So the mission of human life is to acquire knowledge, jñānam, and vairāgyam, detachment. Jñānam means real identification, "What I am." In the conditioned stage of life we are passing on our days not in jñānam but ignorance, just like the animals. The animals, they have no jñānam. They are pulling on their life with the bodily concept of life. The dog is thinking, "I am dog. I am this body." He does not know whether he is "dog" or "cat". These names we have given him. But he knows it well that "I am this body." So this is not jñānam. This chance is available when we are no longer cats and dogs but human being. Then we can understand that "I am not this body." This is the difference between cats and dogs and human beings. The cats and dogs, they do not know that they are not the body. They are spirit soul. That they do not know. They know simply that "I am this body, and the necessities of body must be fulfilled somehow or other." That is their business. Whole day and night, they are working just to fulfill the necessities of his body, because there is no jñānam.
But in the human form of life, that is not the business. Therefore the Vedānta-sūtra says, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "This life, human form of life, which is achieved after evolution of 8,400,000's of forms of life..." It is called labdhvā sudurlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte (SB 11.9.29). Idaṁ śarīram. This human form of body is achieved, bahu-sambhavānte, after achieving many, many other lower forms of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. So many different forms of life we had to pass through to come to the standard of human life. Therefore this life is not meant for spoiling like cats and dogs. This is jñānam. The spoiling the life like cats and dogs means āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna... eating, sleeping, defending and sexual intercourse. These are the bodily demands. Sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām. These are common formulas for the cats and dogs and the human being. But what is the meaning of human being? The human being is eligible to understand what is the value of life, what is the problem of life, how to make the solution. That is human life. Not that simply passing our days like cats and dogs working very hard.