Brahmanas and salaries
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Even if you say "primitive," the primitive life is very nice. Primitive life means simple life. Keeping pace with the nature's law. It is very nice. Primitive life ... It gives you anxiety-free life, and therefore, even if you take it as primitive, the saintly persons, sages, they used to live long, long years, and their brain was so sharp, because they were taking natural food, fruits, grains, and milk that helps to develop human brain for understanding subtle subject matter. So even Vyāsadeva... You have seen the picture of Vyāsadeva. He's writing books just near a cottage only. But he's writing. Nobody can create such literature. But he was leading very simple life, in a cottage. Even, say, 2,000 years ago or little more, there was Cāṇakya Paṇḍita. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, he was a brāhmaṇa, but great politician. His politics are studied even now in M.A. class. And because he was a great politician, diplomat, under his name in our India, in New Delhi, the capital, there is a neighborhood which is called Cāṇakya Purī, and all the foreign embassies are there. Your American embassy is also there. So he was a great politician. But still, he was living in a cottage. He was not accepting any salary because he was brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa cannot accept any salary. Just like you have accepted me as your ācārya, but you do not pay me any salary. This is forbidden. The teacher will not accept salary. Then he comes down to the śūdra platform. The śūdra accepts salary. "I serve you, you pay me." And the brāhmaṇa will distribute knowledge freely, and the kṣatriya will give protection to the brāhmaṇa. This is the system of Vedic system. Even in fifty years ago, education in India, there was no charges. A learned brāhmaṇa will sit down in corner of a neighborhood and all the children will come there. They will learn primary education. And the parents of the children will send, somebody will send rice, somebody will send ḍāl... Just like we are maintaining, by collecting. Not here, but in Bombay, our center is collecting and distributing.
The whole system was that. Love exchange. I give you some service; you give me something, out of your love. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti. Love means six symptoms. I give you something, you give me something. I give you something for eating, you also give me something for eating. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate, guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. If I am in trouble, I express my mind, I open my mind before you, and you also try to help me. These are the six signs of love. That is Vedic civilization. Everything exchange of love. No business, mercantile.Festival Lectures
Initiation Lectures
So a brāhmaṇa is, the qualification of brāhmaṇa is,
- satya śama dama titikṣa ārjavam
- jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyam
- brahma-karma svabhāva-jam
- [Bg. 18.42]
General Lectures
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is all-embracing. It can solve all the problems of the world—political, social, economical, religious, everything. It is all-embracing. So my request is that I am working now with my American disciples and European disciples. Why not Indians? I think in this meeting there are many young men, educated, learned scholars. Join this movement and, according to the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
- bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya janma haila yāra
- janma sārthaka kari' karo paropakāra
- [Cc. Ādi 9.41]
This is the time to do welfare activities for the whole world. They are merged into confusion, everywhere. You know that in the Western countries, the hippy movements. What are the hippies? They're also educated, coming from very rich family also, but they do not like the way of envelopment as their fathers and grandfathers liked. They have rejected. So this is the golden opportunity to preach the Kṛṣṇa cult all over the world. You are lamenting because a few yards of land has been taken away from your country as Pakistan, but if you spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the whole world will become Hindustan. There is such potency; I give you my direct perception. People are hankering after it. So long I am in India, practically I am wasting my time. Outside India, this reception is taken so seriously that every part of my moment is properly utilized.
So I have come to this university with a hope that some of you become really brāhmaṇa. The Sanskrit department is meant for brāhmaṇas. Paṭhan pāṭhan yajana yājana dāna pratigraha. A brāhmaṇa is called paṇḍita. Why? Because a brāhmaṇa must be learned. Brāhmaṇa is not called a fool. So this department, Sanskrit department, is meant for the brāhmaṇas. So I wish that some of you must join this movement, go to the foreign countries, preach this sublime cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma. There is great need.Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prof. Kotovsky: Canakya. Oh, yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He was a great politician, brāhmaṇa. And under whose name in New Delhi all the foreign embassies, they are flocked together. Yes. It is called Canakya Purī.
Prof. Kotovsky: Hm hm. Canakya Purī, yes, I know.
Prabhupāda: So this Canakya Paṇḍita was a great politician and brāhmaṇa. And as brāhmaṇa, he was vastly learned. He has got some moral instruction. They're very valuable, still going on. In India school children are taught. So this Canakya Paṇḍita, although he was prime minister, he maintained his brahminical spirit. He was not accepting any salary, yes, because for brāhmaṇas to accept salary, it is understood that he becomes a dog. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. He can advise, but he cannot accept. So he was living in a cottage, but he was prime minister. So this brahminical culture, the brahminical brain, is the standard of Vedic civilization. Just like Manu-smṛti. Manu-smṛti... You do not know. You cannot trace out the history, when Manu-smṛti was written. But Manu-smṛti is considered so perfect that it is the Hindu law. The Hindus are governed by Manu-smṛti. There was no need of passing daily a new law by the legislative assembly to adjust this social order. You see? The law given by Manu was so perfect that it can be applicable for all the time. This is perfect. Tri-kāla-jñāḥ. The word is there, tri-kāla-jñāḥ, past, present, future.1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Śūdra is serving others. Get some salary and be satisfied. That's all. He has no more culture. That is śūdra. He cannot live independently. Anyone who serves others for his livelihood, he's a śūdra. A brāhmaṇa never serves anyone, a kṣatriya never serves anyone, a vaiśya never serves anyone. A śūdra... Paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyāpi svabhāva-jam [Bg. 18.44]. They want some service: "Give me some money, sir. I am helpless." "All right, you work like this." That is śūdra
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.
Guest (2): What are your qualifications for a śūdra?
Prabhupāda: Śūdra is serving others. Get some salary and be satisfied. That's all. He has no more culture. That is śūdra. He cannot live independently. Anyone who serves others for his livelihood, he's a śūdra. A brāhmaṇa never serves anyone, a kṣatriya never serves anyone, a vaiśya never serves anyone. A śūdra... Paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyāpi svabhāva-jam [Bg. 18.44]. They want some service: "Give me some money, sir. I am helpless." "All right, you work like this." That is śūdra.
Guest (2): So in other words, all dependent employees, they're all śūdras.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the statement of the śāstra. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In the Kali-yuga everyone is śūdra."
Guest (2): :So only those who have independent means, then, would come in the...
Prabhupāda: They can be counted, yes. Because a brāhmaṇa is advised not to accept service at any circumstances. That is the injunction of the śāstra. He can take the profession of a kṣatriya or a vaiśya, but not the śūdra. That is brāhmaṇa.
Guest (2): So whoever cannot stand on his own legs as an independent businessman or landlord or whatever it be, he's a śūdra.
Prabhupāda: Yes. These are described in the Bhagavad-gītā. I have not manufactured these things. These are śāstra, that "He's brāhmaṇa,"—the qualification. "He's kṣatriya,"—qualification. "He's vaiśya,"—qualification. "He's śūdra—by qualification." And Nārada Muni says, but we have to judge by the qualification. Yasya yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ puṁso varṇābhivyañjakam, yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta tat tenaiva vinirdiśet: [SB 7.11.35] "These are the qualities of different caste. If it is found in other place, you should designate him according to the quality." Just like a man born of a brāhmaṇa family, but if he has got the śūdra qualities, then he should be śūdra. And a man born of a śūdra family, if he has got the qualities of brāhmaṇa, then he must be designated as brāhmaṇa.1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Just like we do not want money. But they are having money by so many ways. So we take their money and construct a temple. We can sit down here and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. We don't require that temple. But these rascals are accumulating money for wine and women. Take their money, some way or other, and builds a temple. And invite them, "Come and see." Give them prasādam. This is our policy. We are not constructing big, big buildings and temples for our convenience. For their convenience. This is sannyāsī.
Viṣṇujana: So there should always be programs in the temples for their welfare, not...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Viṣṇujana: ...that we live there and...
Prabhupāda: No. But we are taking it, "Now we have got very nice house, room. Let us sleep and eat."
Viṣṇujana: Then there'll be wide criticism.
Prabhupāda: That is... This is not good.
Hṛdayānanda: Prabhupāda...
Prabhupāda: You should remain always sannyāsī within. Outwardly, for others' convenience, you may do something. Similarly, we are accepting this varṇāśrama. We are not varṇāśrama; we are above varṇāśrama. But to give others facility to come to the stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this program must be done.
Hṛdayānanda: Prabhupāda, generally in colleges in the West, they charge some fee for going to the college. What is our position?
Prabhupāda: No, we don't charge any fee. There is no question of money. Because the brāhmaṇas, they'll teach free. They require money because they have to give fat salary to these rascals. But we haven't got to. And even we have to feed them, we produce our own grain. So where is the question of taking money? So therefore it is required, somebody must produce food. Then there is no necessity of money.
Hṛdayānanda: The vaiśya students will produce the food.
Prabhupāda: Yes.Prabhupāda: At least, we have got this experience in India. There are so many unemployed, educated. Because they have been educated as dog, they must find out a master. Otherwise, they have no independent power to work. Dog, unless he finds out a very nice master, it is street dog, loitering in the street.
Bhagavān: There's a report that there's so many Ph.D's who are graduating from school now that there are not enough jobs for them. So they have to take jobs as truck-driver and taxi driver.
Prabhupāda: Where?
Bhagavān: In the United States.
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: And that is supposed to be the brāhmaṇa class too, the professors. They're the educated class of people.
Prabhupāda: No, no. They are not brāhmaṇas. Those who give education in exchange of money, they are not brāhmaṇas. Just like we are lecturing, educated, educating people. We don't say that "Give us salary." We simply ask them, "Please come." Therefore we are making food. I'll give you food. I'll give you good seat. Please come and hear. We are not asking money, that "First of all pay the fees. Then you come and learn Bhagavad-gītā." We never say so. So those, these so-called teachers, they first of all set up salary, "What salary you'll give me?" That is dog's business. That is not brāhmaṇa's business. Brāhmaṇa will never ask. Brāhmaṇa is eager to give lesson only. That's all. Brāhmaṇa is eager to see that people are educated. "Take free education and be educated. Be a human being." This is brāhmaṇa's business. I came here not to ask for any money. But I want to give lesson. This is brāhmaṇa's business.
Bhagavān: Today the priests are afraid to speak too strongly or else they will be fired and get no salary.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Bhagavān: Today the priests, they are afraid to speak.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Bhagavān: Or like the politicians, they are afraid to speak because they are afraid that they will be voted out or get no more money to support their...
Prabhupāda: Yes. They're after money. So they are less than śūdras. That is the cause that Christianity has fallen down, that they cannot speak straightly, or otherwise... It is straight commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." And because people are killing, they're... Now they are give man-to-man marriage, what to speak of other things. The priests, they are sermonizing this man-to-man marriage. Just see how degraded they have become. Whether any conception... At least, outside America, nobody knows that a man can be married with another man. What is this? And they're supporting it. You know that?1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Harikeśa: You once said in Vṛndāvana that the Marwaris, they don't bother going to school because they can make a lot of money by sitting by the phone and just pay a few rupees a day and any educated fool can do the work.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they do that. They are employing in their factory, big, big chemist, big, big physicist, engineer and so on, but they do not bother. They are paying thirty thousand rupees per month salary, Birla. Expert, imported from foreign country, but their sons are never troubled. They know how to utilize that worker of thirty thousand rupees per month and to earn thirty lakhs from him. Why shall he waste his time? He knows how to they earn. They pay a man thirty thousand and through him earn thirty lakhs. Actually, in order to make a balanced society, the varṇāśrama-dharma is very important, cooperation. So these things are meant for the śūdras, and brāhmaṇas are not meant for this.1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Rāmeśvara: And one thing about government that we see, at least in America, is that each time there is an election the candidates may make so many pledges, "I think I'll go this way."
Prabhupāda: No, election is going on under some rules and regulations, so you can make election under Kṛṣṇa conscious government rules and regulations. That can be done. Legislative assembly, the senators, they must be all first-class brāhmaṇas. Otherwise he cannot be elected. This is should be introduced. Unless one is following the brahminical principles, he cannot be elected. He must give up these four principles of sinful life. He should not accept any salary. Very much learned scholar in Vedic literature. Then he will be elected.
Rāmeśvara: That will happen one day.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That will guide the whole nation. The rascals, anyway, the naked and prostitute-hunter, what they can do? These third-class, fourth-class, tenth-class men are being elected. There is no happiness. There is no solution of problems. All tenth-class men. I directly challenged one gentleman that "You are all tenth-class men." Pāpa... Pāpa...Page Title: | Brahmanas and salaries |
Compiler: | Visnu Murti |
Created: | 25 of jan, 2008 |
No. of Quotes: | 19 |
Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=2, CC=2, OB=0, Lec=6, Con=8, Let=0 |