We are eternally servants of God, but misplace our service to senses, mistaking slavery for mastery.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.3 — February 24, 1975, Caracas 750224SB-CARACAS [60:14 Minutes] SB-01.01.03_750224SB-CARACAS [translated throughout by Hṛdayānanda] Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse] nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayam muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ [SB 1.1.3] [break] Hṛdayānanda: [leads recitation of translation in Spanish] [break] [01:26]
Prabhupāda: nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayam muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ [SB 1.1.3] Last night we discussed the verse dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra, that "In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the cheating type of religious system is rejected." We have already explained, dharma does not mean a kind of faith, blind faith. Dharma means the real characteristic. For example, just like water is liquid. This is the characteristic of water.
That is dharma. Stone is solid. That is the characteristic of stone. That is dharma.
So faith is different thing. Faith, I have got faith today in something; tomorrow I may have faith in some other thing. And actually we see, sometimes a person called a Hindu, he is changing his faith to Muslim or Christian, or a Christian is changing his faith to another way. So faith can be changed, but the characteristics cannot be changed.
Just like water is liquid. The liquidity cannot be changed of water. So in Sanskrit language or in Vedic literature, dharma means the characteristics which cannot be changed. Now let us consider what is the characteristic of the living being.
The characteristic is that every one of us is serving somebody superior. Nobody—we are sitting in this hall—can say that "I am not serving anyone." If somebody is not serving anyone, then he must be serving his own senses. The whole material world is going on because the people are engaged in the service of the senses. For sense gratification one is doing very, very risky job. So nobody can say that "I am not serving." That is the characteristic of the living being, and that is called dharma. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109], means we living entities, our real characteristic is to serve God. But we have given up the service of God; therefore we are now engaged in the service of the senses. And because we are constitutionally servant, therefore either we shall serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the Absolute Truth, or, if we do not like to serve the Absolute Truth, then we must serve our senses. Therefore it is described, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra, means "Cheating type of religion is completely rejected here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." Here, this material world means everyone is trying to be master.
But actually he is servant. Just like take, for example, in a family. The family head is the... Actually, he is servant of his wife, of his children or of his even servants.