How to Become Free from Birth and Death

”The Supreme Lord who protects all the universes, who is the worshipable Lord of everyone, who is always concealed inside the hearts of every living entity, upon whom all the learned sages and the demigods of heaven meditate, whosoever comes to know that very Lord they become free from the tie of rebirth and death.”

sa eva kaie bhuvanasya gopta
visvadhipah sarva-bhutesu gudhah
yasmin yukta brahma-rsayo devatas ca
tamevam jnatva mrtyu-pasams chinatti

PURPORT BY SRI KRSNA BALARAM SWAMIJI

The word kale, all the time, signifies that when a living entity takes its birth, according to its karma the Supreme Lord, in the form of the Supersoul, follows it. Either it be a higher birth of a demigod in heaven or be a lower birth of an insect the Lord is always seated in the heart as the Supersoul. As long as any creature is alive the Supersoul is within it. In other words the Supersoul only departs from the heart when the living entity is dead. Therefore harming any creature unnecessarily is punishable in the eyes of God. One who understands this rule they surely endeavor on the path of liberation, thereby stopping the cycle of rebirth and death. How one should proceed towards liberation is stated in the Mundaka Upanisad thus:

satyena labhyas tapasa hy esa atma
samyag jnanena brahmacaryena nityam
antah sarire jyotirmayo hi subhro
yam pasyanti yatayah ksina-dosah

“The self effulgent Supersoul who is constantly visualized in their hearts by the purified sages that same Lord is obtained by practiceing the path of scriptures, performing austerities, obtaining transcendental knowledge and celibacy.”

[Svetasvatara Upanisad, 4. 15, KBS0073]