If you want to go to the higher planetary system where the demigods live, you can go there. Therefore the karmīs, by performing Vedic ritualistic ceremonies, they want elevation to the higher planetary system where the life, prolongation of life is very, very big. As we have got day and night, in the higher planetary system the waxing and waning moon, then when the moon is present there and the sky is in light, that is the day of the higher planetary system. And when the moon is dark, that is the night. That means our fifteen days, in the higher planetary system—twelve hours. Just imagine their year. And such ten thousands of years you can live if you can go to the moon planet. The day and night, fifteen days, your fifteen days, is equal to their one day. No, twelve hours. That means your one month is their one day. Now calculate one day, then thirty days, one month. Then twelve months equal to one year. Such ten thousands of years. Just imagine. You can go there and live like that, yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25), if you like. But that is not eternal life. After that long period, you have to die. So Kṛṣṇa says janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). You are trying to avoid all kinds of miserable condition, but your real miserable condition is your birth, death, old age, and disease. Try to avoid it. That is perfection. That is spiritual life.
So there are many things. If you kindly take advantage of our offering... We are presenting this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement very genuinely and authorizedly. The center is open now. Now it is up to you to take advantage of it and be benefited.
Thank you very much. (devotees offer obeisances) (break)
Madhudviṣa: If there is any questions to present to His Divine Grace you can ask them now. Yes?
Guest: What is the purpose of the Deity worship?
Madhudviṣa: What is the purpose of Deity worship?
Prabhupāda: Deity means Kṛṣṇa's Deity. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's Deity is not different. The whole idea, spiritual knowledge, means to understand God. So vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). That is the purpose of Vedic knowledge. So just to favor you... You cannot see now God. So Kṛṣṇa has come in Deity form to accept your service. And we have to render service. Not that it is a doll or stone, no. He is Kṛṣṇa. Because you cannot see at the present moment except stone and wood, He has accepted this form like stone and wood so that you can see and render service. This is the purpose of Deity worship.
Devotee (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were saying that because the body has arms and legs, then the coat has a similar shape. Then does the spirit soul that's within our body have arms and legs like that?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee (1): Would the spirit soul that is within, say, a cow's body, is in a different shape?
Prabhupāda: Yes. It has got also legs. But the shape has taken according to his desire. Every animal has got these four things. Just like bird, it has got two wings, two legs. The animal has got four legs. And the man has got two hands, two legs. So the same parts of the body, they are appearing in a different type. But the four limbs of the body are there. Hm?
Devotee (2): Is the original body of the spirit soul a human form?
Madhudviṣa: The question is that whether the eternal form of the spirit soul is a human form or is it...
Prabhupāda: Yes, human form. God is also human form. "Man is made after the shape of God." I think there is in the Bible. Is it not? So God is also like human form. Here you see Kṛṣṇa, two hands, two legs.
Hari-śauri: How do we understand, then, that there are peacocks and flowers and trees in the spiritual world? Are these not eternal forms?
Prabhupāda: Yes. They are more covered. Just like if you cover your body with blanket, the hands and legs are invisible. But you are not the blanket. So the trees and plants, they are more covered. They are not in full manifestation. The human form is the full manifestation of the soul.
Hari-śauri: They are covered in the spiritual world?
Madhudviṣa: He is asking if they were actually covered in the spiritual world as well.
Prabhupāda: Not in the spiritual world. There that is voluntary. Some devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as flower; they become flower there. If I want that "As a flower I shall lie down at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa," he becomes flower, voluntarily. And he can change his..., from flower to human body. That is spiritual life. There is no restriction. If some devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as cow, he serves Kṛṣṇa as cow, as calf, as flower, as plant, as water, as ground, field, or as father, as mother, as friend, as beloved, anything. Ye yathā mām prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). That is Kṛṣṇa's all-powerfulness, spiritual life.