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710716AR.DET
Arrival Address
Detroit Airport, July 16, 1971 Devotee: All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Prabhupada: It has become very satisfactory that so many devotees, boys and girls, are taking part in this great movement, Krsna consciousness movement. It is very important movement because it is correcting the human civilization. There is a great defect in the modern civilization, and people are accepting this body as self, and based on this mistake in the foundation, everything is going wrong. The basic principle of civilizationaccepting this body as the soulis the beginning of all problems. The great philosophers, scientists, theologists and thoughtful men, they do not know what is the defect. Recently I was in Moscow. I had a talk with a big professor of Indology, Professor Kotovsky. So he was speaking that "Swamiji, after this finishing, annihilation of this body, everything is finished." So I was astonished that a learned professor who is posing himself on a very advanced post, he has no idea about the soul and the body, how they are different, how the soul migrating from one body to another. And everyone is accepting this body as the self, and "There is no life after death; therefore make the best use of this bad bargain and enjoy sense gratification as far as possible." But this Krsna consciousness movement is checking this wrong progress of human civilization. Our first proposition is that "You are not this body; you are spirit soul. Some way or other, you are in contact with this material world, and you have got this material body, and under illusion, you are accepting something which you are not."
So basic principle of this Krsna consciousness movement is to correct the wrong foundation of the human civilization. In the Bhagavad-gita this is the beginning of spiritual knowledge. When Arjuna was identifying himself with this body and bodily relationship, Krsna first of all corrected that "You are not this body." So if we do not understand these first steps of spiritual knowledge, then where is the question of making further progress? Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke sva-dhih kalatradisu bhauma ijya-dhih [SB 10.84.13]. This is the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Yasya atma-buddhih. One who has accepted as self kunape tri-dhatuke, this bag of bones and flesh and blood... This body is made of... According to Vedic medicine or Vedic anatomy, it is made of three elementsmucus, bile, and air. Tri-dhatu. Apart from that medical science, this body, one who accepts this body as self and Sva-dhih kalatradisu, and persons in relationship with this body as kinsmen, own men, bhauma ijya-dhih, and the land where we take our birth as worshipable, sa eva go-kharah [SB 10.84.13], he is accepted as go-kharah. Go means cow, and khara means ass. That means animal. The animal, they accept this, that "I am this body." But human form of life, which is so advanced in knowledge...
Airport speaker: Ladies and gentlemen, I have to ask you to clear the boarding area so we can start our flight.
Prabhupada: If... We shall stop? All right. Then we shall stop.
Airport speaker: Ladies and gentlemen, I have to ask you to clear the boarding area. We have a flight leaving here in about thirty minutes. We have to check it in. So if you'll kindly clear the boarding area, please. (kirtana) (end)
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/classes/arrival/arrival_address/detroit_airport/july/16/1971 Previous: Arrival Lecture -- Los Angeles, June 29, 1971 Next: Arrival Lecture -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971
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