True civilization means understanding life's problems and directing one's choices toward knowing God, not mere material comfort.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Bhagavad-gītā 16.7 — January 27, 1975, Tokyo 750127BG-TOKYO [38:28 Minutes] Bg-16.07_750127BG-TOKYO Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.] Chapter Sixteen, verse seven. pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca janā na vidur āsurāḥ na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate [Bg. 16.7] [03:44] "Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done.
Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found in them." Prabhupāda: Read the purport also. Nitāi: "In every civilized human society there is some set of scriptural rules and regulations which is followed from the beginning, especially among the Āryans, those who adopt the Vedic civilization and who are known as the most advanced civilized peoples. Those who do not follow the scriptural injunctions are supposed to be demons. Therefore it is stated here that the demons do not know the scriptural rules, nor do they have any inclination to follow them." Prabhupāda: So the human being... pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca janā na vidur āsurāḥ na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate [Bg. 16.7] In the human form of life there are two classes of men.
First of all living being. Amongst the living being there are some living being which can move or can walk from one place to another, and there are certain other living beings which cannot move, just like the trees, plants. They are also living being, but they are standing in one place for many thousands of years. They have no independence to move.
Now, in the moving living beings there are so many—the flies, the insects, the reptiles, the birds, the beast. In this way, by evolutionary process, one after another, one comes to the form of human being. This human being is therefore very, very rare. After going through 8,400,000 species of life, one comes to this human form of life. So here is the chance of getting freedom from this evolutionary process.
Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19]. After many, many births, we have got. Why? Now, to become civilized.
What is civilization? Civilization... Āryans are called civilized. Why? Āryan means "going forward." And what is the destination of going forward? The destination is to understand the original cause of creation, God.
Janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. That is the Vedānta philosophy. Janmādy asya yataḥ. The original cause from where everything is coming into being, by whose management everything is maintained, and after annihilation everything will enter into Him—that is the original person.