So this has been summarized. These are called pavarga. And apa . . . a means to nullify. So dharma, practice of dharma, means to nullify these conditions, these miserable conditions of material existence. That is the purpose of dharma. Dharmasya hy āpavargyasya. Āpavargyasya, to cease this labor. Tri-tāpa-yantraṇā, three types of miserable condition: adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. That is animal life, bodily concept of life. Therefore dharma should be practiced for nullifying. Because we do not want to work very hard, every one of us, but we have to, especially at the present moment. That is stated in the Bhāgavata. In the Kali-yuga the situation will be so much deteriorated that simply for a piece of bread, one has to work just like an ass. Very hard labor. It has come to become so. Gradually, it will deteriorate more and more. These are stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Now rice and wheat is selling at a high price, three rupees' kilo. But time will come when if you pay 300,000 rupees, still, it will not be available. Especially rice, wheat, sugar and milk and fruits. That means sāttvikāhāra. These things will be finished. Therefore they are learning how to eat beef. This is the beginning. Just like a child learns to eat, little, little. Otherwise there will be no more food. Therefore dharma is required to stop this miserable condition of life. That is real dharma.
Therefore to come to the real point of dharma, transcendental position, in the material conditional life, the dharma, varṇāśrama-dharma . . . cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Viprādayo guṇaḥ pṛthak cātur-varṇyam. Ya eṣaṁ puruṣaṁ sākṣād ātma-prabhāvam īśvaram, na bhajanti avajānanti . . . (SB 11.5.3). Puruṣasya āśramaiḥ saha (SB 11.5.2). Tyakta jagṛhe varṇa iprādayo guṇaḥ pṛthak. These are the statements of śāstra, that the human society, just to make it real human society, not cats' and dogs' society, there must be varṇāśrama. That is dharma. In the material stage, when we have to take care of this body, there must be this varṇāśrama. That is systematic human society. If there is no varṇāśrama-dharma, then it is cats' and dogs' society. In the cats' and dogs' society there is no varṇāśrama-dharma. That . . . they do not require it; neither they can understand it. So if the human society becomes varṇāśrama-less, without varṇāśrama-dharma, then it is cats' and dogs' society. Then subjected to the so many miserable condition of material nature. That is inevitable.