Go-khara. Go-khara. Go means cow, and khara means ass. So in spite of all our educational advancement, if we remain in the darkness of bodily concept of life, then we are no better than go-khara. Go, go means cow, and . . . so we should not remain that. The human life is meant for above this. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human life is for inquiring about the soul. And the knowledge of the soul begins . . . that is the first instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, that don't be simply enwrapped or encumbered with these twenty-four elements, bodily ele . . . material, but you should understand that asmin dehe, there is the possessor, or occupier, of the body. Dehinaḥ asmin dehe. Dehino 'smin . . . what is that verse?
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ . . .
- (BG 2.13)
Dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means the possessor, the possessor of this body. I am the possessor. You are the possessor.
That is also another chapter explained very nicely, kṣetra-kṣetrajña. This body is kṣetra. Every one of us, we have got a particular body, and we are working with this body. That is called kṣetra. Just like the cultivator, he works in the field, tilling the field and getting the desired result, as much he has got nice fertile field or not fertile field. According to the field, he is getting different result. Similarly we, the living entity or the soul, we have got a field of activities, this body. And by . . . (someone shouts) (aside) What is that? . . . working on this body, we are getting different result. That is called karma. Karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana. So according to different karma, we are getting different body. In this way, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19), we are getting one body, and then again this body is annihilated, and we get another body. And there are 8,400,000 types of bodies. In this way our life is going on in this material world.
But our real business is that, "Why we are put into the cycle of birth and death, and according to the body we are suffering different types of miserable condition of life?" Actually, we are trying to enjoy life, sukham, but it is a struggle for existence. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhāni indriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati. We are having great struggle for existence. Therefore we should study philosophically and scientifically, analyze what is this body and what is beyond the body—soul—and what is the soul's function, where is the soul's place; ultimately what is the end goal of the activities of the soul. This is human life. And all this knowledge can be had from the Vedic literature, and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the essence of Vedic literature. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3).
Vyāsadeva, after writing all the Vedic literature, he was not satisfied. He wrote the four Vedas, then the Purāṇas—Purāṇas means supplementary to the Vedas—and then Vedānta-sūtra, the last word of the Vedic knowledge, Vedānta-sūtra. But he was not satisfied. So Nārada Muni, his spiritual master, he inquired that "Why you are feeling dissatisfaction after writing so many books, giving knowledge to the human society?" So he said: "Sir, yes, I know that I have written . . . but I am not getting satisfaction. I do not know what is the reason." Then Nārada Muni said: "The dissatisfaction is due to your not describing the activities of the Supreme Lord. Therefore you are not satisfied. You have simply discussed the external," I mean to say, "elements, but the internal elements, you have not discussed. Therefore you are dissatisfied. Now you do it."