True religion is your eternal, unchangeable nature as Krishna's servant, not the bodily identity you can alter.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.6 — May 24, 1974, Rome 740524SB-ROME [49:53 Minutes] SB-01.02.06_740524SB-ROME [kīrtana] [poor recording] [00:45] [break] Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.] sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati [SB 1.2.6] [break] [03:41] Translation: "The supreme occupation, dharma, for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the Supreme..., unto the transcendent Lord.
Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order to completely satisfy the self." Prabhupāda: So we are reading chapter, the Second Chapter of the First Canto, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, "Divinity and Divine Service." So just now we have recited the sixth verse. We can begin from the first verse. First verse is, iti sampraśna saṁhṛṣṭo viprāṇāṁ raumaharṣaṇiḥ pratipūjya vacas teṣāṁ pravaktum upacakrame [SB 1.2.1] There was a great meeting, and... Meeting means...
In those days, there was no political meeting. Political meeting was not necessary, because there was no democracy. It was monarchy. The kings, they were so trained up that there was no necessity of democracy.
Actually, the modern government, democracy... We are experiencing, especially the great democratic country, America, so the democracy, the president elected by popular vote, is now being condemned. So what is the value of this democracy? You elect somebody by your vote; again condemn.
That means the electors, the voters, have also no experience, and neither the man who is voted, he is also very good man. Otherwise, why you should change your opinion once you have elected a person to act as your head executive? So the democracy has proved a farce. It has no meaning, because people are not educated. People are mostly śūdras.
There must be four classes of men. So brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, first class, second class, third class, fourth class. So at the present moment there is no first-class men, neither second-class men. All third class, fourth class.
All of them. So on the votes of third-class and fourth-class men, how you can expect good government? That is not possible. So there was no need of this democratic meeting, but there was meeting of the first-class brāhmaṇas. For the benefit of the whole human society they used to meet sometimes, and that meeting is still continuing in India.