View source for Generally, people go to church, to temple, for some material benefit. Therefore sastra says, "No, no. Dharma is not meant for that purpose." People have become materialistic more and more

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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonSB12910DelhiNovember141973_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="57" link="Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973">
<div class="heading">Religion means to how to get out of these pavargas. That is dharma. Bhāgavata says, dharmasya hy āpavargyasya na arthaḥ arthāya upakalpate. Generally, people go to church, to temple, for some material benefit. Therefore śāstra says, "No, no. Dharma is not meant for that purpose." People have become materialistic more and more because, just like in our country, "If you want economic development, then why you should go to temple?"
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973|Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">This is the message of Bhagavad-gītā. So dharma means to understand my relationship with God. That is dharma. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam ([[Vanisource:SB 6.3.19|SB 6.3.19]]). Just like a good citizen means who knows the relationship with the state. That is good citizenship. Bad citizenship means who doesn't care for the state. That is criminal. They are put into the prison house. So similarly, the living entities, they are part and parcel of God. But when they are not ready or prepared to abide by the laws of God, they are put into this material world. Beginning from Brahmā, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna ([[Vanisource:BG 8.16|BG 8.16]]), they are rotating in this way. So dharma means to abide by the laws of God. Just like good citizen means to abide by the state laws. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam ([[Vanisource:SB 6.3.19|SB 6.3.19]]).</p>
<p>So here it is said, dharmasya hy āpavargyasya ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.9|SB 1.2.9]]). Apavarga and pavarga. This material life is pavarga. Pa-varga means... Those who are acquainted with grammar... There are vargas, ka-varga, kha-varga, ca-varga, ta-varga. Similarly pa-varga. Pa-varga means pa, pha, ba, bha, ma, five. So pa represents pariśrama, labor, hard labor. This material world, you have to work. Either you are human being or a hog or dog or cat, it doesn't matter. You have to work. And very severe work so that foam will come within your mouth. Pha. Then pa, pha, ba. Ba means vyarthatā, baffledness. And bha means bhaya, always fearful, "What will happen next? What will happen next?" And in this way, ma-mṛtyu, maraṇa. This is called material life. There is no more gain, simply pa pha ba bha ma. That's all. This is material life. And apavarga means just the opposite, to nullify this pavarga business.</p>
<p>So here it is said, dharmasya hi āpavargyasya. Religion means to how to get out of these pavargas. That is dharma. Bhāgavata says, dharmasya hy āpavargyasya na arthaḥ arthāya upakalpate. Generally, people go to church, to temple, for some material benefit. Therefore śāstra says, "No, no. Dharma is not meant for that purpose." People have become materialistic more and more because, just like in our country, "If you want economic development, then why you should go to temple?" The communist theory is also like that, that "If you want material happiness, why you are going to church and accepting, 'O God, give us our daily bread'? The bread, you manufacture. You just work for it." In one side, it is good. But this is also fact, that without God's mercy, you cannot get even bread. Although bread you can manufacture, but the ingredients of the bread, the wheat, that is not in your hand. You cannot manufacture in the factory. That is in the hand of prakṛti, nature, and prakṛti is working under the control of the Supreme Lord. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram ([[Vanisource:BG 9.10|BG 9.10]]). So it is prakṛti's business to control food supply when people become godless. That is prakṛti's business. Because prakṛti... These statements are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the story of Mahārāja Pṛthu. So prakṛti said that "Because people have become godless, demons, I have restricted my supply." Therefore everything depends on the mercy of the Lord.</p>
<p>So therefore dharma means to abide by the laws of God—that is dharma—so that you can get our of the entanglement of this pavarga. Dharmasya hy āpavargyasya na artha upakalpate. Not for economic development. Don't go to the church, can't go to the temple for your economic development. Although in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, ārtaḥ arthārthī jñānī jijñāsuḥ, catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna: "Four kinds of men, those who are ārta, distressed, arthārthī, in need of money, they come to Me." That is also good. But that is not the meaning of dharma. Dharmasya hy āpavargyasya. You have to execute religious system only to get out of the entanglement of this pavarga. That is the purpose. Dharmasya hy āpavargyasya nārthaḥ arthāya upakalpate. Not for economic development. In our Vedic literature you will never find these things, that economic development. Of course, the economic development, in the śāstra there are, in the Vedic literature, to sacrifice. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra. Yajñād bhavati parjanyaḥ parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 3.14|BG 3.14]]). That is there. But that is not the purpose. Real purpose is how to get out of the entanglement of pavarga. Dharmasya hy āpavargyasya na arthāya upakalpate. Then you can say, "We require some money." Yes. You require none. That's all right. Economic development, there is need. So therefore it is said, na arthasya dharma ekāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ, that you require money. Because you have got this body, you have got to gratify your senses. That is right. But not for sense gratification, only for sense gratification. No. Dharmasya na arthasya, arthasya. The money which you get, that is not meant for sense gratification. Dharmaikāntasya. Actually who is religious, who is interested in religion, for him, this economic development, getting money, is not meant for sense gratification. Nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ.</p>
<p>But we have got demands of our body. What to do? Kāmo lābhāya. The kāma is there, demands of the senses. So therefore it is said, kāmasya nendriya-prītiḥ. You can get the supply of the necessities of your senses as much as you require. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: yuktāhāra-vihārasya yogo bhavati siddhiḥ. Yuktāhāra. You should eat what is actually needed by you. Don't eat more. A human being, there is... Certainly we are eating. But we are eating... A Kṛṣṇa conscious person eats kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati ([[Vanisource:BG 9.26|BG 9.26]]). Our business is to eat... We don't say that you are vegetarian and nonvegetarian. Vegetarian or nonvegetarian, it does not make very much difference. Ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpāḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 3.13|BG 3.13]]). If you eat only for yourself, for sense gratification, it doesn't matter whether you are vegetarian or nonvegetarian. You are simply eating sinful results of your life. Ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt, yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 3.9|BG 3.9]]).</p>
<p>So our business is, so far we are concerned, Kṛṣṇa conscious people, we are not advocates of vegetarian and nonvegetarian. Of course, vegetarianism is very good, even for health's sake. But we do not take vegetables even if it is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. That is our principle. If Kṛṣṇa said that "You give Me nonvegetarian diet," then we can eat also. But Kṛṣṇa does not say. Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati ([[Vanisource:BG 9.26|BG 9.26]]). So we are preparing so many nice foodstuffs with this patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. We can prepare many, many hundreds of preparation of this patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, and we can offer Kṛṣṇa and then take prasādam. That is all right. The human life is not meant for sense gratification. Sense gratification—my food is Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Why shall I go to restaurant? And this is tapasya. Eating is not stopped, but don't eat anything which is not kṛṣṇa-prasādam. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you, for satisfaction of your tongue, you get money and satisfy your tongue, that is forbidden. It is said that kāmasya na indriya-prītiḥ. You have demand. You have to, demand of the body. You have to eat something. You have to sleep somewhere. You must have some sense gratification. You must protect yourself from attack of others. That is all right. But don't do all these things for sense gratification. This is the injunction of the śāstra.</p>
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