Prabhupāda: Rotarians, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly inviting me this evening to speak something on sanātana-dharma.
Sanātana means eternal, and dharma also means eternal characteristic. Just like every ingredient, element, of this world has got a certain type of characteristic. As I have been introduced, I was manager in a chemical factory. So you know . . .
(aside) That sound may be stopped.
. . . that every chemical has got a certain characteristic—its color, its taste, its granules. In pharmacology and pharmaceutical formulas, each and every chemical is tested according to that characteristic.
That characteristic is called dharma in Sanskrit word. Dharma is not a type of faith, as it is explained in English dictionary, "A kind of faith." Faith you can change. Today you are Hindu; you can become Christian next day. Or today you are Christian, you can become a Muhammadan next day. So political field also, changing faiths. So dharma does not exactly mean a kind of faith. It is characteristic.
Just like sugar is sweet. That is the characteristic of sugar. If sugar becomes pungent, then that is not sugar; that is something else. It may be some other chemical. When you go to purchase chili, you must test it, whether it is very strongly pungent. You do not expect chili should be sweet; then it is not very first quality chili. Similarly, we have got characteristic, we living entity. We are individual living entities. We have got characteristics. That characteristic is service.
Our the all the ladies and gentlemen who are sitting here, if we ask you what is your characteristic, you'll come to the conclusion that, "My characteristic is to serve." Somebody is serving in the office. Somebody's serving in the government office. Somebody's serving as minister. Somebody's serving as governor.
It is supposed to be that he is master, but actually he's serving. In family also, the head of the family, he's thinking that he's master, but he's servant. He's servant of his wife, of his children, even of his paid servant. Because he has to satisfy everyone. Not only one, but so many members of the family, he has to keep them satisfied; otherwise, they may not be very much happy.
So the nature of living entity is to satisfy other. Paraspara. And that business of satisfying other, serving for others' well-being, that must be sanātana, eternal. Our characteristic, service, is eternal, and that should be eternally engagement. Here, in this material existence, I am serving, but my service is not eternal, because I am changing the body or I changing my profession. Sometimes I am serving this party, sometimes I am serving that party.