"Yes, in the future—in another world."
"Do you really believe that you will have a personality—that you can retain the ego that is in you now—when you enter any other world but this?"
"I hope so. We are taught by our religion that something of the sort is to take place. What is your belief?" asked Wenaston, turning the conversation on to Hinduism. Before Ananda could reply, Coomara, assertive in the stronghold of his steadfast faith, spoke.
"We believe that after a long succession of rebirths on this earth we shall be absorbed in the Deity."
Wenaston did not reply, and Coomara explained thinking that the Englishman had not understood.
"—the great impersonal Brahma, the origin of all things, the Spirit that your Bible says brooded on the face of the waters when the world was without form."
"You can't expect any positive happiness in such a state," objected Wenaston.
"Why not?"
"How can you hope for positive happiness if you are impersonal yourself and forming part of an impersonal Deity?"
"There is no reason why we should not enjoy a state or condition of happiness if the Deity so willed it."