According to Bhagavad-gītā, the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, but the soul is eternal and permanent. And there are evolutionary process also. There are 9,000,000 species of life in the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati (Padma Purāṇa). And the trees and plants are 2,000,000. Similarly, there are reptiles, birds, then beasts, 3,000,000 beast life, beastly life. Then at the end, we come to the form of this human being, and there are 400,000 species of different kinds of bodies. Just like your body in America and our body in India, there is some difference. Similarly, there are 400,000's of human form of life. So this is the process of evolution. And these bodily changes are taking place according to different consciousness. And the highest perfectional consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When we come to the point of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our life becomes perfect.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just an endeavor to bring people to the original consciousness. That consciousness is . . .
(break) And as we are forming our consciousness, so we are changing our body. If we make our consciousness doggish or hellish, then we get the body of a dog or an animal or something like that. And if we make our consciousness godly, then we make our next life as good as God. This is the process.
So we have to . . . this is the opportunity. The highest intellectual form of human body when every . . . I mean to say senses perception, sense perception, consciousness, everything is perfect, we have to utilize that for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, so that our this process of birth and death can be stopped and we get our eternal body. If we practice this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our next life is as good as Kṛṣṇa, which means that there is no more birth, there is no more death, there is no more disease and no more old age.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that one who is intelligent, he will see four things before him. You may be very great scientist. You may be very much advanced in material science. You may be able to construct
(break) skyscrapers, and many millions of motorcar, but you have to think whether you have solved the real problem (break). The real problem of life is birth, death, disease and old age. Not that to live in a high skyscraper our problems of life is solved. No. The problem of life is how to stop these four things: birth, death, old age and disease.
But we have neglected the real problems of life. And we are misusing our intelligence for constructing big buildings and constructing or increasing the so-called bodily necessities of life. The bodily necessities of life are four only. What is that? Eating, sleeping, mating and defending. To maintain this body you require to eat something. Everyone is eating. You are eating, the cats are eating, the dogs are eating, the birds are eating. They have no economic problem. Eating is there already. Have you seen ever that a bird is dying for want of eating, eatables? No. So these things are already arranged. That is no problem. In every form of life your eatables are there by nature's supply.
Similarly sleeping. The bird is sleeping, the dog is sleeping, the cat is sleeping, and you are also sleeping. But you have got a very nice apartment. Does it mean that you have solved the problem of sleeping? No. Then defending. The birds, the dogs, the cats, the animals, everyone knows how to defend in their own way. You go every day in the, what is called, Stowe Lake path. And as soon as you go, the swans immediately jump to the water, because that is their defending.
As soon as they go to the water, they know that, "These human beings, they cannot come to the water. We are now secure." So that defending process is there even in the swans, in the birds, in everything. You don't think that because we have manufactured atomic bombs, therefore we have become very good. What is this atomic bomb? Killing. Killing is going on. Have you manufactured anything by which you can save from death?
So our problems of life, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, is to solve these four things: no more birth . . . because we are . . . always remember that we are all eternal. Just like in this body, beginning from my mother's womb up to this old age, I am the same eternal soul, but my body is changing. So after changing this body also, I shall remain the same. Simply I shall have another body. This plain truth, there is no difficulty to understand.
Now if I am eternal . . . if I am eternal means no death, no birth, no disease, no old age. That is eternal. So if I am eternal, whether it is possible to get an eternal body? Or eternal happiness? That is the problem of human society. If you can solve that problem, then you be proud of your civilization. Otherwise there is no difference between cats' and dogs' civilization and your civilization. Because you are simply trying to solve the problems of eating, sleeping, defending and mating. But these problems are already solved by nature's law.
So our developed intelligence should be utilized for solving these problems by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are presenting this movement before you, your country, because you are intelligent, you are materially advanced. You are greater than all other countries. Therefore I present this movement, scientific movement, before you. You just try to understand it.
Lord Caitanya's movement . . . this is Lord Caitanya's movement. And the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta . . . that is in Sanskrit. We have translated it into English, Teachings of Lord Caitanya. If you like, you can purchase that book. So in that book it is stated that caitanyera dayāra kathā karaha vicāra: "Ladies and gentlemen, you just . . . scrutinizingly . . . (indistinct) . . . you try to understand the mercy of Lord Caitanya, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, how it is solving the problems of our life." Vicāra karile citte pābe camatkāra (CC Adi 8.1). If you scrutinizingly test it and try to understand this movement, then you'll feel yourself that it is wonderful.
And actually it is wonderful. So . . . and the process is also very simple. You do not require to be highly educated or philosopher or talented or rich or poor, or black and white. Doesn't matter what you are. It is universal. Any human being with little intelligence, he can understand. And even he does not understand, this process is so nice that if you continue this process for a few weeks, you'll be able to understand.
This chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare is transcendental vibration, sound. Sound is the origin of all creation. So this transcendental sound, if you vibrate, you will understand very quickly this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
And there is no loss on your part. Suppose you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa; you do not lose anything. But if there is any gain, why don't you try it? We simply request you with folded hands that you kindly chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. We are simply requesting you. We're not asking you to pay us something or to suffer something or be educated or be engineer or be lawyer, then come to us.
Never mind what you are. Stay in your position. Simply try to chant these sixteen words, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. You can try for one week. And there is no hard-and-fast rules. You can chant anywhere and everywhere. While walking you can chant, while driving you can chant. Nobody is going to tax, that "You are chanting. Give me this tax." It is very easy.