Sanātana Gosvāmī went to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to ask this question, "What I am?" And in . . . any intelligent man can understand that "I am simply dreaming. At night, I am dreaming something, forgetting night's dream, uh, day's dream. And in day, daytime, I am dreaming something; I am forget the night's dream. So actually both of them are dreams, and I am the observer. Then what I am?" This is the question. Athāto brahma jijñāsā This is the beginning of Vedānta-sūtra. One should be inquisitive. Unless one comes to this point of inquiring about himself, then what I am? Why I am dreaming this daytime and nighttime? What is my actual position? This is human life.
When one comes to this point of inquiring, "What I am?" that is the beginning of human life. Otherwise animal life. The animals, they do not know what I am, neither this question comes to them, "What I am?" He's thinking, "I am dog," "I am cat," "I am ass," "I am tiger," "I am this and that." Similarly, if we simply think like that, that "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brāhmin," "I am this," "I am that," that is animal life. That is animal life.