Dharma means occupational duty performed for liberation, not sense gratification, ultimately freeing one from material suffering.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.9 — September 7, 1972, New Vrindavan 720907SB-NEW VRINDAVAN [56:50 Minutes] SB-01.02.09_720907SB-NEW VRINDAVAN Devotee: ...ber 7th, 1972 at the new temple room at Bhahulavan, New Vrindavan, 7pm.
Prabhupāda: [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much. Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! [devotees offer obeisances] Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Canto One, Chapter 2, text 9. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] dharmasya hy āpavargyasya nārtho 'rthāyopakalpate nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ [SB 1.2.9] Prabhupāda: Anyone else? [devotee chants] [lady devotee chants] Very good.
[another devotees chants] Good. Anyone else? [another devotee chants] That's all right. Word meaning?
Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms] dharmasya—occupational engagement; hi—certainly; āpavargyasya—ultimate liberation; na—not; arthaḥ—end; arthāya—for material gain; upakalpate—is meant for; na—neither; arthasya—of material gain; dharma-eka-antasya—for one who is engaged in the ultimate occupational service; kāmaḥ—sense gratification; lābhāya—attainment of; hi—exactly; smṛtaḥ—is described by the great sages. [07:01] Translation: "All occupational engagements, or dharmas, are certainly meant for ultimate liberation. They should never be performed for material gain. Furthermore, one who is engaged in the ultimate occupational service, or dharma, should never use material gain to cultivate sense gratification." Prabhupāda: So dharma we have described. Dharma means occupational duty.
Just like according to Vedic culture, we are supposed to follow the varṇāśrama-dharma. It has become very ambiguous at the present moment, "Hindu dharma." There is no such thing as Hindu dharma mentioned in the Vedic literature. We don't find either in the Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or any authorized Vedic literature "Hindu dharma." Unfortunately, in India it has become very prominent, Hindu dharma, something hodgepodge. Real, our real Vedic dharma is varṇāśrama-dharma. That is mentioned in every Vedic literature—in Purāṇas, in Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā, in Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata.
So... Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]. Kṛṣṇa says, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that "These four principles," cātur-varṇya, four varṇas: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra, mayā sṛṣṭam, "it is created by Me." But people are not interested in God's creation. But without this division of human society... A class of men should be brāhmaṇa, simply interested in knowledge. Actually, that is going on.