Prabhupāda: The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to give the human society a chance for solving all the problems of their life. In the present context of civilization they are interested in the bodily comforts. Whatever scientific advancement you are making, just to give more comfort to the body.
Unfortunately, none of us is the body. We are spirit soul. We are changing different bodies, as you can see in our presence there are so many living entities, and this body can be changed to any one of them. Today I am in human body, tomorrow I may be in the body of a dog. So this cycle of changing body is going on. The modern science has no knowledge about these things. They are simply identifying with the body.
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.