Ātmānaṁ sarvato rakṣet tato dharmaḥ. Dharma. This dharma. Dharma means religion. Actually, "religion" is not exact equivalent of the word dharma. Dharma, as I have explained several times, you know . . . dharma dhṛ-dhātu. Dharma means you exist by some natural symptom. That is called dharma. Everyone has got some natural symptom. That is dharma. According to Sanskrit meaning, that is dharma. Just like this light is a substance. What is his dharma, religion? To give light, to illuminate. So without illumination, there is no meaning of light.
Similarly, your dharma, what is your religion? Your religion is to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is your religion. Now you serve in a different way according to time, circumstances, country. That is a different thing. But your religion is to serve God. That is your religion. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108). Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately gives you the definition of religion, or your occupation, natural duty, natural function. Always mind that. Just like the light's natural function is to give illumination, prakāśa, similarly, your natural function is to serve Kṛṣṇa. That's all. You have no other business. That is dharma. No other business. When we understand this convincingly, then we are situated in our religion.
Just like Kṛṣṇa said. In the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā He says, dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. Just to reestablish religion. Dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. People forget. Nature's, material nature's function is that, to put you into illusion always. So our forgetfulness is also another illusion. We forget our relationship with God, or Kṛṣṇa.
Then adharma. That is . . . instead of becoming servant of Kṛṣṇa, I become servant of so many things. I become servant of my family, servant of my country, society, humanity, cats, dogs, so many things. Servant I remain, but I become servant of so many things.
So I have to convert from this servitorship to Kṛṣṇa's servitorship. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, dharma-saṁsthāpana. This is dharma. Saṁsthāpana. What dharma, what kind of religion Kṛṣṇa established? He said that "I incarnate to establish religion." He never came to establish Hindu religion or Christian religion or Muhammadan religion or Buddha religion. He established real religion. What is that real religion? Sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66), "You give up all these nonsense, so-called religion and faith. You simply surrender unto Me." That is religion. That is real religion. All other, any other religion which does not teach how to surrender unto God, that is pretension. That is not religion. According to Vedic understanding, this is religion. This is natural function.
So, ātmānaṁ sarvato rakṣet tato dharmaṁ tato dhanam. First of all you try to protect yourself, then take to real religion, natural function of the ātmā. Then try to . . . because we are in this material condition, we require economic development also. So that is very easy also. Kṛṣṇa has given you enough land—you just little work. The animals are there. The cows will give you milk. If you till a little land, you get some grains.