Brahmana by quality
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So long you will be under the concept of this body, there must be caste division. So we have to come to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then there will be no caste. Just like these boys, Americans, Europeans, Africans, Canadians, they have no caste, they have no nationality. They are simply for Kṛṣṇa. That is casteless.
Reporter: So are they brāhmaṇas?
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Reporter: (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa conscious means brāhmaṇa. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ.
Reporter: Not by birth?
Prabhupāda: Not by birth. They are brāhmaṇas by quality. They have got sacred thread. That is also there in the śāstra. Yasya hi yad lakṣaṇaṁ syat. Varṇa has been given. Varṇa. Varṇa, we want to compare symptoms. The brāhmaṇas are this: satya, samaḥ, damaḥ, titikṣa, ārjavam, jñānam vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg. 18.42]. This is the symptom of brāhmaṇa. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you find these symptoms anywhere, he is a brāhmaṇa.
Reporter: Except those who believe in Bhagavad-gītā, not (indistinct), sir. They don't believe in that. They believe caste by birth.
Prabhupāda: He does not know what is Bhagavad-gītā.
Reporter: (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: I say he does not know what is Bhagavad-gītā. If he believes in that way, that he does not know about Gītā.
Reporter: He says he's Hindu.
Prabhupāda: Maybe your Hinduism. You lick up your Hinduism. But we are creating real brāhmaṇa all over the world.
Reporter: I can see. What Lord Kṛṣṇa has stated, sir, that "I have created these four castes of āśrama..."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Reporter: And I as myself, just, as not somebody told me, just my...
Prabhupāda: Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]. Not by birth. Kṛṣṇa never says...
Reporter: (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: No, no. These four castes... Not caste. We say caste, but varṇāśrama varṇa. Varṇa. Anyway, it is division. That division, vibhāga, the exact word is "division", not "caste". How you can say caste, it is not there, difference? Division, these four divisions are there. So these divisions are not made by birth. Just like if you are a lawyer. So in the society there are lawyers, engineers, medical men, they are divisions. But these lawyers, medical men or engineers, they are not born as engineer or as lawyer. That is mistake. Anyone who is qualified by the real knowledge, he is a lawyer. Not by birth. Suppose a lawyer's son, a big, big lawyer's son, does it mean that he's lawyer?1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest (2): How do you define a brāhmaṇa?
Prabhupāda: The brain.
Guest (2): That is for a man, but...
Prabhupāda: That is for everything. The brain of the society should be brāhmaṇa.
Guest (2): By brain what do you mean?
Prabhupāda: What do you mean, that you learn. You come to our school. Then you learn. You cannot learn everything in one minute.
Guest (2): (laughs) No.
Prabhupāda: Then you just hear. Don't make yourself laughing stock.
Guest (2): No, what I mean is brāhmaṇa means by birth or by action or...
Prabhupāda: No, no. Not by birth. By action.
Guest (2): By action only.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest (2): You don't recognize brāhmaṇas by birth, then.
Prabhupāda: No no. Then how they are becoming brāhmaṇas? They are not by birth brāhmaṇa? Why don't you see yourself? They are brāhmaṇa.
Guest (2): So if there is a brāhmaṇa by birth, if he doesn't...
Prabhupāda: No, there is no brāhmaṇa by birth. That is not sanctioned by the śāstra.
Guest (2): Oh, I see. So there is no real brāhmaṇa by birth.
Prabhupāda: No. There is no... That is not sanctioned by the śāstra. That is artificial.
Guest (2): I see. So according to you...
Prabhupāda: Brāhmaṇas means by quality. He must have the brahminical quality, then he's brāhmaṇa.
Guest (2): So under these principles then, there are no brāhmaṇas in India, really, then.
Prabhupāda: Yes. At the... Not only...
Guest (2): Not all the brāhmaṇas who are supposed to be brāhmaṇas.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We... Our... This philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, according to the Bhagavad-gītā and Bhāgavata, we don't accept brāhmaṇa by birth. We accept brāhmaṇa by quality. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]. Quality and work.Correspondence
1975 Correspondence
Page Title: | Brahmana by quality |
Compiler: | Laksmipriya, MadhuGopaldas |
Created: | 16 of Dec, 2008 |
Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=3, Con=2, Let=1 |
No. of Quotes: | 7 |