94
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 2]
dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ notpādayed yadi ratiṁ śrama eva hi kevalam
dharmaḥ—occupation; svanuṣṭhitaḥ—executed in terms of one's own position; puṁsāṁ—of humankind; viṣvaksena—Personality of Godhead (plenary portion); kathāsu—in the message of; yaḥ—what is; na—not; utpādayet—does produce; yadi—if; ratiṁ—attraction; śramaḥ—useless labor; eva—only; hi—certainly; kevalam—entirely.
TRANSLATION
Duties [dharma] executed by men, regardless of occupation, are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Supreme Lord.
PURPORT
There are different occupational activities in terms of man's different conceptions of life. To the gross materialist who cannot see anything beyond the gross material body, there is nothing beyond the senses. Therefore his occupational activities are limited to concentrated and extended selfishness. Concentrated selfishness centers around the personal body—this is generally seen amongst the lower animals. Extended selfishness is manifested in human society and centers around the family, society, community, nation and world with a view to gross bodily comfort. Above these gross materialists are the mental speculators who hover aloft in the mental spheres, and their occupational duties involve making poetry, philosophy or propagating some  ism  with the same aim of selfishness limited to the body and the mind. But above the body and mind is the dormant spirit soul whose absence from the body makes the whole range of bodily and mental selfishness completely null and void. But less intelligent people have no information of the needs of the spirit soul.
Because foolish people have no information of the soul and how it is beyond the purview of the body and mind, they are not satisfied in the performance of their occupational duties. The question of the satisfaction of the self is raised herein. The self is beyond the gross body and subtle mind. He is the potent active principle of the body and mind. Without knowing the need of the dormant soul, one cannot be happy simply with