by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

"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." (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 1.2.8)

In human society there is always some kind of religious institution. One's religion is called dharma, faith. Dharma, precisely, is one's constitutional and functional duty. The essence of real religion is the rendering of service to God. However, we have manufactured many different religions in society according to the countries and circumstances. It is stated in this verse, therefore, that one may execute any type of religious principle, but the result should be that one achieves perfection. Now, one may say that he is perfectly executing the principles of his religion as found in the Bible or Koran, and that is all very good, but what is the result? The result should be that one increases his desire or tendency to hear about God.

Such a desire does not occur, however, if one's religion is impersonal. Generally people believe that God has no form. But if He has no form, how can one hear about His activities? Simply formless, formless, formless. How long can one go on thinking like that? If God is formless, our hearing about Him is finished. God is not formless. He has His form, and He is a person. He also has His activities. As the Supreme Lord Himself says in Bhagavad-gita:

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode." (Bg. 4.9)

Although janma, birth or appearance, is mentioned here, neither God nor the living entity actually takes birth. They are both ajah, unborn. As stated in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gita:

"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." (Bg. 2.20)

What, then, are death and birth as we know them? These words simply refer to the changes of the body. In fact, every night we die. The gross body remains inactive on the bed while the subtle body takes us away to dreamland. This is proof that we have two types of body-a gross and a subtle body. The subtle body is composed of mind, intelligence and ego. A foolish person cannot see or accept the subtle body, but the subtle body is there. Everyone accepts the presence of mind, intelligence and ego, so in that sense everyone accepts the subtle body. We work with them daily, but we cannot see them. Death involves the leaving of the gross body by the subtle body, which carries the individual away. Thus the living entity leaves one body and takes on another. The soul transmigrates from one gross body to another gross body, keeping the subtle body intact, and the subtle body is given up when one is liberated. When one gives up the subtle body also, he is promoted to the spiritual kingdom and attains a spiritual body. Therefore while living in the gross body, we have to educate the subtle body in such a way that it becomes completely spiritualized.