SB 3.12.40–41 – Daivi-varnasrama

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Three Chapter Twelve, “Creation of Kumāras and Others.” Text Forty and Forty-one. I will just read Text Forty straight through and then we will chant Text Forty-one responsively.

TEXT 40

ṣoḍaśy-ukthau pūrva-vaktrāt

purīṣy-agniṣṭutāv atha

āptoryāmātirātrau ca

vājapeyaṁ sagosavam

TRANSLATION

All the different varieties of fire sacrifices [ṣoḍaśī, uktha, purīṣi, agniṣṭoma, āptoryāma, atirātra, vājapeya and gosava] became manifested from the eastern mouth of Brahmā.

TEXT 41

vidyā dānaṁ tapaḥ satyaṁ

dharmasyeti padāni ca

āśramāṁś ca yathā-saṅkhyam

asṛjat saha vṛttibhiḥ

TRANSLATION

Education, charity, penance and truth are said to be the four legs of religion, and to learn this there are four orders of life with different classifications of castes according to vocation. Brahmā created all these in systematic order.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The nucleus of the four social orders — brahmacarya, or student life, gṛhastha, or householder family life, vānaprastha, or retired life for practicing penance, and sannyāsa, or renounced life for preaching the truth — is the four legs of religion. The vocational divisions are the brāhmaṇas, or the intelligent class, the kṣatriyas, or administrative class, the vaiśyas, or mercantile productive class, and the śūdras, or general laborer class who have no specific qualifications. All were systematically planned and created by Brahmā for the regular promotion of self-realization. Student life is meant for acquiring the best education; household family life is meant for gratifying the senses, provided it is performed with a charitable disposition of mind; retirement from household life is meant for penance, for advancement in spiritual life; and renounced life is meant for preaching the Absolute Truth to the people in general. The combined actions of all members of society make the whole situation favorable for the upliftment of the mission of human life. The beginning of this social institution is based on education meant for purifying the animal propensities of the human being. The highest purificatory process is knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the purest of the pure.

COMMENT

So first we will discuss the basic elements of the verse and then try to understand the implications of the verse as discussed in Srila Prabhupada’s purport. The verse mentions the four ashrams: brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. And it also mentions Education—vidyā, charity—dānaṁ, penance—tapaḥ, and truth—satyaṁ. Vidyā or education is the duty of the brahmacharis. In fact, the very word brahmachari indicates one who knows brahman or the absolute truth. Dānaṁ means charity and dānaṁ is meant for householders. Because they are engaged in earning money and to some extent enjoying. And to purify both the process of earning money and the enjoyment of material opulence, householders are meant to give in charity. Tapaḥ means penance. After the householder has worked for some time and enjoyed to whatever extent, he is expected to retire from family life and perform penances and austerities for the purpose of purification. And after he has become purified to some extent, he is meant to accept the renounced order of life or sannyasa and preach the absolute truth or sat. What is the thread that runs through all of the different divisions? The thread is the gradual process of purification, which is meant to lead the individual to self-realization. And along with the different ashrams, Lord Brahma has created the different vocations brahman, kshatriya, vaishya, and sudra. They are called the social orders. But the ashrams are called the spiritual orders and they are meant to gradually purify the living entity and bring him towards the ultimate goal of self-realization.

Srila Prabhupada has often said, and he says the same thing in the purport perhaps more subtly that, human life begins with varnashrama-dharma. Animals, as we have all heard eat, sleep, mate, and defend. And if a human being simply engages in the same four activities, he is considered no better than the animals. In fact, he is worse because at least the animals live according to natural laws. But the so-called humans, when they simply engage in eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, do not even follow natural laws. Some animals by constitution are meant to eat flesh. Some animals by constitution are meant to eat vegetables. If we analyze the human constitution, the teeth of the digestive tract and in particular, the stomach and the intestines, we find that the humans constitution is meant mainly for a vegetarian diet. But the human beings without religious principles eat anything and everything, and therefore, they are less than animals. The animals mate to create offspring or at least say, the result of their union is the creation of offspring. But the so-called human beings without religious principles, they mate but they don’t allow the natural course of reproduction to take place. They use all sorts of artificial methods like contraception and even abortion to prevent the natural consequence of their union. And they even engage in other perverse forms of interaction that would not, under any circumstances, give rise to childbirth. So they are less than animals. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada said that human life begins with varnashrama-dharma.

Now, in the purport Srila Prabhupada writes, “The beginning of this social institution is based on education.” What is the beginning of the social institution? The beginning is brahmachari ashrama and it is based on education. But in the west, there is actually no tradition of varnashrama-dharma. There is no tradition of brahmachari ashrama. And therefore, education is necessary just to convince people of the need for such systematic education. Therefore, we go out on hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana and distribute books to educate people, who are completely ignorant, like animals, about the necessity for self-realization and the gradual process to attain self-realization. So therefore, the beginning of this social institution is based on education, meant for purifying the animal propensities of the human being. That is the beginning. Satsvarupa Maharaja has written very beautifully in Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, how Srila Prabhupada attempted to make the first brahmachari. His name was Wayne Gunderson and he was eventually initiated as Upendra dasa.

So just imagine, what a feat Srila Prabhupada achieved to take people who were basically living like animals or less, who had no sense of Vedic Culture, and train them in such an extraordinary way of life as brahmacharya. Srila Prabhupada used to quote the experience of his godbrother, who went to England and met one British lord. So the British lord, Zeppelin, asked Prabhupada’s godbrother, if he could make him into a brahman. And, Prabhupada’s godbrother said, “Yes, but you have to give up eating meat, taking intoxicants, gambling, and having illicit sex.” And the British lord replied, impossible.

So Srila Prabhupada thought that for westerners to give up such basic pleasures of life, which they consider to be human necessities, would be impossible. Srila Prabhupada imagined that when he came to New York city and told people about the four regulative principles, they would say, “Swamiji, please get out of here. Go back to where you came from.” So the fact that Srila Prabhupada could introduce such a high degree of knowledge; it first began with education and then led to the other performances, is a testimony to Srila Prabhupada’s extraordinary potency. It is inconceivable. People come now after Prabhupada has basically created something out of nothing and then they try to do something with the something. But Srila Prabhupada came when there was nothing and he created something out of nothing. Not exactly out of nothing, because the soul is within the heart of every living entity and the soul is by nature Krishna conscious. But the original consciousness is covered by the material condition.

And, Srila Prabhupada knew the Krishna consciousness was there, within the hearts of the people and it just had to be brought out by the proper process. So first, he educated them. He would chant with them. As you know, them means us. And he had faith that the chanting would purify the heart so that the original consciousness would come closer to the surface and then he would deliver transcendental knowledge. And when they heard the transcendental knowledge from Srila Prabhupada, they understood Vedic knowledge. Lord Chaitanya has explained that there are basically three divisions of Vedic knowledge: sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. So sambandha is first. Who am I? I am not the body. I am the soul within the body. And who is God? God is Krishna. And what is the material world? The material world is the inferior energy of God. And what is my relationship with God? My relationship is, I am the eternal servant of God. And what is my relationship with the material world? Well, the material world is the energy of God, even the physical body is the energy of God. So I should use the body and the things of the world in God’s service. So this is sambandha, sambandha-jñāna. Then how do I serve God? How do I use the body and the things of the world in God’s service? That is abhidheya. That is the process of devotional service, sādhana-bhakti. And then, what is the goal of it all? The goal of it is, as Prabhupada says here, self-realization. But self-realization means ‘to realize oneself in one’s relationship with God.’

So self-realization means, ‘realization of the self in relation to the supreme self and that means to realize our eternal relationship of love with Krishna in one of five different mellows.’ So that is self-realization, prayojana (prema-bhakti), premā pumartho mahān. So Srila Prabhupada introduced the knowledge. First, everything was through personal appeal. He would advertise his little classes at 26 Second Avenue, and people would come, and he would chant with them, help them become a little purified, and then speak to them about Vedic knowledge. And then, when some of them suggested that we go out and chant as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did, Prabhupada was very encouraged. So the devotees began to go out and chant. And Srila Prabhupada would speak to people outside the temple and bring them to the temple. And then the same principle expanded, when Srila Prabhupada began Back to Godhead magazine in America. And then of course, the ultimate advancement in the program to make wide propaganda for Krishna consciousness was the publication of the books. And therefore, even until today and I would say for all time in the future, we will propagate hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana to purify the hearts and Vedic knowledge, especially through books, which can travel far and wide.

So therefore, Srila Prabhupada writes, “The beginning of this social institution is based on education.” Because without education, people will not even enter into the institution. And then when they enter the institution, the primary activity is education, studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, studying Bhagavad-gītā, attending classes, and then applying what we learn. When I first joined in the Boston temple, I really felt I was entering an educational institution. And within the first year, we were studying five books every day. Srila Prabhupada said we should learn one mantra from Īśopaniṣad every day. So every morning after maṅgala-ārati, we would recite one mantra and memorize it, and hear the translation and purport. Then we would have the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class as we do now. Then when The Nectar of Devotion came out, Srila Prabhupada said we should read a little every day. So every day in the early evening before sandhya ārati, we would read from The Nectar of Devotion. And, some of the topics of The Nectar of Devotion are very high. They deal with rasa, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. And Srila Prabhupada said, if we don’t understand something, we should just read it again and again. Then we would have sandhya ārati and then Bhagavad-gītā class as we have now. And then after the evening program, we would have hot milk and maybe some little prasāda and hear the Kṛṣṇa book. 

So every day we were reading or hearing five books. And when we would go out and chant in the streets or distribute magazines, or basically whatever we did, we would think that what we are doing is putting into practice, what we learned from the books. That it was part of the same process of education. Just like in a science class, you hear the theory from the professor or read the theory in the books, and then you perform some exercise or experiment in the classroom in the laboratory, which demonstrates the truth of what you read in the book. So when we would go out on hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana or do any type of devotional service, we would be very excited because we were putting into practice what we learned in the books, and classes, and seeing the results. And we would find that yes, what we read, what Prabhupada said, is coming true. And therefore our faith would increase, or enthusiasm would increase. But Prabhupada concludes the purport, “The highest purificatory process is knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the purest of the pure.”

So we have varnashrama-dharma, which is a gradual process of purification. But the highest process of purification is knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which is achieved by hearing about Krishna, hearing and discussing. And then naturally, when you hear and discuss, you remember. So the essential process and the highest process is actually śravaṇam kīrtanam and then smaraṇam. Therefore, whatever varna or ashram we are in, we should engage in hearing and chanting and remembering Krishna, who is the purest of the pure. Because on the absolute platform, Krishna and His name, fame qualities, pastimes, associates, paraphernalia, they are all the same as Krishna. Therefore, Krishna’s words in Bhagavad-gītā are Krishna, words about Krishna as in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta are also Krishna. So by engaging in Krishna kirtan and kṛṣṇa-kathā, we are associating with Krishna, who is the purest of the pure. And therefore, associating with Him is the most potent process of purification. And therefore, Srila Prabhupada gave the example of the iron and fire. The iron on its own is hard and cold, but when the iron rod is put in the fire, it gets warmer and warmer, and hotter and hotter until eventually it becomes red hot. And then it no longer acts as iron, which is hard and cold, but it acts as a fire. And, if it touches anything, whatever it touches, will be burned because it now acts as fire.

So by associating with Krishna through devotional service, we become Krishna-ize. He is the purest of the pure. So we become purified by associating with Him. And the result is that we become eligible to enter the kingdom of God, to go back home, back to Godhead. Because once we are purified, we are actually as pure as Krishna, the purified living entity is as pure as Krishna, and he can serve Him. To serve the pure, you have to become pure. But the mercy of the process of devotional service is such that even if one is not pure, he can engage in devotional service, sādhana-bhakti. And by such service, he will become purified. And when he is purified, he is naturally promoted to the platform of prema-bhakti. And then, he is qualified to enter the kingdom of God and serve Krishna directly. So, we always hear and say that Srila Prabhupada has given us everything. But the fact is, he has. And perhaps the reason we say it so often is because we have a tendency to doubt, whether he actually did give us everything, or whether we have to supplement what he gave us with something else. And then when we think, Well maybe he didn’t give us everything, then we think, Well, we have to go here and there and get this from, get this or that, and then we become distracted or diverted. And I didn’t think, when I began to speak that I would come to the conclusion that Prabhupada gave us everything but the conclusion follows naturally from the facts and it is true. So we should accept the great gift that Srila Prabhupada has given us, cherish it, worship it, and realize its value. And when we fully realize its value, we will go back home, back to Godhead. Hare Krishna.

Before I ask for questions, I will just mention one little thought I had about the kirtan in the morning led by Raghupati Pran Prabhu puja. Well, those of you who are here know that there was a lot of ecstatic singing and dancing and jumping. And it reminded me of one kirtan that the devotees had in Bombay right after Srila Prabhupada entered the agreement for the Juhu land and was ready to leave. We were at the airport actually and Srila Prabhupada was ready to leave for Australia or some place. And I believe, I don’t know, somehow the airport gave Srila Prabhupada a room. So Srila Prabhupada and the devotees were in the room and I think even Mrs. Nair was there. Because Prabhupada said to her, “Oh yes! Mrs. Nair, now you are becoming one of us.” But there was a very ecstatic kirtan, really jumping and dancing, very intensely. Every single person in the whole room really jumping up and down and maybe Madhudvisa Prabhu led the kirtan because he was there at the time. And after the kirtan, because we were in anxiety, what was going to happen now, Prabhupada was leaving, that this huge property and we are all completely new to India, so many big plans and everything, what are we going to do now after Srila Prabhupada goes? But at the end of the kirtan Srila Prabhupada said, “If you go on having kirtans like this, your project will be a success. So I thought the same thing after the group kirtan.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Are there any questions or comments?

Well, there is a note here. I think, I should be a good follower. The note says, we should end the class at 8:15. It is already 8:30. So I think devotees who have service, probably that is the idea, obviously that is the idea that devotees have service, we will let you go. And if anyone wants to stay and discuss a little longer, I will be here. Hare Krishna.

Granthraj Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ki jaya!
Hare Krishna maha-mantra ki jaya!
Saṅkīrtana-yajña ki jaya!
Nitai-Gaura premānande, Haribol!