Bodily identification is animal consciousness; spiritual life begins when the soul recognizes itself separate from the body.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Bhagavad-gītā 7.1 — January 25, 1975, Hong Kong 750125BG-HONG KONG [43:41 Minutes] BG-07.01_750125BG-HONG KONG Nitāi: "Now hear, O son of Pṛthā [Arjuna], how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt." Prabhupāda: śrī bhagavān uvāca mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu [Bg. 7.1] Arjuna is hearing from Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is speaking to Arjuna directly. How fortunate is Arjuna, that he is directly hearing from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here, therefore, it is said, bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān.
Not ordinary teacher, a human being, or a living being, but Bhagavān. There are two living beings. One is Bhagavān, and the other is the living being as we are. That is the Vedic version.
Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. Bhagavān means He is also living being. He is not nirākāra. When we say bhagavān nirākāra, that means either we have no knowledge of Bhagavān or nirākāra means He is not a form like us.
Our form and Kṛṣṇa's form—different. Kṛṣṇa is complete spiritual, divine, and we are, at the present moment, although we have got our spiritual form within this body, but because we have no vision of the spiritual form, we are taking this body as our form. This is called illusion. The spiritual form is there. That is realization of Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi(1).
The Vedic injunction is just to understand that I am not this body. If anyone is under the concept of this body—"I am this body," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am American," "I am Indian"—in this way, with the bodily concept of life, we are thinking we are different from one another. At the same time, we desire that there may be unity of the human society, of the human being, and we can live peacefully. That is very desirable thing.
That is the thing we require to understand. But so long we are on the bodily concept of life, this goal cannot be achieved. Unless we have got spiritual understanding, we'll have to present ourself with this bodily designation. This is designation. "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am Bengali," "I am Sindhi," "I am Punjabi," "I am American," these are all bodily conception of life.
And so long we are in the bodily concepts of our life, we are no better than the animals, cats and dogs. That is the statement of Vedic literature. yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13] Go means cow, and kharaḥ means asses. So yasya ātma-buddhiḥ: "A person who thinks himself ātma-buddhiḥ, as 'I am this body...' " Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke. This body is made of tri-dhātu, three dhātus: kapha, pitta, vāyu.