True unity and culture arise only when humanity transcends bodily identification and awakens to eternal spiritual identity.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Lecture at Indo-American Society "East and West" — January 31, 1973, Calcutta 730131LE-CALCUTTA [48:01 Minutes] Lecture_730131LE-CALCUTTA Prabhupāda: Mr. Allen, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly inviting me to speak something about East and West. Of course, I have got considerable experience now because I am wandering East and West, not only once, at least twice, thrice in a year. So far Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is concerned, we have no such thing, East and West.
Just like the sun rises from the eastern horizon and sets on the western horizon, but the sun is the same. You cannot say that Eastern sun and the Western sun. That is not possible. The planet, this earthly planet, is moving, and we are considering that the sun is moving from east and west.
The sun, sun is in his position. Similarly, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has no such distinction between East and West. If there is such distinction, it is due to lack of knowledge. Why this lack of knowledge?
Because we are under bodily concept of life. According to Kṛṣṇa culture, anyone who is going on under the bodily concept of life, he is not considered as a human being. It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ yat tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij janeṣu abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13] Go-kharaḥ. Go means cow, and kharaḥ means ass.
Any person who is accepting this body as himself... Just like generally we say, "What you are?" "I am Mr. Such-and-such. I am American," or "I am an Indian," or "African." This bodily designation.
If I identify my self with this body, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātu... Kuṇape means bag. This is a bag. This body is a bag of bones, flesh, urine, blood and so many other things. You cannot manufacture a living entity by combination of bones, flesh, blood, urine and stool.
That is not possible. You are great scientist—you are going to the moon planet—but if I give you some ingredients like this bones, flesh, stool, urine, can you manufacture a human being? Can you? Can anyone?