Dharma exists to liberate us from material misery through varnashrama discipline, never to satisfy sensory desires.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.9 — April 23, 1974, Hyderabad 740423SB-HYDERABAD [44:18 Minutes] SB-01.02.09_740423SB-HYDERABAD Prabhupāda: [Chants jaya rādhā-mādhava] [break] [02:23] Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse] dharmasya hy āpavargyasya nārtho 'rthāyopakalpate nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ [SB 1.2.9] [break] [05:40] 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: dharmasya ca apavargyasya na artha arthāyopakalpate na arthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ [SB 1.2.9] We have begun this discussion about dharma. We have several times described dharma, the constitutional characteristic. That is called dharma.
So people have taken dharma for sense gratification. Just like generally people go to the church or temple for asking some material gain. That is beginning, beginning of God consciousness. catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna ārto arthārthī jijñāsur jñānī ca bharatarṣabha [Bg. 7.16] Four classes of men, means those conditioned soul... [aside, about fan:] Why is stopped?
Hmm. People who are pious, not ordinary men, those who are pious... Therefore in the Vedic principle everyone has been directed to become pious, puṇya-karma. Tyaja durjana-saṁsargaṁ bhaja sādhu-samāgamam [Cāṇakya Paṇḍita].
This is moral instruction, that "Don't keep company with durjana." Durjana means those who are very much attached to material enjoyment. They are called durjana. Actually, human life is meant for tapasya, not to become like cats and dogs and hogs, simply eating and sense gratification. That is not human life.
This is Vedic civilization. Because human life is meant for making solution of all problem. Here it is said, dharmasya ca āpavargyasya. Apavarga. A means negation, and pavarga...
Pavarga—pa, pha, ba, bha, ma. Just like, those who are acquainted with Sanskrit grammar, there are five vargas: ka varga, ca varga, ta varga, similarly, pa varga. Pa, pha, ba, bha, ma. So pavarga means they have taken the material life in different aspect.