Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke. If anyone accepts this body. . . This body is made of three elements, kapha, pitta, vāyuḥ: mucus, bile and air. So if we accept this body, combination of bones and flesh and blood and urines and stool and kapha and mucus and so many things, if we consider this body as "I am, the soul," do you mean to say that is very good knowledge? No. That is go-kharaḥ. Go-kharaḥ means animal. Go means cow and kharaḥ means ass. So these animal think like that: "I am this body." And if a man thinks like that, he is no better than the animal. That is not possible. Do you mean to say by combination of this blood, flesh, bones, urine and stool and so many other things, you can, by combination, you can make a person like big scientist, philosopher, mathematician, by combination of these ingredients? Is it possible? Then there are much quantity of blood and flesh and this in the slaughterhouse. You bring and mix with them stool and urine and make a Professor Einstein. (laughter) You are advanced scientist. You bring this ingredient and make a very intelligent man. So this is all foolishness. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Anyone who thinks this body as the self, then he is in the animal kingdom. One, if anyone wants spiritual knowledge, he first of all know what is spirit, then spiritual knowledge. If you have no idea of spirit, what is the value of your spiritual knowledge? There is no value. Sa eva go-kharaḥ.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is giving that enlightenment, that "You are not this body." Not this movement; it is there in the statement of Kṛṣṇa. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yau. . . (BG 2.13). Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11). When Arjuna was declining to fight. . . Other side was his kinsmen, his brother, nephews, his teacher, all very affectionate. So Arjuna declined, "Kṛṣṇa, I am not going to fight. They have usurped our kingdom. That's all right. They are also our own men. Let them enjoy. But I am not going to kill them." This is Vaiṣṇava. Because he is a devotee, in spite of being harassed by the other party. . . Wife was insulted, then kingdom was taken by betting, by gambling. In this way they were put into so many troublesome position. Still, when there was actual fight, because Arjuna was a Vaiṣṇava, devotee, he said, "Let them enjoy. I am not going to fight." This is Vaiṣṇava. Ordinary man would have taken very seriously, "Oh, these people have insulted like that. They have taken our. . . Yes, we must fight."
So Vaiṣṇava by naturally, by nature, is not violent. But if it requires, if Kṛṣṇa directs that "You must fight," they fight. That is Vaiṣṇava. When Arjuna declined to fight, and then Kṛṣṇa had to instruct him about the whole instruction of Bhagavad-gītā just to induce him to fight. And at last, Arjuna was asked by Kṛṣṇa, "Now what is your decision? I have told you everything. What do you decide? Whatever you decide, now you do. I have finished My instruction." He said, "Yes, I shall fight." Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava, naṣṭo mohaḥ (BG 18.73). "I was illusioned. Now it is my duty. Because You are ordering and I have heard You very patiently, so it is my duty to fight." Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava. This very word is there. "I shall act as You advise." This is the result of studying Bhagavad-gītā. You read Bhagavad-gītā, and when you agree to act by the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then your Bhagavad-gītā reading is success. Otherwise, if you act differently, then you may read Bhagavad-gītā for many thousands of years, there is no benefit.
So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that aśocyān anvaśocan. In the beginning Arjuna was arguing with Kṛṣṇa to support his decision that he would not fight. But he could not convince Kṛṣṇa very nicely. That he understood, that "Although I am speaking so many things, Kṛṣṇa is not changing. He is fixed up." Then he surrendered himself: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, we are now talking as friends. No, we shall talk now as master and disciple. You. . . I accept You as my master." Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). He accepted Him as the master, and he became disciple to understand Bhagavad-gītā. This is the way. If you have got your own opinion, you will never understand Bhagavad-gītā. You have to take lessons from the master. Although the book is there. . . For example, I can give you: Suppose if you want to be a medical man, the books are available in the market. You can purchase and read and become a doctor. Is it possible? Is it possible that simply by reading books, purchasing from the market, I become a medical man? No. That is not possible. You have to learn it from a person who is a medical man. Then you will. You go to the medical college and learn the medical science from the practical medical man, and then you examine. . . put yourself in examination. When you pass. . . This is the way.