Either he can be in material nature or in the spiritual nature. The spiritual nature means liberation, and material nature means contamination.
Talk, Initiation Lecture, and Ten Offenses Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 1, 1968: So this mantra, initiation, namaḥ. Namaḥ means surrender. And who can surrender? Surrender, one who has understood the Lord, he can surrender, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. After many, many births of cultivation of knowledge, when one is perfectly wise, at that time he surrenders. The perfection of acquiring knowledge, or wisdom, is to surrender. So, namaḥ. Namaḥ means "I surrender." And what is your condition? Never mind what is that condition. Apavitraḥ pavitro vā. Apavitraḥ means contaminated, and pavitra means liberated. So we have two conditions. Either... Just like either we are healthy or we are diseased. There is no third condition. Crude example. Similarly, the living entities, they have two conditions. One condition is liberation, another condition is contaminated. Therefore living entity is called marginal, in between contamination and liberation. Either a living entity can be contaminated or liberated. There is no third condition. Therefore this mantra says, apavitraḥ pavitro vā. Either contaminated or liberated, it doesn't matter. Oṁ namo apavitraḥ pavitro, sarvāvasthām. Sarva means all; avasthām means condition. In any condition. Sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā. In whatever condition you may be. Because two conditions there are. For the living entities... The living entity is in the marginal position. Either he can be in material nature or in the spiritual nature. The
spiritual nature means liberation, and material nature means contamination. So in this mantra it is said, either of the condition, never mind. Either you are in material condition or spiritual condition. Sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā. Vā means either; yaḥ, anyone; smaret, smaret means remembers; puṇḍarīkākṣam, puṇḍarīkākṣam means whose eyes are just like lotus petal. That means Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bahya... Bahya means externally. Externally, this body. Abhyantaram. Abhyantaram means internally. Internally I am spirit. Just like internally, within this dress, I am internally. Externally I am this dress. Similarly, yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam. Either he is in the bodily concept of life or he is in the spiritual concept of life, either he is contaminated or he is liberated—in any condition, one who remembers Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, bahyābhyantaram, he immediately becomes purified internally and externally. This is the substance of this mantra.