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Śrīmad Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 9]
na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ māyayā 'pahṛta-jñānā āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ  (Bg. 7.15)
The so-called great leaders of human society, because they are ignorant of this great knowledge of  bhakti-yoga  and are always engaged in the ignoble acts of sense gratification, bewildered by the external energy of the Lord, are stubborn rebels against the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they never agree to surrender unto Him because they are fools, miscreants and the lowest type of human beings. Such faithless nonbelievers may be highly educated in the material sense of the term, but factually they are the greatest fools of the world because by the influence of the external material nature all their so-called acquisition of knowledge has been made null and void. Therefore all advancement of knowledge in the present context of things is being misused in terms of the cats and dogs fighting with one another for sense gratification, and all acquisition of knowledge in science, philosophy, fine arts, nationality, economic development, religiousness and great activities are being spoiled by being used as dresses for dead men. There is no utility in the dresses used for covering a coffin of the dead body save getting a false applause from the ignorant public. The  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  therefore says again and again that without attainment of the status of  bhakti-yoga , all activities of the human society are to be considered as absolute failures only. It is said:
parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam yāvat kriyās tāvad idaṁ mano vai karmātmakaṁ yena śarīra-bandhaḥ  (Bhāg. 5.5.5)
As long as one is blind to inquiring after self-realization, all material activities, however great they may be, are all different kinds of defeat because the aim of human life is not fulfilled by such unwanted and profitless activities. The function of the human body is to attain freedom from the material bondage, but as long as one is fully absorbed in material activities, his mind will be overwhelmed in the whirlpool of matter, and thus he will continue to be encaged in the material bodies life after life.
evaṁ manaḥ karma-vaśaṁ prayuṅkte avidyayātmany upadhīyamāne prītir na yāvan mayi vāsudeve na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat  (Bhāg. 5.5.6)