Perfect work satisfies Krishna; mere duty without devotion remains fruitless labor and wasted time.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.8 — December 26, 1972, Bombay 721226SB-BOMBAY [61:41 Minutes] SB-01.02.08_721226SB-BOMBAY Prabhupāda: ...puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu-yaḥ notpādayed yadi ratiṁ śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8] Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya, discharging one's own occupational duties. Svanuṣṭhi-tasya dharmasya. According to Vedic system, there are four kinds of social orders, and each one of them have particular duties. Just like the brāhmaṇas, they have got their particular duties; kṣatriyas, they have got their particular duties; vaiśyas, they have also; and the śūdras.
And those who do not follow the Vedic principles, they are called pañcamal, or sometimes, if they do not follow the rules and regulation, then they are called mlecchas and yavanas. So, svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. A brāhmaṇa must be truthful: satya sama dama titikṣa ārjava, jñānam vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma karma svabhāva [Bg. 18.42]. So the brāhmaṇas, those who are actually qualified brāhmaṇas, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13].
Lord Kṛṣṇa said that cātur-varṇyaṁ māyā śṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: by division of quality and activities. So everyone, brāhmaṇa, must be qualified and must be engaged in his particular duties. Kṣatriyas also, they should be engaged in their particular duties. Vaiśyas and śūdras also.
And it is the duty of the government that everyone is discharging his duties. That is king's business, rāja-daṇḍa. If one does not observe the regulative principle, then he should not declare himself as brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. So, just like at the present moment, the government has got inspectors to see, inspect the schools, whether the teachers are duly discharging their educational curriculum, similarly, formerly the king, he was rāja-daṇḍa-vit. So not only he was inspecting that everyone is discharging his professional or particular duties, but everyone has got employment.
That was also the king's duty. No one should be unemployed. The brāhmaṇa should be employed, the kṣatriya should be employed, the vaiśya should be employed and the śūdra should be employed. If there is any difficulty, then it was the duty of the king to give them employment. So since we have lost our responsible monarchical government, the four divisions of social order—means brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśyas and śūdra—they have deviated due to unemployment.
The brāhmaṇa could not get sufficient engagement in their duties, yajana yājana paṭhana pāṭhana dāna pratigraha. People became neglectful, so they thought, "What is the use of calling a brāhmaṇa for pūjā part? There is no necessity. Stop it." So naturally the brāhmaṇas were obliged to accept to the business or occupational duties of the kṣatriyas or the vaiśyas or even śūdras.
What can be done? But in the śāstra it is said that a brāhmaṇa, if he's in difficulty, he may accept the profession of a kṣatriya or up to vaiśya, but never accept the occupation of a śūdra. These are described in the śāstras. Besides that, the higher castes—the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas especially, and the vaiśyas also—they must observe the dāsa-veda saṁskāra, ten kinds of reformatory methods. The first method is garbādhāna-saṁskāra.