Prabhupāda:
- dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
- vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
- śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
- sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate 'tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt
- (SB 1.1.2)
So dharma means, generally, a kind of faith, dharma. But actually dharma does not mean that. Faith, you may have faith, and others may not have, but that is not fact. That is fact which is accepted by everyone, either he may have faith or may not have faith. In Sanskrit language, the Vedic literature, dharma means the codes or the law given by God. So one may have faith or one may not have faith; it doesn't matter. The codes or law given by God, that is a fact. Just like the law given by the state: one may not have faith, or one may have faith, but it must be accepted. For example, just on the street we see, "Keep to the right." This is the law given by the state. So you may believe it or not believe it; you have to carry out. So it cannot be changed in any circumstance. Therefore dharma does not mean a faith. It is compulsory.
So the compulsory law is that God is great, and we are subordinate or servant of God. You may believe or not believe; the God's law will apply upon you forcibly. Exactly like the state law: you may have faith or no faith, you must accept it, otherwise it will be forcibly imposed upon you. So dharma, as it is explained in English dictionary, "a kind of faith," that is not proper meaning. Dharma means that you are obliged to obey the laws given by God. Just like our material condition: birth, death, old age and disease. So one may say that "I do not believe in death. That is false." You may believe or not believe; you have to die. Similarly, one may believe or not believe; he has to take birth. Death means to give up this body and accept another body. That is very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Just like a child, he must accept the body of a boy; the boy, he must accept next the body of a youth; and the youth must accept the old man's body. This is the law of God. You must accept it. And just when this body is no more practically usable, then you have to accept another body and begin a new life. This is the law of nature, or the law of God.
Law... Nature is dull, material. Nature cannot work automatically without the incentive or manipulation of God behind nature. Foolish people think that nature is working automatically. That is their ignorance. Nature is working under the direction of the Supreme Lord. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
- sūyate sa-carācaram
- hetunānena kaunteya
- jagad viparivartate
- (BG 9.10)
Lord says that "Under My superintendence the material nature is working, and therefore so many wonderful changes are going on." So nature is working under the order of the Supreme Lord, and we are under the stringent laws of nature. Therefore, we are obliged to carry out the natural sequences. Just like I already explained, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, youthhood to old age, these are natural laws. And after mature old age, you have to change this body and accept another body. So if we say that "I have no faith in the orders of the material nature. I can avoid it," that is not possible. So therefore, this dharma means you may have faith or may not have faith, you have to abide by the laws of nature. People therefore say, "As sure as death." I may think or you may think that "Don't care for death. There will be no death," but it will happen.
Therefore the conclusion is that you cannot manufacture any laws of religion. So man-made religion has no value. So man-made religions, there are so many religious system—the Hindu religion, Christian religion, Muhammadan religion or this religion, that religion. That is a kind of faith. But religion means the order, or the laws, given by God. Therefore here it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra. Kaitavaḥ means cheating type of religious system. Real religion means "God is there; I am there. God is great; I am subordinate. I must abide by the laws of God." This is religion. At the present moment, under the spell of illusion in this material condition, we have forgotten our real religion. Real religion means to revive our consciousness—we say "Kṛṣṇa consciousness," or God consciousness—by which we agree to abide by the laws of God. So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā at the end, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). He says that "You have manufactured so many religious system. So you give up all these. You simply surrender unto Me." Therefore real conclusion is, real religion means to surrender unto God.