Do people have to reach Enlightenment before they receive the gift of eternal life?
BSP: No. Everyone is already eternal and immortal. When you attain Enlightenment, what changes is that you now have the experience of your own inherent divinity and immortality. Couple that with the knowing that it is the dharma and destiny of your soul—you have no ultimate say in this process or outcome; it is going to happen anyway, because of you and/or in spite of you—and you, like most, would immediately come to the realization of, “Why not just do it now?” What happens to those who have not achieved Enlightenment before they die? Do they have to come back to this world? BSP: You only have one true, full incarnation on Earth, and that is the one in which you are now living. What you understand to be your past lives are lives that your soul experiences vicariously through others, to prepare itself for its one journey on Earth. Furthermore, if you do not realize God in your one lifetime on Earth, you continue vicariously through (what you understand as) future lifetimes, assuming an
