The spiritual world exists not just at a different location but at a different level of reality.

The Bhagavad-gita informs us about the spiritual world, which is the ultimate destination for us as souls. This spiritual world is sometimes shown to be situated beyond a particular boundary till which the material world extends. Such depiction may make us believe that the spiritual world is in geographical contiguity to the material world, just as, say, Canada is above the US on the world map.

However, the attempt to depict anything spiritual using any material tool of depiction such as a map is fraught with limitation. The spiritual world exists not just at another location, but at another level of reality. The Bhagavad-gita (08.20) points to this categorical difference of the spiritual world when declaring that it exists beyond the manifest and the unmanifest – and continues to exist when everything in this world is destroyed.

If the material world is compared to an apple, the spiritual world is not like a mango that can also be appreciated by tasting; it is like a diamond that requires a significantly different parameter to be appreciated.

The categorical difference of the spiritual world from the material world implies that it is attained not by traveling their physically, but by elevating our consciousness to the spiritual level. Spiritualizing our consciousness requires sustained practice of yoga, especially bhakti-yoga. Indeed, accomplished yogis whose consciousness has already become spiritualized are said to be jivan-mukta, liberated while still living in their body.

By understanding the categorically different nature of the spiritual world, we can avoid becoming discouraged by thinking that it is so far away, and we can become encouraged by contemplating that the opportunity to go closer to it beckons us at every moment –we just need to spiritualize our consciousness right now by focusing in on Krishna.