Sūta Gosvāmī was presiding in a very learned assembly at a place which is known as Naimiṣāraṇya. It is long, long ago, at least four thousand years ago, but that place, Naimiṣāraṇya, is still in India. There is a railway station called Nimsar. Now the name is little changed—Nimsar; originally the name was Naimiṣāraṇya.
That place was especially meant for such kind of meeting, religious meeting. In India there are many sacred places, because in India, India is known as the place of religion, the country of religion. Actually, the present religious system of the world, all of them originated from India. The principal religions of the world, namely the Christian religion, the Buddha religion, the Hindu religion, even Muhammadan religion, originally it came from India. The other day I was reading one book—what is that, Aquarian Gospel? What is that?
Devotee: The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
Prabhupāda: Yes. In that book I read that Lord Jesus Christ was for many years in India, and he was especially in the Jagannātha Temple. Yes, in that book it is stated, in Jagannātha Temple. And he was discussing philosophy with the priest of the Jagannātha. So similarly, so far Lord Buddha is concerned, he was Hindu, there is no doubt, but he started a separate type of religion—nonviolence—because at that time there was need for such religion, nonviolence. And that is a great story.
Now, here in that meeting at Naimiṣāraṇya, the speaker, Sūta Gosvāmī, was asked by the audience that, "In this Age of Kali . . ." This age is called Kali, means degraded age. People are under . . . misunderstanding that they are advancing in civilization. But actually they are not advancing; they are degrading. Even they are very much proud of material advancement. But actually the other day the press representative came, and he asked about this.
So I answered that actually this is not material advancement. Material advancement means to have easily the material needs. What are our material needs? The mat . . . because we have got this material body, our material needs are four: we want to eat something, without eating we cannot exist, so either a human being or an animal, everyone who has got this material body requires to eat something. Then he must have some shelter to rest. Eating and sleeping—āhāra, nidrā. The Sanskrit word is āhāra nidrā. Then every material living entities . . .
I am speaking material because every living entity is spiritual spark. He is covered by this material body. Just like you are covered by your shirt, coat or gown, dress, similarly we are living entities, we are all spirit soul, part and parcel of God. God is the Supreme Spirit, and what in your Christian language it is called Holy Ghost, so we call ātma, or the Supreme Spirit.
So we are all part and parcel of the Supreme, just like the sparks of fire. Fire we have got experience, and naturally there are some sparks also. So you cannot avoid the sparks. Similarly, the Supreme God is just like fire, and we are just like sparks. So qualitatively the big fire and the spark fire, both of them are fire. The spark fire, if it falls on your cloth, it will immediately burn and make a black spot, and the part where it is, it will burn.