In our country there were atheists also. Just like Cārvāka Muni. According to his philosophy, he says, ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. Because in our country, India, life is enjoyable when we get to eat too much ghee. You see? Pakhika anna. That is enjoyment. Just like in Western countries, if they can eat . . . if they can drink more, that is life's enjoyment. In our country, of course . . . so ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. If somebody says that, "I have no money," so Cārvāka Muni says that "You take loan from your friend and purchase ghee and enjoy life." Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet yāvaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet. "So long you will live, live happily. Why . . . make beg, borrow, steal and live happily." "No. I shall be responsible. I shall have to pay next life." Cārvāka Muni says: "No, no. Don't bother about next life." Bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kuto punar āgamano bhavet: "Your body will be burned in the crematorium. That finished. That's all."
This foolishness is there, that this life . . . we do not know that this human form of life we have got by the evolutionary process, going through so many lives. Just like in our present life we can understand that I have come to this body, old body, through child's body, boy's body, youth's body, in this way. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. It is not manufactured.
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāra yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
You have to accept this, dehāntara-prāpti, from one body to another. Where is my childhood body? That is gone. Where is my boyhood body? That is gone. Where is my youthhood body? That is gone. Not only for me, for everyone there is past, present and future. Similarly, when this body will be gone, I will get another body. Where is the difficulty to understand? Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati. Dhīra. Because we are not sober . . . there are two classes of men: dhīra and adhīra. Dhīra means sober, thinking, thoughtful, and adhīra means restless. So with restless brain, it is difficult, but if you have got sober brain, then there is no difficulty to understand that, "I am eternal. I was in the child's body, I was in the baby's body, I was in the boy's body, I was in a young man's body. Now I have got a different body. I am living asmin dehe." Dehino 'smin yathā dehe. It is very easy to understand, but Kṛṣṇa says, dhīras tatra na muhyati: "Those who are sober, they can understand."
So people cannot understand. That means the modern civilization is not sober. It is just like cats and dog. You cannot make a cat and dog sober to understand the philosophy of life. They have degraded so much. That is described in the śāstra. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). Ātma-buddhiḥ, thinking, "I am this body." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am black," "I am white," "I am fat," "I am thin," "I am this." No, no. You are not this body at all. That is knowledge. That is knowledge. Knowledge begins when you understand that you are not this body. That is the beginning of knowledge. Otherwise, "I am this body," this knowledge is there in the cats and dogs also. The dog also jumping, because he is thinking, "I am very nice dog" or "nice cat."
So śāstra therefore says, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). This body is a bag of three elements—kapha, pitta, vāyu—according to Āyurveda system. This physiological condition, anatomical condition of this body, is made of kapha, pitta, vāyu. So it is a bag of kapha, pitta, vāyu, or flesh, bones, blood, urine, stool and mucus. If you dissect this body, you will find. Do you mean to say combination of these things can make a life, so nice brain? If you are so competent, then take these ingredients, bones, flesh. They are easily available in the slaughterhouse. Make a good brain. But that is not possible. They simply speak, but it is not possible. Therefore this body is not the . . . moving spirit soul, that is different.