Instead of thinking myself that, "I am eternal servant of God, or Kṛṣṇa," I am thinking, "I am servant of my society," " I am servant of my country," "I am servant of my husband," "I am servant of my wife," "I am servant of my dog," or so many. This is forgetfulness.
So how it has happened? Due to this body, whole thing. Whole mis-consciousness has come into existence due to this body. Because I am born in America, I am thinking American. And because I am thinking American, the American government claims, "Yes, you come and fight, give your life," draft board. Why? This body. Therefore the intelligent person should know that "I am suffering all miserable condition of my life due to this body."
So we should not act in such a way that this imprisonment with this material body will continue birth after birth, either American body, Indian body, dog's body, hog's body, so many—8,400,000's of body. That is called yoga, how to get out of this contamination of body. But the first instruction is to understand that "I am not this body." That is the basic principle of Bhagavad-gītā teaching. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11):
"My dear Arjuna, you are talking very nicely, just like a very advanced, learned man. But you are talking on the bodily platform—all nonsense, 'I am father of this. Oh, they are my relatives, they are my this, they are my this. How can I kill? How can I do? I cannot.' " The whole atmosphere consciousness is body.