Human life means understanding God, not simply eating, sleeping, mating and defending like animals.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Bhagavad-gītā 7.1–5 — January 31, 1974, Hong Kong 740131BG-HONG KONG [48:07 Minutes] Bg-07.01–05_740131BG-HONG KONG Prabhupāda: Next verse, go on. Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse] jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo 'nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate [Bg. 7.2] Prabhupāda: Go on. Pradyumna: manuṣyāṇāṁ sahareṣu kaścit yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścid māṁ vetti tattvataḥ [Bg. 7.3] Prabhupāda: Hmm. Bhūmir āpo...
Pradyumna: bhūmir āpo 'nalo vayuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā [Bg. 7.4] apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām jīva-bhūtaṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat [Bg. 7.5] Prabhupāda: [01:57] mayy āsakta-manaḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu [Bg. 7.1] The duty of human life is to understand God, Kṛṣṇa. In the Vedānta-sūtra, the first aphorism is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Athaḥ, "therefore.'' Because we have got this human form of body, so this is the time for inquiring about the Absolute Truth. In the other life—animal life, beast life, tree life, plant life...
There are 8,400,000 different forms of life, and through evolutionary process we have passed through 8,000,000 forms of life or a few more thousand forms of life, because human beings, they are of 400,000 forms of life. Just like we have got experience over this planet there are different forms of life, different system of religion, different system of culture, even though all of them are of human form life. Similarly, there are other forms of life—aquatics in the water; in the jungle, trees, plants, mountains; and then insects, reptiles, ants; then birds, flies. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati [Padma Purāṇa].
In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa the description is there what are the different forms of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni. In the water there are 900,000 forms of life. Who knows that?
But in the Vedic śāstra everything perfectly calculated given there. This is called Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means perfect knowledge. There is no [indistinct] who can calculate how many forms of life are within the ocean. But from the Vedic literature you get just exact conclusion—900,000 species of life.
The botanists, they cannot say how many forms of trees and plants are there. But in the Vedas you'll find, sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati—2,000,000's forms of life, of trees and plants. Sthāvara. Sthāvara means the living entities which cannot move, stand in one place.
This is a punishment, those who are too much dull. Means..., dull means cannot understand what is God. That is dullness. Otherwise for eating, sleeping, sex life and defense there is no need of university education.