You cannot say that this dead body is there because some chemical is missing. That also you cannot say, because that chemical, if you say that there is chemical which is giving life, that chemical is already there, because after a few minutes you will find that as soon as the body is decomposed, many living entities are coming out. So the life-giving chemical is there. You cannot say that the chemical is wanting. Or if you say the chemical is wanting, then bring that chemical, put it into it, and make it alive. That is not possible.
So we cannot accept this defective knowledge. Our knowledge is from Kṛṣṇa. We accept that this body is dead because the soul has passed to another body. This is perfect knowledge. Now when you come to this knowledge perfectly that, "I not this body; I am soul," that is called brahma-bhūta stage, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, Brahman realization or spiritual realization. This is Vedic civilization: to give chance everyone how to realize that Brahman, athāto brahma jijñāsā, the Vedānta, the Vedānta philosophy.
The first aphorism of the Vedānta philosophy is ordered, "Now, in this human form of life, you have to enquire about that Brahman, spirit." That is your only business. Don't bother about so-called economic development, because by God's arrangement everything is there. I have repeatedly said that there are 8,400,000 species of life. Out of that, human form of life are 400 . . . 400,000. The 8,000,000, out of this 400,000 species of life, there are a few civilized; otherwise there are so many non-civilized. They live in the jungles; they do not care for any civilization. But the problem is only for this civilized class of men. Others, they are living on nature.
The bird, rising early in the morning, he has no economic problem. Immediately he flies anywhere—in some tree there is some fruit; he eats. His eating problem is solved. Then after eating, sleeping, sleeping problem, so anywhere on the top of the tree he sleeps very nicely, sleeping problem. Then mating, sex intercourse. Every bird is born with another male and female. So these are not problems practically. But actually we have given up the real problem to understand what is Brahman, what is soul. We are entrapped, involved in so many problems of so-called eating, sleeping, mating and defense.
So this kind of civilization is not very correct. You try to understand. The real civilization is to know oneself, "What I am? Am I this body or something else?" That is real civilization.