Prabhupāda: So according to Vedic civilization, anyone who is identifying with the body is not a human being; he is an ass.
- yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
- sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
- yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
- janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ
- (SB 10.84.13)
Go means cow and kharaḥ means ass. Such a person is either a cow or an ass who is identifying this body as self. This body is a bag of bones and flesh, blood and urine. So I am not this body. I am within this body. But people are identifying with this body.
So this is the grossest type of ignorance, and we are trying to dissipate this ignorance and bring people to real consciousness, real identity. And that is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Interviewer: Now you mentioned some particular problems . . . (indistinct) . . . people with, and then you spoke of a general problem of the body as opposed to the spiritual.
Prabhupāda: Well, when the particular problem is this repeated . . . change of body, there is no science or university. Everyone wants to lead the medical science. It is time to give greatest relief from disease, but they cannot stop disease or death. That is the problem. Although the problem is there, they are trying to solve, but they have no means. Here is the means.