So Kṛṣṇa consciousness means that if we want, if we are actually educated, then we must try to question that "Why I am suffering?" This is called brahma-jijñāsā. In the Vedānta-sūtra the first aphorism is athāto brahma jijñāsā. One should inquire about his existence as soul, not as body or as mind. Because he is neither body nor mind. So this Vedānta-sūtra says that athāto brahma jijñāsā. Atha ataḥ means this is the time, this human form of life, developed consciousness, with greater intelligence than the animals, one should inquire about his spiritual existence. That is real technology. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says that parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam. So long one does not inquire about his spiritual existence... Every one of us is born ignorant because we do not know what is our real identity. Generally, we accept that "I am this body," but actually I am not this body. These things can be understood very easily. Suppose you are seeing all along a friend. All of a sudden he dies and you say, "My friend is gone." Well, your friend is lying there with all the body, hands, legs, everything. He's lying there. Why do you say that your friend is gone? Then you have never seen your friend. You have seen only his bodily structure. That's all. Similarly, at the present moment the humanitarian work is going on, but we do not know what is the basic principle of humanitarian work. The Bhāgavata answers this: yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). A person who is in the knowledge that "I am this body and...," sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ, and if one thinks that "In relations with this body, my kinsmen, they will protect me," and if he thinks that "The land where the body is grown, that is the worshipable land," then he is, I mean to say, accepted like animal. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13).
So these instructions are there. Unfortunately, we have no time, neither we have desire to understand actually what I am, why I am suffering, what is this world, what is my relationship with this world, what is God, what is my relationship with God. These questions are very important questions, and there is technology to understand these questions. And the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vedānta-sūtra, all these literatures are there. If you kindly, of course, see to these literatures, you'll find the solution of the problems of life. But we are not interested. That is the difficulty. We are thinking that we are happy, we have no problem, although there are so many problems and we are not happy. This is called māyā. Māyā means what is not. Mā means not. Yā means this. This is called māyā. We are thinking that we are happy, but actually we are not happy. And even if we are happy, how long we are happy? Suppose, taking for example you Americans, you are the richest nation of the world. Your material comforts and everything is greater than other countries, standard of living. But just try to think how long you can remain as American. Say, for fifty years or hundred years, at most. Then... But we do not know what is going to happen in my next life because we do not believe in the next life. But actually there is next life. So if you don't take care of my next life and if we irresponsibly waste our valuable human form of life like ordinary animals... The ordinary animals, they demand something for eating, they want to sleep, they want to defend, and they want to mate. So similarly, if human being is also busy with the four principles of bodily demands, namely eating, sleeping, mating and defending, then, according to Vedic literature, it is said that he is not human being. Dharmeṇa hīna paśubhiḥ samānāḥ. If the human being does not understand his real spiritual identity and simply busy with the four demands of bodily necessities, then paśubhiḥ samānāḥ—he's as equal as with lower animals, cats and dogs.