In truth, living beings, embodied souls, are in a relative position despite their qualitative identity with the Lord. God reigns as Master over all things, and the living being for his part is always ruled, either by spiritual energy or by material energy. So he can never come to be the master of one or the other of these two energies. Its natural position is to keep always subordinate to Krishna, God, the Supreme Person.
He who accepts to behave in this way attains the perfection of existence, but he who revolts against the will of God remains in it. state conditioned by matter, slave of material nature.
Logos 433
Where does spiritual life lead us, and how can we know whether or not we will have to be reborn for a new material existence?
Spiritual life leads us to our primordial, original state, free from any material identification. We reach the state which frees us from all anguish, pain and lust. Once this state has been reached, it is then possible to think in terms of universal brotherhood.
The next step is to engage fully in the consciousness of Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, and thus gradually come closer to the spiritual world where we find eternal life, all of knowledge and bliss. In other words, when the spiritual soul is freed from all contamination or material designation, it no longer reincarnates in another material body after death. She then joins the spiritual world and remains eternally in one or other of the spiritual planets known as the Vaikunthas planets. Lord Krishna dwells in the highest of these planets, Goloka Vrindavana.
We are not the body of dense matter, but spiritual beings imprisoned in a material body. Our real interest is to understand this simple truth, then we can make further progress in the spiritual realm. Otherwise, if we stick to our bodily conception of existence, our miserable life in this material world will continue forever. We will have to endure the sufferings of material life one after another. This is why this existence is a real reservoir of miserable conditions.
In reality, everything depends on the will of God. It is by virtue of the latter that we are born into such and such a family, in such and such an environment, with such and such a personality. All this is regulated by the Supreme Lord according to the desires suggested to us by maya, the energy of illusion. Consequently everything depends on God, the Supreme Person.
All mobile and immobile beings living in this material world, including us, are in a temporary situation. This situation did not exist before we were born and, after our death, it will no longer exist. As a result, our present situation is only fleeting.