How dharma can sometimes be an impediment to love of Godhead

The Vedas recommend the path of dharma, as mundane religiosity. However, this limited dharma has to ultimately be abandoned in the favor or true dharma: love of Godhead.

In the Caitanya Caritāmṛta, ādi-lila 7.84, it is mentioned that "'Religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation are known as the four goals of life, but before love of Godhead, the fifth and highest goal, these appear as insignificant as straw in the street.'"

In this verse, the word used is puruṣa-artha, the four goals of materialistic life: dharma, artha, kama, and moksa, translated as religiosity, economic development, sense gratification,n and liberation. In his purport, Prabhupada explains:

"Dharma (religiosity), artha (economic development), kāma (sense gratification) and mokṣa (liberation) are the four principles of religion that pertain to the material world. Therefore in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is declared, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra: cheating religious systems in terms of these four material principles are completely discarded from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, for Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teaches only how to develop one’s dormant love of God. The Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and therefore it ends with the words sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.” (Bg. 18.66) To adopt this means, one should reject all ideas of religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation and fully engage in the service of the Lord, which is transcendental to these four principles. Love of Godhead is the original function of the spirit soul, and it is as eternal as the soul and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This eternity is called sanātana. When a devotee revives his loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it should be understood that he has been successful in achieving the desired goal of his life. At that time everything is automatically done by the mercy of the holy name, and the devotee automatically advances in his spiritual progress."

In other passages, dharma is defined as the essential characteristic of the soul, the thing that can't be separated from it. In this higher sense, dharma means love of Godhead, the essential characteristic of the soul that is eternal and can never be lost, even though it can be temporarily covered.

The dharma that is part of the four materialistic goals is a limited form of dharma that manifests as mundane religiosity, performed with the goal of improving one's condition in the material world. This type of materialistic dharma is manifested as fruitive activities (karma-kanda) and also in the form of varṇāśrama, when practiced as just a system for material prosperity, and not for satisfying Krsna and developing love of Godhead. This limited type of dharma, or varṇāśrama can still be positive in the beginning, helping one to get out of sinful life, but after a certain stage it has to be abandoned in favor of real dharma, in the sense of pure devotional service to Krsna, just as a child may start riding a bicycle using training wheels, but over time they are supposed to be removed.

We can see many examples of the rejection of mundane dharma in favor of real dharma in the pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who acted as the perfect teacher, offering a pragmatic a no-nonsense approach to navigating out of the darkness of kali-yuga by jumping over the sharks of mundane religiosity and mundane institutions straight to the platform of love of Godhead.

This point is also explored in the conversation between Pṛthu Maharaja and Sanat-kumāra.

Pṛthu Maharaja asked the sage: How can materialistic persons interested only in sense gratification be blessed with any good fortune?

The context is that Pṛthu is performing a great sacrifice in the view of all citizens, when the four Kumāras appear from the sky. After receiving them respectfully, King Pṛthu asks the question on behalf of his citizens, who are listening to the discussion. These are not yogis or jñanis, but ordinary people who are mainly following the path of fruitive activities (dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa). The question of Pṛthu Maharaja is how they can achieve good fortune, and Sanat-kumāra answers that even if one wants to enjoy his senses, one should do it piously, according to the recommendations of the scriptures, since a hedonistic life is the greatest obstacle on the path of self-realization. This is especially relevant nowadays, when people are after economic development and sense gratification without following the principles of the scriptures.

As Prabhupada explains, "The Vedic process of sense gratification is therefore planned in such a way that one can economically develop and enjoy sense gratification and yet ultimately attain liberation. Vedic civilization offers us all knowledge in the śāstras, and if we live a regulated life under the direction of śāstras and guru, all our material desires will be fulfilled; at the same time we will be able to go forward to liberation."

If one tries to enjoy his senses without following the principles of the scriptures, however, one risks descending into the lower species. On the other hand, by following the principles of pious material enjoyment prescribed in the Vedas, one avoids falling into the lower species, but ultimately, it doesn't solve anything, because one will continue in this material world. Apart from avoiding the negative, a positive is needed. This is indicated in SB 4.22.35:

"Out of the four principles — namely religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation — liberation has to be taken very seriously. The other three are subject to destruction by the stringent law of nature — death."

The word mokṣa is often associated with impersonal liberation, but ultimately, mokṣa means to attain devotional service to the Lord.

The first of the four puruṣārthas is dharma. There is dharma in the sense of the original nature of the soul (nitya-dharma), the essential characteristic that can't be changed. However, in the context of the four puruṣārthas, dharma refers to temporary duties connected with one's position in the varṇāśrama system. While these are important, they are temporary, since they apply to the body and not the soul. This is the type of dharma Krsna recommends Arjuna to give up in the Gītā, and instead directly surrender unto Him, which is the true dharma, the eternal dharma.

If even dharma is fit to be abandoned as one advances, what can we say about artha and kāma? These are offered just to attract materialists to the path of the Vedas. As long as we are conditioned, the need for sense gratification will always be present, but we should minimize it as far as possible and instead focus on mokṣa, in the sense of pure devotional service to the Lord and elevation to the spiritual planets.

Sanat-kumāra then proceeds in answering Pṛthu Maharaja's second question (how can a soul entangled in this material world quickly achieve the ultimate goal of life?). As long as we are involved with this material world, we will have a tendency to perform fruitive activities and be bound in the pursuit of economic development and the search for sense gratification. We will also have a tendency to impersonalism, which is an even greater calamity.

Because life in this material world is always so difficult, we are anxious to improve our material condition, hankering for a position that will be safer and more comfortable. If we obtain these things, we accept them as a great blessing, and if we don't, we feel morose. This struggle in the material duality keeps us bound in the material world, struggling to maintain a temporary situation after the other. By calling our attention to this, Sanat-kumāra brings us to the inevitable conclusion that we should seek something eternal. As Prabhupada explains in his purport: "Therefore we should not be satisfied simply by a promotion to the higher planetary systems. We should try to get out of the material cosmic manifestation, go to the spiritual world and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is our highest achievement. We should not be attracted by anything material, higher or lower, but should consider them all on the same level. Our real engagement should be in inquiring about the real purpose of life and rendering devotional service to the Lord. Thus we will be eternally blessed in our spiritual activities, full of knowledge and bliss."

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