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Everyone is Shudra by birth Sudama Seva

 Damaghosa Dasa  08/06/2018  Drops of Nectar
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Jai Srila Prabhupada

What is the Sign of Perfect

Knowledge?

Although the brāhmaṇa friend of

Lord Kṛṣṇa, Sudama, was a
householder, he was not busy
accumulating wealth for very
Lecture – Montreal, July 10, 1968                  comfortable living; therefore he
was satisfied by the income
viprad dvi-sad-guna-yutad aravinda-nabha- which automatically came to him

padaravinda-vimukhat svapacam varistham according to his destiny. This is

the sign of perfect knowledge. A
manye tad-arpita-mano-vacanehitartha-
man in perfect knowledge knows
pranam punati sa-kulam na tu bhurimanah
that one cannot be happier than
he is destined to be.
So  vipra  means one who is fully conversant with Vedic knowledge.
He is called  vipra. For spiritual elevation there are gradual –Krishna Book, Chapter 80
evolutionary stages. So  vipra  stage is just before becoming a
qualified  brahmana. That is called  vipra. The first stage, by birth
Sign the petition
everyone is  sudra.  Sudra  means affected by the miseries of this
world. He is sudra. Socati. The material condition is full of anxiety, so
anyone who is full of anxiety, he is  sudra.  So if you analyze the
present society, that who is not anxiety, full of anxiety, oh, nobody will
say that "I am not full of anxiety." "I have got so many anxieties." So
that means he is a  sudra.  Kalau sudra-sambhavah: "In this age,
Sign the petition to re-establish
everyone is sudra." That is concluded.
Srila Prabhupada’s original books

A brahmana is not afraid. He is not anxious because he is dependent

on God. He knows that "I have surrendered unto God completely, and
Daily Darshan
He is all-powerful. Therefore I have no anxiety."

So to come to this platform of confidence or Krishna consciousness,

there is training. That training is called  viddhi-marga, regulative
principles, following the regulative principles.  So this
whole  varnasrama  system, Vedic system, the different caste –
  brahmana,  ksatriya,  vaisya,  sudra,  a brahmacari, grhastha, Featured Video
vanaprastha, sannyasa  –    they are very scientifically designed to
elevate one gradually to the standard of "no fear," "fearfulness-less,"
ISKCON Ban…
Ban…
no more fear, confident. So  vipra means just the previous stage of
becoming completely a  brahmana. Janmana jayate sudrah:  "By birth
everyone is born a sudra." Samskarad bhaved dvijah: "When he goes
to the spiritual master and the spiritual master initiates him, at that
time his second birth is there, dvija." Dvija. The birds are called also
dvija because they get twice birth.
Quote for the Day
Once they come as egg, the form of birth in the egg, and then, when Can we increase the happiness
they come out from the egg and the shell, break the shell and come of our Material Life?
out, that is real life. Similarly, we are in the egg, within the shell of
In this material world, everyone is
ignorance. So when we come out from the shell of ignorance, that is
destined to suffer a certain
our second birth. The first birth is by father and mother, and the
amount of distress and enjoy a
second birth is by the spiritual master and Vedic knowledge. There certain amount of happiness.

is also mother. The Vedic knowledge is mother, and the spiritual The amount of happiness and
distress is already predestined
master is the father. So samskarad bhaved dvijah. 
for every living entity. No one can
increase or decrease the
The spiritual master trains the student gradually. That is called
happiness of the materialistic
initiation. That is called dvija. Janmana jayatesudrah: "By birth by the
way of life. The Sudama
father and mother, everyone is  sudra." It doesn't matter where he brāhmaṇa, therefore, did not
takes his birth, not that only India they are brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, exert himself for more material
sudra. Everywhere. There are ten kinds of  samskaras, happiness; instead, he used his
reformatory. This Vedic system is very scientific system to elevate time for advancement of Kṛṣṇa
the humankind to the highest perfection of life. consciousness.

–Krishna Book, Chapter 80

So samskarad bhaved dvijah. Then, when the samskara is given, when
his, the spiritual master sees that "This boy is now competent to
study Vedas…" That requires a qualification. A  sudra is not allowed Vedic Wisdom
to study Vedas. There is restriction. Sometimes they think injustice, When does Lord accept our
that "Why sudras?" That is modern convention. Actually that is very offering?
nice. What a sudra can understand Vedas? To the sudras, a different
Understanding the mind of
type of knowledge… Just like the same thing, that the two plus two in
Sudāmā Vipra, the Lord said, “My
the lower class is different from the two plus two in the higher
dear friend, I am certainly not in
mathematics. So sudra cannot understand. 
need of anything, but if My
devotee gives Me something as
So one has to become brahmana, vipra at least, dvija, twice-birth by an offering of love, even though it
initiation. Then he is allowed to study. Then he will be able to may be very insignificant, I
understand the language of… It is not injustice that sudras are not… accept it with great pleasure. On
Just like… I do not know what is the system in your country, but in the other hand, if a person is not
India, one who is not a graduate, he is not allowed to study law. If a devotee, even though he may

one, anyone wants to study law, if he wants to enter into the law offer Me very valuable things, I
do not like to accept them. I
college, then he must be a graduate first of all, at least B.A. Otherwise
actually accept only things
he cannot. So if somebody says, "It is injustice," why? "Everyone
offered to Me in devotion and
should." 
love; otherwise, however valuable
a thing may be, I do not accept
Everyone cannot understand. Similarly, without being initiated by it.”
proper spiritual master, nobody can understand. The Vedas is not
like that: you purchase a book, the Bhagavad-gita or Bhagavata, and –Krishna Book, Chapter 81
study at home, and you learn. Oh, it is not possible just like simply by
purchasing some medical books and study at home you cannot Facebook
become a doctor, medical man. That is not possible. Neither you can
become a lawyer. The books are available in the market, but that is
not the process. You have to enter yourself in an institution, take
lessons from the professors, must attend lecture classes, seventy-
five percent at least. Then you are allowed to sit in the examination.

So the gradual process… First birth is sudra, anyone. It doesn't matter.

Even if he is born of a brahmana father, he is considered a sudra. So
then, by initiation, he becomes dvija, second birth. Then he is allowed
to study the Vedic literatures, and when he is conversant with the
studies of Vedic literature, he is called  vipra. And when one has
become a  vipra  – because that is the just previous stage of
becoming a brahmana – he acquires twelve kinds of qualities. Satya-
sama-dama-titiksa.  The first quality is truthfulness. The second
quality is controlling the senses. Controlling the mind.  Sama-dama-
titiksa, to be very tolerant; arjava, very simple; full of knowledge; full of
theism;  so many qualities. These qualities are mentioned. So here
Prahlada Maharaja says,  viprad dvi-sad-guna-yutat. When one is
a vipra, that means he has got all the good qualities,  material good
qualities. He is truthful. He is conversant with the science of religion.
He knows what is God, what is Brahman. He is self-controlled. He is
not sensual. So many good qualities.
—-Conversation – Mayapura, February 14, 1977

Prabhupada: Kanistha-adhikari  (third class devotee) means he must

be a brahmana. That is kanistha-adhikari. The spiritual life,  kanistha-
adhikari, means he must be a qualified  brahmana. That is  kanistha.
What is esteemed as very high position in the material
world, brahmana, that is kanistha-adhikari. The brahmana means from
the material stage gradually he is elevated to the spiritual stage. And
below the brahmana there is no question of Vaisnava.
—-KRSNA, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chap 51 –
Deliverance of Mucukunda          

The Lord then assured King Mucukunda, "In your next life you will take
your birth as a first-class Vaisnava, the best of brahmanas, and in that
life your only business will be to engage yourself in My
transcendental service."  The  Vaisnava  is a first-class  brahmana,
because one who has not acquired the qualification of a bona
fide brahmana cannot come to the platform of a Vaisnava. When one
comes to the platform of a  Vaisnava, he is completely engaged in
welfare activities for all living entities. The highest welfare activity for
living entities is the preaching of Krishna consciousness. It is stated
herein that those who are specifically favored by the Lord can
become absolutely Krishna conscious and be engaged in the
preaching work of the Vaisnava philosophy.
—-KRSNA, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chap 52 – Krishna,
the Ranacora

Reaching the gate of Dvaraka, the brahmana informed the doorkeeper

of his arrival, and the doorkeeper led him to the place where Krishna
was sitting on a golden throne. Since the  brahmana  had the
opportunity of being Rukmini's messenger, he was fortunate enough
to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, who is the
original cause of all causes. A brahmana is the spiritual teacher of all
the social divisions. Lord Sri Krishna, in order to teach everyone the
Vedic etiquette of how to respect a  brahmana, immediately got up
and offered him His throne. When the brahmana was seated on the
golden throne, Lord Sri Krishna began to worship him exactly in the
manner in which the demigods worship Krishna.  In this way, He
taught everyone that worshiping His devotee is more valuable than
worshiping Himself.

 Krishna appeared before the brahmana and said, "My dear brahmana,

I hope that you are executing the religious principles without any
difficulty and that your mind is always in a peaceful condition."

A peaceful mind is the basis for becoming truthful, clean,

equipoised, self-controlled and tolerant.  Lord Krishna continued: "O
best of all the  brahmanas, you should always remain satisfied
because if  a  brahmana  is always self-satisfied he will not deviate
from his prescribed duties; and simply by sticking to one's prescribed
duties, everyone, especially the  brahmanas, can attain the highest
perfection of all desires.

This instruction of Krishna to the  brahmana  is very significant. The

purport is that a true  brahmana  should not be disturbed in any
situation. In this modern age of  Kali-yuga, the so-
called  brahmanas  have accepted the abominable position of
the  sudras  or less than  sudras  and still want to pass as
qualified brahmanas.
Actually,  a qualified  brahmana  always sticks to his own duties and
never accepts those of a  sudra  or of one less than a  sudra.  It is
advised in the authorized scriptures that  a  brahmana  may, under
awkward circumstances, accept the profession of a ksatriya or even
a vaisya, but never is he to accept the profession of a sudra. 

Lord Krishna declared that a brahmana should never be disturbed by

any adverse conditions of life if he scrupulously sticks to his religious
principles. In conclusion, Lord Sri Krishna said: "I offer My respectful
obeisances to the  brahmanas  and  Vaisnavas, because
the  brahmanas  are always self-satisfied, and the Vaisnavas are
always engaged in actual welfare activities for the human
society. They are the best friends of the people in general; both are
free from false egoism and are always in a peaceful condition of
mind.

CONCLUSIONS – Hare Krishna. The above statements are meant to

show us the gradual progression to perfection, from a  kali
yuga  sudra  who meets a pure devotee such as Srila Prabhupada.
These steps begin with hearing from the pure devotee, developing
some sraddha or faith in him, taking initiation from him, and then by
following the daily regulative principles one become a learned
person, or a  Vipra. After attaining this stage with further
development, one then becomes a fully qualified  brahmana  and has
no anxieties but full confidence in the Personality of Godhead.

Based upon lack of personal qualifications, the sudra typically is not

allowed to study the Vedas, not out of prejudice but because that
person just has no taste for it. This is due to the infection of the
lower modes of passion and ignorance. But when one begins to
actually serve the spiritual master, [one main reason why we chant
Hare Krishna] this attitude gives one the taste for studying the Vedas,
and then all good qualities develop in that person.

Srila Prabhupada states that a fully qualified  brahmana, a very

prestigious position in the material world, is still on the material
platform. But when this same  brahmana  begins to preach Krishna
Consciousness this distinction gradually takes him out of the
material modes of nature and then his activities become completely
spiritual or transcendental. (see above)
Finally, Lord Krishna offers His obeisances to the  brahmanas  and
the Vaisnavas. His respect and love for the brahmanas is due to their
being self-satisfied (mode of goodness) and for the Vaisnavas due to
their caring for the general welfare of all human society.

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