Prabhupada 0428 - The Special Prerogative of the Human Being is to Understand - What I Am



Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Edinburgh, July 16, 1972

Just try to understand how much ignorant we are. We are all in ignorance. This education is wanted because people, by this ignorance, they're fighting with one another. One nation is fighting with another, one religionist is fighting with another religionist. But it is all based on ignorance. I am not this body. Therefore śāstra says, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). Ātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape, this is a bag of bones and muscles, and it is manufactured by three dhātus. Dhātu means elements. According to Āyur-vedic system: kapha, pitta, vāyu. Material things. So therefore I am a spirit soul. I am part and parcel of God. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is the Vedic education. Try to understand that you do not belong to this material world. You belong to the spiritual world. You are part and parcel of God. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). In the Bhagavad-gītā, God says that "All living entities are My part and parcels." Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). He's undergoing a great struggle for life under the impression, under the bodily impression that he is this body, but this kind of impression or understanding is animal civilization. Because the animals are also eating, sleeping, having sex intercourse, and defending in their own way. So if we also, human being, if we are engaged with all these business, namely eating, sleeping, sex intercourse, and defending, then we are not better than the animals. The special prerogative of the human being is to understand "What I am? I am this body or something else?" Actually, I am not this body. I have given you so many examples. I am spirit soul. But at the present moment every one of us is busy on this understanding that I am this body. Nobody is working on the understanding that he is not body, he's spirit soul. Therefore try to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are trying to educate every man without any distinction. We do not... Because we do not take consideration of the body. The body may be Hindu, body may be Muslim, the body may be European, body may be American, or the body may be different style. Just like you have got a dress. Now, because I am in saffron dress and you are in black coat, that does not mean we shall fight together. Why? You may have a different dress, I may have a different dress. So where is the reason for fighting? This understanding is wanted at the present moment. Otherwise, you'll be a civilization of animals. Just like in the jungle, there are animals. There are cats, dogs, jackals, tigers, and they always fight. Therefore, if we really want śānti—śānti means peace—then we must try to understand "What I am." That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are teaching everyone what he is actually. But his position is... Everyone's position, not only my or yours. Everyone. Even the animals. They're also spirit spark. They're also. Kṛṣṇa claims that,

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
(BG 14.4)

Kṛṣṇa claims that "I am the seed-giving father of all living entities." Actually, this is the fact. If we want to study the origin of creation, everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like the father gives the seed within the womb of the mother, and the seed grows a particular type of body, similarly, we living entities, we are all part and parcel of God, so God impregnates this material nature, and we come out with this material body under different forms. There are 8,400,000s of forms. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. There is a list. Everything is there.