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. When you come to this point, understanding, inquiring, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā . . . jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā naś ceha yat karmabhiḥ (SB 1.2.10). Kāmasya na . . . na indriya-prītiḥ, jīveta yāvatā.
This is the Bhāgavata philosophy. People are working very hard. Animal also working very hard, but in the human society there are four principles, dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, CC Ādi 1.90): religious life, then economic development, then sense gratification and then mokṣa, liberation. This is human life. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. The religious life you cannot find in animal society. In the human society, either he may be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddha, Jews, anything, there is a kind of religious principles.
So that is the beginning of human life—religion, dharma. Then generally, because we are in the bodily concept of life, therefore economic development: "I want money. I want comfortable position, comfortable situation, so that I can eat, drink, sleep nicely." This is called economic development. So dharma, artha . . . then why I don't . . . why I want economic development? Now kāma. Because I have got my senses, I have to gratify it. I'll gratify my senses. When my children grow up, I also give them chance to gratify their senses. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). So we think by sense gratification we shall be happy. That is called kāma. And when we are dissatisfied or frustrated by this process of sense gratification, economic development, then we give up. Brahmā satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "This is all false. Now I shall merge into Brahman." This mokṣa.