Tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi (SB 1.5.17). If one takes to devotional service, tyaktvā sva-dharmam, giving up his routine duty . . . sva-dharma means the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. They have got the all . . . or brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, they have got their particular duties. But nobody is following any duty. They are creating their own duty. So anyway, somehow or other, if one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ hareḥ, and practices for some time regularly, then again, due to bad association or by something he falls down, so śāstra says that, "What is the loss? There is no loss." On the other hand, if a person is executing his occupational duties very nicely, but he does not know what is Kṛṣṇa conscious, then what is the gain? There is no gain. No gain. Even if you become very pious by acting as a strict brahminv or a sannyāsī, but if you do not understand what is Kṛṣṇa, then there is no gain. It is simply waste of time.
- dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ
- viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ
- notpādayed yadi ratiṁ
- śrama eva hi kevalam
- (SB 1.2.8)
This is the verdict of Vyāsadeva. Śrama eva hi kevalam. You are very nice, executing your occupational duties, dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ. Svanuṣṭhitaḥ. You are brahmin. That's nice. You are executing the brahmiṇ's duties very nicely, or a kṣatriya, or a vaiśya, or a medical man, engineer, whatever you may be. That's all right. Dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ. But if, by executing your professional or occupational duties, you do not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness . . . that is the main business of human life, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So then dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathā . . . viṣvaksena-kathā means kṛṣṇa-kathā. Notpādayed yadi ratim. If you do not become inclined, śraddhā, this śraddhā of kṛṣṇa-kathā, then whatever you are doing—simply wasting your time, and it is a labor of love only, that's all. Śrama eva hi kevalam. And a devotee, even if he falls down by chance . . . there is every possibility of falling down, because māyā is very strong. And it is a fight against māyā. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Duratyayā. Māyā is very strong. We are getting experience, some of them are falling down. But still, whatever he has done sincerely, that is a permanent credit of his account.