Dharma, occupational duty, there are two kinds of occupational duties according to Vedic system: pravṛtti and nivṛtti. Pravṛtti means propensities, material propensities. We have come here within this material world to enjoy material resources. That is called pravṛtti. And when we come to the platform of understanding that "I am not this body; I am soul," then my occupational duty changes. At the present moment we are all working on the platform of bodily concept of life, but when you come to the platform of understanding that ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am not this matter; I am spirit soul," then my occupational duty changes. Not . . . that is my real occupational duty, because I am really spirit soul. Therefore:
- brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
- na śocati na kāṅkṣati
- samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
- mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām
- (BG 18.54)
When we come to the platform of brahma-bhūtaḥ . . . at the present moment we are jīva-bhūtaḥ. We are thinking that, "I am this body." But when you come to the platform that, "I am Brahman. I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, or God," then my duty changes. That is called bhakti. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. When, after being brahma-bhūtaḥ, after being liberated from material concept of life, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ, ahaṁ brahmāsmi.