So people should know . . . everyone should know what he is, what is his constitutional position, why he is under so many conditions of life, how to get liberation. These are the questions. These are called . . . these questions are called brahma-jijñāsā. That is the beginning of Vedānta. Vedānta. Veda means knowledge; anta means end. So long we have acquired knowledge in so many departments, but that has become useless. Because either I am a great scientist or great botanist or great politician, I am conditioned by the laws of material nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14).
So you become Professor Einstein or Nelson or Clive or this or that, you are conditioned by material nature. You cannot overcome this. Everything will be finished. You may stand as a statue in the Trafalgar Square. Not he; it is a lump of matter. But nobody can say where Mr. Nelson has gone, where Mr. Clive has gone. Nobody can say. Finished. You see?
Therefore human civilization should be based on first of all religion, dharma. And what is that dharma? That I have several times explained. According to Prahlāda Mahārāja, dharmān bhāgavatān. Dharma means God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is dharma. That is religion. Dharmān bhāgavatān. So from the very beginning, in school, in primary schools, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be taught. That is real civilization. Unfortunately, there is no such arrangement.
So you go to the authorities and the so-called authorities, rascals. Inform them that, "Take this education. Introduce in the schools, colleges. Then there will be peace and prosperity. Otherwise there will be hippies. That's all. You may have very big, big universities, educational system, but the production will be hopeless, confused hippies. That's all." From the very beginning, the whole system should be changed, rascal civilization.
Religion first. First religion, then pious activities. "I belong to this religion," but what is your activities? Now, "I'm debauch number one." You see? And the other day the boy was asking religion, blasphemy, but from his appearance it looked like he's debauch number one. You see? So they fight simply on false prestige of so-called religion. Religion means pious life. That is religion. No meat-eating, no illicit sex, no gambling, no intoxication—that is religion, religious life, pious life.
So in the human society the first thing is that there must be religion, and religion means pious life. Every religion . . . just like Christian religion teaches pious life: "Thou shall not kill." And I am killing twenty-four hours, and still, I am proud of becoming a Christian. Just see. So religion means pious life. And on pious life, you earn your livelihood. Although your livelihood is already fixed up, your provision for living condition is already fixed up, still, because you think that, "Without working, I cannot live nicely," all right, economic development. But because first of all your life is religious, because you are living pious, then you can earn your livelihood according to your different status.