If anyone is living on the bodily concept of life, ātma-buddhiḥ tri-dhātuke . . . yasyātma-buddhiḥ śarīre, tri-dhātu . . . kuṇape tri-dhātuke. This body is a bag. Actually it is a bag. So long the soul is there, it is useful. As soon as the soul is not there, it is nothing but a bag of skin and bones, that's all. Everyone knows it. It is thrown away. It has no value. So actually it is a material bag made of this blood, skin, nails, bones, urine, stool. This is the ingredient of this body. If you think that this body is self, then you can create with this ingredient another soul. If you analyze this body, what is the ingredient? You will find some blood, some veins, some bones, some skin, some urine, some stool and some secretion. So they are available. So why don't you take all these ingredients and create another soul? They are available anywhere. But that is not possible.
The big, big chemist, big, big scientists, they are trying to create living entities. Their theory is, "By chemical evolution there is living symptoms." But it is not possible. The soul is different from these material elements. Soul is different from the material elements. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find the . . . first of all, material elements, they have been described, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca, bhinnā me prakṛti aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jaga . . . (BG 7.5). Jīva-bhūta, the living entity, is completely different from this matter.
So unless we understand this philosophy . . . it is not philosophy. Philosophy you can call, because the philosophy means the science of sciences. Philosophy is not a mental speculation. Philosophy is the prime science from which all other sciences are derived. That is philosophy. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to educate people on this science of sciences to understand first of all that "What you are? Are you this body or different from this body?" This is essential. And if you go on constructing your big building on a defective foundation, then it will not stay. There will be danger.
So modern civilization is based on this defective idea that, "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian"—these are all bodily concept of life. "Because I have got this body from a Christian father and mother, therefore I am a Christian." But I am not this body, "Because I have got this body from a Hindu father and mother, therefore I am Hindu." But I am not this body. So for spiritual understanding, this is the basic principle to understand that, "I am not this body; I am soul," ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is the Vedic instruction: "Try to understand that you are spirit soul; you are not this body."
The yoga system is practiced just to understand this. Yoga indriya saṁyamaḥ. By controlling the senses, especially the mind . . . mind is the master or the chief of the senses. Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). We are undergoing a struggle for existence with this mind and the senses under the false conception of identifying this body as self. So if we concentrate our mind by controlling the senses, then we can gradually understand. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). The yogīs, they meditate upon the Supreme Person, Viṣṇu, and by that process they realize the self. Self-realization is the prime object of human life. So the beginning of self-realization is to understand that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.
So these things are very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. If we simply read Bhagavad-gītā carefully, under proper guidance, then everything will be clear, without any difficulty, that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul. My business is different than this bodily concept of life. I shall never be happy taking . . . accepting this body as self. That is a wrong foundation of knowledge." In this way, if we make progress, then we shall understand, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am spirit soul." Then "Wherefrom I have come?" Everything is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, that the spirit soul, Kṛṣṇa says, the Lord says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7): "These living entities, they are My part and parcel, fragment, or minute sparks." As the big fire and the small fire, both of them are fire, but big fire and small fire. So far the fire quality is concerned, God and we are the same.
So we can understand, we can study God by studying ourselves. That is also another meditation. But it will be perfect when we understand that, "Although qualitatively I am a sample of God or the same quality, but still, He is the great, I am the small." That is perfect understanding. Anu, vibhu; Brahman, Para-brahman; īśvara, parameśvara—this is perfect understanding. Because I am qualitatively one, it does not mean that I am the Supreme. In the Vedas it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). We are nitya, eternal; God is also eternal. We are living being; God is also a living being. But He is the chief living being. He is the chief eternal. We are also eternal, but we are not chief. Why? Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Just like we require a leader, similarly, He is the supreme leader. He is maintainer. He is providence. He is providing everyone's necessities. We can see that there are elephants in Africa. Who is providing them food? There are millions of ants within the hole of your room. Who is feeding them? Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kaman. So in this way, if we realize ourself, that is self-realization.