Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (leads chanting of verse, etc.) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat)
- sva-dharmam api cāvekṣya
- na vikampitum arhasi
- dharmyāddhi yuddhāc chreyo 'nyat
- kṣatriyasya na vidyate
- (BG 2.31)
(break)
Translation: "Considering your specific duty as a kṣatriya, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting on religious principles; and so there is no need for hesitation." (BG 2.31)
Prabhupāda: Hmm. Sva-dharmam. Sva means . . .
(aside to Pradyumna) You finish?
Pradyumna: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Sva means "own," and dharmam means "occupation." dharma means occupation and sva means own. Sva-dharmam: "one's own occupation." So according to Vedic civilization, everyone has his own sva-dharma. This has been misinterpreted by the rascals: "Sva-dharma means anyone can discover his own religious principle. Yato mata tato patha. Whatever you think is religious principle, that's all right." This is going on. But that is not the meaning. Sva-dharma means own occupation. Actually, dharma means which you cannot give up. Dhṛ-dhātu manu(?). You have to capture it; to keep your existence you must capture it.
So because we have got body and soul, two different things . . . we are combination, body and soul. That is already explained very nicely in so many ways. So actually, sva-dharma means the occupation of the soul. Because in the material condition we do not understand what I am—whether I am this body or I am soul. Mostly people they do not know that one is soul, not this body. Body is the dress, or outward covering, external covering. Subtle covering and gross covering. But so long one is in the bodily concept of life, so one has got different occupational duty according to the conception of the body. So the nature is being conducted by three modes of nature. Therefore, according to one's nature there is occupational duty. That is scientific division. At the present moment there is no such division. Therefore gradually people are degrading to the lowest quality—ignorance, śūdra. They are taking to the śūdra principles.