In the Vedic system there was a concept of dharma. Dharma basically means to do the right thing. This was the central focus and everything was structured around the idea of doing the right thing. Even if someone was not completely Krishna conscious, he or she wanted to be good and to do the right thing.
In today’s society you practically never hear “You need to do the right thing!” They are teaching us, especially through the advertisements, to do what pleases us. I remember the year 1960. The hippies had a motto, ” If it feels good, it is good for you.”

There are so many deviations from moral principles today because people do not have a concept of duty. We have to be attached to the concept of dharma, and this means that we do what is right. Although in many cases this may not be transcendental, it is the basis on which a transcendental practice in this world is built. Nobody can be Krishna consciouss if he is breaking the four regulative principles. There is no way; it is simply impossible.

You will not be happy trying to satisy your desire.You will be happy trying to satisfy Krishna’s desire.

If we follow dharma, then we will be successful. We will go back to God. We should always be attached to these principles of dharma. We need to train the mind to do the right thing regardless of what the mind and the senses say, which is of course a sentimental platform. We have to consider thingswith intelligence. The platform of intelligence means to be fixed on sastra, scriptures. Then, every time we make decisions, every time we do somethng in this world, we will consider everything through the eyes of sastra, sastra-caksu. We will ask whether something is good or bad, and not whether I like it or not. The main thing is what Krishna wants.

The same is true in my private life. When I make decisions in life, I always think what would Prabhupada want me to do. I try not to think of what I would do. The attitude of a devotee should be to accept everything favorable and to reject everything unfavorable. If you want to make progress, you have to function in this way. You have to accept everything which is helpful and reject everything which is not helpful. You will not be happy trying to satisfy your desire. You will be happy if you try to satisfy Krishna’s desire, Krishna’s will. This is dharmic, doing only that