What is that highest perfection of life? The highest perfection of life is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9): after giving up . . . we have to give up this body; this is as sure as anything. So the problem is, after giving up this body, what sort of body I am going to accept? That is assured in the Bhagavad-gītā, that tyaktvā dehaṁ: after giving up this body, punar janma naiti. Punar janma means rebirth. Rebirth . . . there is no rebirth. There is no rebirth means there is no rebirth for possessing a material body. Because a spirit soul has neither birth nor death. There is no question of rebirth, because he has no birth. You, me and everyone, we have no rebirth, neither you are born. Na jāyate na mriyate kadācin (BG 2.20). A living entity is never born or never dies. What is this birth and death? This is the change of the body. Change of the body. So tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: after giving up this material body he does not accept material body, but he has got already spiritual body. That remains, and that works, and that is transferred to the spiritual world. That is the highest perfection of life—tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti. Punar janma naiti: "He does not get rebirth with a material body, but he comes to Me. Comes to Me."
Kṛṣṇa, or God, is all-spirit. Therefore we have to go back to Godhead means with spiritual body, not with material body. That is your highest perfection.
- mām upetya kaunteya
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvataṁ
- (BG 8.15)
That is the highest perfection. If anyone comes back to Kṛṣṇa, God, with a spiritual body, then he does not come back within this material world, which is full of miserable condition, duḥkhālayam. That is māyā. We are always in miserable condition of life, but we do not understand. This is called māyā. Just as the . . . (indistinct) . . . cats and dogs, they are animals. They are in a miserable condition of life, but it does not understand. That is animal life. A hog is eating stool and lying in filthy place, but he thinks that he is very happy. He thinks. This is called māyā. Prakṣepātmika-śakti. You are in most abominable condition of life, but still I am thinking I am very happy. This is called māyā.