धर्मादर्थः प्रभवति धर्मात्प्रभवते सुखम्।
धर्मेण लभते सर्वं धर्मसारमिदं जगत्॥
dharmād arthaḥ prabhavati dharmāt prabhavate sukham
dharmeṇa labhate sarvaṁ dharma-sāram idaṁ jagat
dharmāt = because of dharma; arthaḥ = wealth; prabhavati = flourishes; dharmāt = because of dharma; prabhavate = flourishes; sukham = happiness; dharmeṇa = by dharma; labhate = one attains; sarvam = everything; dharma-sāram = has dharma as its essence; idam = this; jagat = world.
Wealth flourishes because of dharma. Happiness flourishes because of dharma. One attains everything by dharma. This world has dharma as its essence.1
1 Piety leads to worldly prosperity. Piety leads to sensual pleasure. Piety can even lead to liberation if it is obtained with the desire for purification of the heart.
1 By engaging in the activities of dharma, one attains spiritual knowledge, understanding and realization which leads to liberation from material existence.
2 Among karma, jñāna and bhakti, the latter two may be considered the direct means for attaining the Lord. When one performs karma under certain conditions, one’s heart becomes pure, that is, free from lust, anger and greed. Then one becomes capable of properly performing jñāna or bhakti. So karma is considered an indirect means to jñāna and bhakti. The conditions under which karma leads to freedom from lust, anger and greed are: (1) one should carry out the activities of karma as taught in the scriptures, (2) one should be indifferent to the material benefits that can be attained from those activities of karma even though they are well described in the scriptures, (3) one should abandon the idea of being solely responsible for attaining those material benefits, and (4) one should not perform those activities of karma that are violent. Such activities have been condemned in the section of Mahābhārata known as Mokṣa-dharma. One should also note that the activities of jñāna need to be mixed with the activities of bhakti in order to attain the result of jñāna, but the activities of bhakti do not need to be mixed with the activities of jñāna in order to attain the result of bhakti, which is greater than the result of jñāna. This has been pointed out by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura on the basis of scriptural evidence in his writings.
Mere engagement in dharma is the root of all auspiciousness. That is pointed out here. “One attains everything by dharma” indicates that one can attain even liberation by dharma also—through the attainment of spiritual knowledge.1
NOTE. Dharma here refers to Vedic dharma which promotes nonviolence. Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa notes the following in his introduction to the Bhagavad-gītā:
tad-upāyāś ca karma-jñāna-bhakti-bhedāt tredha. tatra śruta-tat-tat-phala-nairapekṣeṇa kartṛtvābhiniveśa-parityāgena ca anuṣṭhitasya sva-vihitasya karmaṇaḥ hṛd-viśuddhi-dvārā jñāna-bhaktyor upakāritvāt paramparayā tat-prāptāv upāyatvam. tac ca śruti-vihita-karma hiṁsā-śūnyam atra mukhyam. mokṣa-dharme pitā-putrādi-saṁvādāt hiṁsāvat tu gauṇaṁ viprakṛṣṭatvāt. tayos tu sākṣād eva tathātvam.
“The means to attaining the Supreme Lord are three: karma, jñāna and bhakti. Among these [three sets of activities], the activities of karma prescribed for oneself are useful for attaining jñāna and bhakti when one attains purification of heart by executing them by being indifferent to the material benefits [which can be attained by engaging in them and] which are stated in the scriptures and by abandoning one’s sense of [solely] responsible [for attaining the benefits of karma]. Karma is thus a means for attaining the Supreme Lord indirectly. In this regard, the primary activities of karma are those prescribed in the Śruti and devoid of violence. Violent activities of karma are secondary as they have been criticized in the conversation between the father and son and in other places in the Mokṣa-dharma. The activities of jñāna and bhakti, however, are directly the means for attaining the Supreme Lord.”2