View source for It is not advancement of civilization when you think that you have got good apartment, good house, and sleeping in a nice bedstead, and the cat and dog is lying on the floor or in the street. No. She sleeping; when you sleep, the enjoyment is as good

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{{terms|"It is not advancement of civilization when you think that you have got good apartment, good house, and sleeping in a nice bedstead, and the cat and dog is lying on the floor or in the street. No. She sleeping; when you sleep, the enjoyment is as good"}}
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{{compiler|Krsnadas}}
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="General_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="11" parent="Lectures" text="General Lectures"><h3>General Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureLondonJuly121972_0" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="120" link="Lecture -- London, July 12, 1972" link_text="Lecture -- London, July 12, 1972">
<div class="heading">It is not advancement of civilization when you think that you have got good apartment, good house, and sleeping in a nice bedstead, and the cat and dog is lying on the floor or in the street. No. She sleeping; when you sleep, the enjoyment is as good as of the cats and dogs. Similarly, sex life also. They also enjoy, you also enjoy. Then what is your special prerogative? The special prerogative is that you can understand in this life that you are eternal, you are Brahman.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture -- London, July 12, 1972|Lecture -- London, July 12, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So we can, by the help of this human form of body, we can achieve some very great profit. That is required. That is the human mission. Not like that, we take our birth like cats and dogs. Everyone takes birth. The process of birth is the same: the male-female sexual intercourse, and there is some child. So there is no difference between the human process of birth and the animal process of birth. There is no difference of living condition of the animal and the human being. Because the animal eats; we also eat. The animal sleeps; we also sleep. The animals have facility for sex life; we have also got the facility of sex life. The animal also defends according to his own way; we can defend with atom bomb. That's all right. But it is defending, nothing more. Therefore, about these four things—eating, sleeping, mating, and defending—they are common. The special feature of this human form of body is that he has developed consciousness how to understand God. The animal hasn't got this. And the process of understanding God and to revive our relationship with God is called bhāgavata-dharma. This is explanation of bhāgavata-dharma. The eating, sleeping, mating, this is also dharma. Dharma means the activities, constitutional activities. Any man or any animal who has got this body, he must eat. This is also dharma. Dharma means which we cannot avoid. Because we have become human beings, it is not that we can avoid eating. That is not... This is also dharma. So this dharma, this practice, this occupation, is visible in animal life and human life. But another thing, the dharma which we actually mean, means to understand God, that is not visible in animal life. That is not possible. Therefore dharmeṇa hīna paśubhiḥ samānāḥ. Anyone who does not cultivate religious life, he is no better than an animal. He's animal. If you are simply interested with eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, nothing more, then this is animal civilization. This is not human civilization.</p>
<p>So we have got the opportunity. Why we should accept religious life? To get out of these material clutches. People do not take it very seriously, but those who are intelligent, they take it seriously. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that living soul, the living entity or the soul... Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ([[Vanisource:BG 2.20|BG 2.20]]). The living entity, the soul, is never born; it never dies. It is the oldest. Nityaḥ śāśvataṁ purāṇa. Purāṇa means very old; nitya, eternal; na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre, does not die after the destruction of this body. The death and birth is of the body, not of the soul. Therefore when we are actually intelligent, cultured, advanced, then we should be inquisitive that "If I am eternal, then why I am subject to these tribulations of birth, death, old age, and disease?" That is intelligence. It is not intelligence that "The cats and dogs are eating on the footpath; I am eating (in) a very nice plate, nice hotel or nice table." You are eating, that's all. It is not advancement of civilization when you think that you have got good apartment, good house, and sleeping in a nice bedstead, and the cat and dog is lying on the floor or in the street. No. She sleeping; when you sleep, the enjoyment is as good as of the cats and dogs. Similarly, sex life also. They also enjoy, you also enjoy. Then what is your special prerogative? The special prerogative is that you can understand in this life that you are eternal, you are Brahman. Therefore the, in the human form of life, if one is not so advanced as to inquire about the Brahman, athāto brahma jijñāsā... This human form of life is meant for inquiring about Brahman, or spirit soul. So long this inquiry is not there, one is animal. That's all.</p>
<p>So bhāgavata-dharma is meant for, actually, for the advanced human being. Bhāgavata-dharma. Bhāgavata-dharma means to know "What I am? Am I this body or something else?" If you study yourself, you can also understand. Or if you take instruction from the Vedas, then also you can understand. The knowledge is already there. If you take advantage of the knowledge, you can know. But if you make analysis by yourself, then also you'll know. But if you make analysis by education, speculation, it will take long, long years. Because if you don't accept the standard way, then it will waste, you will waste your time. So you will have to come to the same point. But if you are inquisitive, that is your life. If we come to the point of inquiring about "What I am?" Oh, that is great advancement. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. I can understand very well that when... There are so many babies here. I was also a baby. My body, I had a body like a baby on the lap of my mother. I can remember that. Then I became a child, then I became a boy, then I became a young man, now I am old man. Now, the bodies, different bodies, I possessed. I remember. But those bodies are no more existing. Where is my childhood body? Where is my boyhood body? Where is my youthhood body? They're all gone. So although the bodies are gone, I remember that I had a body of a child, I had a body of a boy, I had a body of young man. Therefore I am eternal, my bodies are not eternal. Therefore the conclusion should be: when I change this body, then I'll exist. That is... Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra... ([[Vanisource:BG 2.13|BG 2.13]]). Everything is there, either you study yourself or take the lesson from the Vedic version.</p>
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