is an eternal life, that life must be troublesome also.
For example, a diseased man who is taking very bitter medicine and who is lying down in bed, eating there and passing stool and urine there, unable to move, may find his life so intolerable that he thinks, “Let me commit suicide.” Similarly, materialistic life is so miserable that in desperation one sometimes takes to a philosophy of voidism or impersonalism to try to negate his very existence and make everything zero.
Actually, however, becoming zero is not possible, nor is it necessary. We are in trouble in our material condition, but when we get out of our material condition we can find real life, eternal life.
Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, who is aja, beyond birth and death, we are also aja. How could we be otherwise? If my father is happy and I am the son of my father, why should I be unhappy? I can naturally conclude that I shall enjoy my father’s property just as my father is enjoying it.
Similarly, God, Kṛṣṇa, is all-powerful, all-beautiful, all-knowledgeable, and complete in everything, and although I may not be complete, I am part and parcel of God, and therefore I have all the qualities of God to a partial extent.
God does not die, so I also shall not die. That is my position. That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā (2.20): na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit. Describing the soul, Kṛṣṇa says that the soul is never born (na jāyate), and if one is not born how can he die? There is no question of death (mriyate vā). Death is for one who has taken birth, and if one has no birth he can also have no death.
Unfortunately, however, we do not know this. We are conducting scientific research, but we do not know that every living entity is a spiritual soul, with no birth and no death. This is our ignorance. The soul is eternal, everlasting, and primeval (nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo). The soul does not die with the annihilation of the body (na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre). But although the soul does not die, it accepts another body, and this is called bhava-roga, the material disease.
Since Kṛṣṇa is the supreme living entity (nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām),we are exactly like Kṛṣṇa, the difference being that Kṛṣṇa is vibhu, unlimited, whereas we are aṇu, limited. Qualitatively, we are as good as Kṛṣṇa. Therefore whatever propensities Kṛṣṇa has, we have also.
For example, Kṛṣṇa has the propensity to love someone of the opposite sex, and therefore we have this same propensity. The beginning of love is present in the eternal love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. We are also seeking eternal love, but because we are conditioned by the material laws, our love is interrupted. But if we can transcend this interruption, we can take part in loving affairs similar to those of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī.
Our aim should therefore be to go back home, back to Kṛṣṇa, because since Kṛṣṇa is eternal, we shall there receive an eternal body.
[Excerpt from the book- 'Teachings of Queen Kunti' -Chapter 15 Purport by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedantaswami Prabhupada reproduced herein by this menial servant.]
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