Kṛṣṇa is giving His opinion, the supreme authority that, "If you want to know, if you want to be in knowledge, this is knowledge." What is that? "That this body, you are not this body; you are the owner of the body. And you should know also that the . . . there is another person. As you are a person, you are owner of this body, there is another person." Who is that? "That is I am," Kṛṣṇa says. Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi: "I am also owner of this body." Actually Kṛṣṇa is the owner of the body. Just like in a, in an apartment, there is the occupier and the landlord. So there are two men concerned. I do not know what is the system here. In India, there are two kinds of taxes: the occupier tax and the landlord's tax. Two kinds of taxes. So similarly, this body, I, the living entity, I am the occupier. I am not the owner. Although occupier is, to some extent, owner, but the real owner is the landlord.
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the real owner of this body because Kṛṣṇa has given me this body just to occupy it and work. So far. Not that I am the actual proprietor of this body. So when actually one comes to this knowledge that, "I am not this body"—this is one knowledge—and one comes to know also that, "I am also not proprietor, actual proprietor, of this body . . ." How can I be actual proprietor of this body? If you have got knowledge . . . because this body is made of material ingredients.
So what are these material ingredients? Earth, water, fire, air, ether—they are physical elements. They are Kṛṣṇa's energies. So this body is made by Kṛṣṇa's energy. And I, the person, I am also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We are two energies. I, as living entity, I am also the energy, superior energy. And this material body, that is also Kṛṣṇa's energy. I cannot prepare this body if I like. No. The body is made by Kṛṣṇa through the agency of this material energy, prakṛti. Prakṛti means the material energy. Kṛṣṇa will say that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). This body is made by the material nature under the order of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is with you. Therefore He says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi (BG 13.3), that "I am also one of the occupier of this body." That is Paramātmā. So Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He is taking note of my all desires, and as I desire, Kṛṣṇa orders the material energy to prepare a suitable body for me, and I live there. This is knowledge.
This is knowledge, that within this body . . . in the Upaniṣads also it is explained that in this tree—this body is taken as tree—there are two birds sitting as friends: one, the living entity, and the other is the Supersoul, Paramātmā, ātmā and Paramātmā. So Kṛṣṇa is so kind that actually He's supplying my order. I want to eat like tiger. Kṛṣṇa is ordering material nature, "Well, he wants a tiger's body. Give him a tiger's body." I want to eat like hogs and dogs. Kṛṣṇa orders material . . . "Give him a body like a hog. He can eat very peacefully all kinds of stools." That's all. This is going on. This is going on. And if I want a body to serve Kṛṣṇa, He'll give us. Ye yathā mām . . . this is the meaning of ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). "As you desire, I give you. If you want a body to serve Me, you'll get a Vaiṣṇava body, and you will be able to serve Kṛṣṇa." And if you want to serve cats and dogs, then you get a cat's and dog's body.
Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). Guṇa means . . . according to the guṇa, you make your desire. That is contamination. And as there is contamination, as there is similar disease, similarly, as we desire similar body, we can get by the order of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa gives order because we want it. Kṛṣṇa does not force you to enter into the dog's body or hog's body or demigod's body or human being's body, but as we create situation by desire, Kṛṣṇa gives us the facility to possess such body, and we work on, and we reap another result. This is called material existence.