There are five kinds of liberation: sāyujya, sārūpya, sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya. Five kinds of liberation. So sāyujya-mukti is to merge into the impersonal effulgence of God. That is called sāyujya-mukti. If you like, you can merge your identity with the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord, which is called Brahman, brahma-jyoti. That you can do. But that is not very palatable. That we have discussed many times.
But others . . . there are two schools of philosophers. One likes to merge into the existence of the Supreme and close his identity, individual identity—no more individual. That you can do. You close your identity. But that sort of merging is risky also. That we have several times discussed. But if you enter into some planets, spiritual planets, then you can have five kinds of liberation.
One kind of liberation is sārūpya. You can have body exactly like God. Sārūpya. Sālokya. You can live in the same planet, sālokya. Sālokya . . . sālokya and sārṣṭi. Sārṣṭi means you can have similar opulence as God has. Similar opulence. So much powerful you can become that you are as powerful as God is. That is called sārṣṭi. And sāmīpya. Sāmīpya means you can always remain with God as one of the associates. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna is always with Kṛṣṇa as friend. This is called sāmīpya.
So there are different kinds of liberations. Now, any one, any of these five kinds of liberations you can have. But out of the five, the sāyujya-mukti, or the liberation by becoming merged into the existence of the Supreme, is not accepted by the Vaiṣṇava philosopher. We belong to the Vaiṣṇava philosophical school. Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava means we want to worship God as He is, and we keep our separate identity eternally to serve Him. That is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. And the Māyāvāda philosophy and impersonalist philosophy is that they want to close their individual identity and merge into the existence of the Supreme.
Now, here Lord Kṛṣṇa does not advise you . . . that is a suicidal policy. That policy is neither recommended by Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the Bhagavad-gītā, neither the Vaiṣṇava philosophers they accept it, to merge. They don't wish to close their individuality. They . . . Lord Caitanya, the stalwart amongst the Vaiṣṇava philosophers, He said that . . . He prayed:
- na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
- kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
- mama janmani janmanīśvare
- bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
- (CC Antya 20.29)
The pure Vaiṣṇava, unadulterated devotee of the Lord, they do not want even liberation. They don't want. They don't care for liberation also. What they want? Just like in this prayer, Lord Caitanya says, mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī: "I may remain Your pure devotee birth after birth." That means, when there is birth after birth, there is no liberation. So He doesn't expect even liberation.
When you are liberated, there is no birth. Either you remain in the spiritual planet or you merge into the existence of the Supreme, there is no more birth in this material world. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu prays that "birth after birth." That means He doesn't care whether He is liberated or not liberated; He wants simply to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to serve the Lord, Supreme Lord. That is His philosophy. Never mind where He is.
The devotee doesn't mind whether he's born in the animal society or human society or demigod society or any society. He simply prays to God that, "I may not forget You. I may be always engaged in Your transcendental loving service." This is the symptom of pure devotion. Of course, a devotee, wherever he remains, he remains in the spiritual kingdom, even in this material body. But from his side he does not demand from God anything for his personal superiority or personal comfort.