154
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 3]
So  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam's  categorization of the common man without any spiritual enlightenment into the society of the dogs, hogs, camels and asses is not at all an exaggeration. The leaders of such ignorant masses of people may feel very proud of being adored by such a number of dogs and hogs, but that is not very flattering. The  Bhāgavatam  openly declares that a person, although a great leader of such dogs and hogs disguised as men, may have no taste for being enlightened in the science of Kṛṣṇa. Such a leader is also an animal and nothing more. He may be designated as a powerful, strong animal, or a big animal, but in the estimation of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  he is never given a place in the category of man on account of his atheistic temperament. Or, in other words, such godless leaders of dogs and hog-like men are bigger animals with animal qualities in greater proportion.
at the point of going back to Godhead. The ass does not know his self-interest, and it works very hard for others only. Similarly, a person who works very hard for others only, forgetting his personal interest available in the human form of life, is compared to the ass. In the  Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa  it is said:
aśītiṁ caturaś caiva lakṣāṁs tāñ jīva-jātiṣu bhramadbhiḥ puruṣaiḥ prāpyaṁ mānuṣyaṁ janma-paryayāt
tad apy abhalatāṁ jātaḥ teṣāṁ ātmābhimāninām varākāṇām anāśritya govinda-caraṇa-dvayam
The human life is so important that even the demigods in the higher planets sometimes aspire after a human body on this earth because in the human body only can one easily go back to Godhead. And in spite of having obtained such an important body, if one does not reestablish his lost eternal relation with Govinda, Lord Kṛṣṇa, he is certainly a fool who has forgotten his self-interest. This human form of material body is obtained by a gradual process of evolution of one body after another in the cycle of 8,400,000 varieties of life. And the poor man, forgetting this importance for his own interest, involves himself in so many illusory engagements for uplifting the position of others as leader of political emancipation and economic development. There is no harm in trying for political emancipation or economic development, but one should not forget the real aim of life: all such philanthropic activities must be dovetailed to returning to Godhead. ● one who does not know this is compared to the ass who works only for others without their or his own welfare in mind.