Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says that jīvasya tattva-jijñāsaḥ. We have to accept economic development so far as we keep our body and soul together, fit for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We do not recommend that unnecessarily you should give trouble to the body. We do not recommend any man to go to the forest for spiritual realization. We simply recommend that you try to understand what is your constitutional position.
If you actually think or meditate very cool-headed what is your actual position, first of all you shall realize that you are not this body. If you meditate in a solitary place . . . meditation means to keep yourself alone and in a solitary place. So in the beginning, if you meditate as to "What I am? Am I this body? Am I this mind? Am I this intelligence?" in this way, if you search out, you will find that you are neither of these. Ultimately, you'll search out that you are consciousness.
In the Bhagavad-gītā this is explained from the very beginning. It is said there, avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. That thing is immortal which is spread all over your body. That thing which is spread all over your body, that is consciousness. If you pinch any part of your body, you'll be conscious that there is some pain. Therefore the Bhagavad-gītā is aiming at this consciousness. And what is this consciousness? This consciousness is the illumination of the soul, just like the sunshine is the illumination, light, of the sun globe.
The sun globe is situated in one of the corners of this universe, but its illumination is distributed all over the universe. Similarly you, as spark of the Supreme Soul . . . here the dimension is also mentioned: it is ten-thousandth portion of the tip of your hair. One ten-thousandth portion. That small particle is your identification. The medical science or the material science cannot find out that small particle of soul by any means. Therefore they decline to accept the existence of soul. But from authoritative Vedic literature we get this information that the soul is there.