Prabhupāda: Because we are spiritual being. That I was trying to explain, that we have bodily necessities, at the same time we have spiritual necessities. This Western civilization, they are simply after the bodily necessities. Just like here is a qualified medical man. He's made . . . what for, medical man? He knows how to satisfy the medical necessities of the body. He has no information of the spirit soul. Is it not a fact? Have you got any idea what is spirit soul?
Guest (2) (Indian Doctor): Not from the medical knowledge, certainly not.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I say that these universities, educational institution, all over the world, they are simply concerned with this body. According to our Vedic culture, to remain satisfied with the bodily necessities of life is the business of animals. Sa eva go-kharaḥ.
- yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
- sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ
- yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
- janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ
- (SB 10.84.13)
These are animal conception. So anyone who is accepting this body as the self, he is sa eva go-kharaḥ. Go means cows, and kharaḥ means asses.
So this civilization based on the bodily necessities of life is animal civilization. Because we are not this body, we are spirit soul, as it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: dehina asmin dehe . . . dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). The soul is within the body, and it is transmigrating from one type of body to another, even in this life. Just like I was in the baby's body, I was in a child's body, I was in a boy's body. Those bodies are gone. But I remember that I was in such-and-such bodies. But I am now in a different body. Therefore, although my bodies have changed so many times, I am cognizant; I know that I had such-and-such body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: to transmigrate from one body to another. This is the authoritative statement of Bhagavad-gītā.
There are so many serious students of Bhagavad-gītā. Just like Mahatma Gandhi, his photographs were always with the Bhagavad-gītā, standing. But he was not a leader of understanding what is soul. He was simply concerned with the body. This nationalism is concerning this body. Bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ. Bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ. Ijya, ijya means worshipable. On account of this bodily concept of life they have taken that this earth, or the place where the body is born, that has become worshipable. That is national, nationalism. Bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ. Sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu. And from my body there is relationship with my wife, wife my children; therefore they are my own men. There are hundreds and thousands of women, but one woman who has got bodily connection, she's my wife; I have to do so many things for her. Similarly children, the bodily connection. The whole material civilization, nationalism, socialism, this "ism," that "ism," everything based on this bodily concept of life. But one who is in bodily concept of life, he is no better than cows and asses.