There are three stages, three platforms-ignorance, passion and goodness. So simply by hearing about Kṛṣṇa, you are promoted immediately to the platform of goodness. And as soon as you come to the platform of goodness, then, tadā, at that time, rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ. Because there are three platforms: ignorance, passion and goodness. So you have come to the point, to the platform of goodness, means that you have passed over the other lower stages. If you have come to the college, that means you have passed your school stages. It is to be understood. Therefore we offer sacred thread. The idea is one who has become Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has already passed the stage of becoming a brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa means to come to the stage of goodness. That is brāhmaṇa. Kṣatriya means to remain on the stage of passion. Vaiśya means to remain on the stage of mixture, passion and ignorance. And śūdra means to remain on the stage of ignorance. There are four divisions of the three modes. So when we come to the stage of becoming a devotee, that means we have already passed all these lower stages. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ (SB 1.2.19).
Vaisya means they are situated in the mixed quality of passion and ignorance
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
In the Bhagavad-gītā, the division of the society is given there: cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). According to guṇa and according to karma, there are four classes of men. The first class men, the brāhmaṇas, because they are on the platform of goodness. Goodness means they can see. One who is qualified brāhmaṇa, he can see what is what, what is this world, what is God, what the human being... Everything is clearly prakāśa. It is called prakāśa, illumination. If one is situated in the modes of goodness, platform of goodness, he can see things as they are. Prakāśa. And the next stage is passion, productive. Productive, ruling, administrating, like that. Creation. Just like the king's royal orders, they want to conquer expansive kingdom. And next stage is mixed-up—ignorance and passion. That is the stage of vaiśyas. They want simply money, somehow or other. They do not care for anything, the vaiśya. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra. Śūdra, they are completely ignorant. They cannot produce anything, neither they have got any enthusiasm for ruling or administration. So their business is to submit to the higher classes and live peacefully. These are the divisions of the society. But all of them are required for upkeep of the society.
We ourself, the spirit soul, we are covered by this body, tri-guṇātmakam. This body means it is created by the material nature. In somebody the quality of goodness is prominent, somebody the quality of passion is prominent, and in somebody the quality of ignorance is prominent. So according to this prominence of the particular modes of nature, quality, there is division: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. Where there is prominence of the quality of goodness, that is brāhmaṇa. When there is prominence of the quality of passion, that is kṣatriya. When there is prominence of the quality of mixture—there is mixture also—that is vaiśya. And when there is quality of the prominence of ignorance, that is śūdra.
Guṇa, guṇa means these three guṇas, goodness, three modes of material nature. Everyone is trying to love one of these three guṇas: goodness, passion and ignorance. That is material existence. Somebody is trying to become brāhmaṇa, that is goodness. And somebody is trying to become a kṣatriya. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, these are under the influence of different modes of material nature. So even one is brāhmaṇa, he is also under the grip of material nature. And what to speak of one who is a śūdra or less than a śūdra. Everyone is trying to improve himself under the influence of certain modes of material nature. So when one becomes vipaścit, viveki... Vipaścit means enlightened. These, my activities under the influence of different modes of material nature, this is waste of time. Even if I become a brāhmaṇa, that is also waste of time, and what to speak of if I become a kṣatriya, passionate. Passionate... This vaiśya, this mercantile class of men, they are passionate and ignorance mixture. They are very active: "I am very running, I am very busy," but running here and there in ignorance.
So these guṇas, these material guṇas, they are also generated from the Absolute Truth. That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā also. But here everything is perverted reflection. Therefore we see in a different way it is represented. Guṇa-nāma-kriyā-rūpair vibhāvyante yathā-tatham. And those qualities, guṇa-nāma, guṇa-nāma-kriyā-rūpaiḥ, when the qualities begin to act, they are represented in different varieties, these qualities. These qualities of goodness, passion, and ignorance, when they are interacted, they represent in different varieties of representation. Just like when there is quality of goodness, then it is brahmanism. That is the representation of the quality of goodness. And when the quality of passion is represented, that is the quality of kṣatriya. And when the quality of ignorance is represented, that is the presentation of the śūdras. And mixed-up quality of ignorance and passion, that is vaiśya. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "These four qualitative representation, brāhmaṇas, kṣatriya..."
The brāhmaṇas means they are situated in the modes of material goodness, the kṣatriya means they are situated in the quality of material passion, the vaiśya means they are situated in the mixed quality of passion and ignorance, and a śūdra means who is situated in the material quality of the modes of ignorance. And those who are less than that, the śūdras, they are called caṇḍālas or śvapaca. So a brāhmaṇa is estimated the high-class man. Why? That is also materially estimation. But if he has no devotion to the Lord, then that is... That means he has no spiritual qualification. Then a person who is born in the family of dog-eaters, if he has got this bhakti, spiritual qualification, he is more than that.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
To understand Kṛṣṇa is not very easy job. Kṛṣṇa says, "Out of many millions of men, one is trying to become perfect in this human form of life." Not everyone is trying. First of all one has to become brāhmaṇa or acquire the brahminical qualification. That is the platform of sattva-guṇa. Unless one comes to the platform of sattva-guṇa, there is no question of perfection. Nobody can understand, nobody can achieve perfection on the platform of rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, because one who is addicted with rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, he is always very greedy and lusty. Tato rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye (SB 1.2.19). One who is infected with the material qualities of ignorance and passion, he is lusty and greedy. That's all. Therefore you will see, generally people are very much lusty and greedy. They are accumulating money, crores and crores; still, they are not satisfied. In Western country we see very usually. There are many, many workers, working very hard from very poor state. Just like Henry Ford, Mr. Rockefeller, they started life from a very humble state, but they accumulated immense wealth, and still, they were not satisfied. In our country also there are many Birlas and such, accumulating money, money, money. They are greedy because infected with the quality, modes of nature, ignorance and passion. Vaiśya means passion and ignorance, kṣatriya means passion, and brāhmaṇa means goodness. These are the different qualities. So one has to come to the platform of goodness. Then he has to transcend the platform of goodness, come to the pure transcendental platform, vāsudeva, sattvaṁ-viśuddham, sattva-guṇa. In this material world, sattva-guṇa is also sometimes mixed with rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. That is the nature. So one has to transcend the platform of sattva-guṇa. Śuddha-sattva. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam. That is the vasudeva platform, when Kṛṣṇa appears.
General Lectures
Goodness is the qualification, is the symbolic representation of becoming a brāhmaṇa. You have heard this name brāhmaṇa. The brāhmaṇa means qualified man in goodness. That is the brāhmaṇa. And kṣatriya means qualified man in passion, and vaiśya means qualified man in ignorance and passion, and śūdra means qualified man in ignorance. These are the natural division of human society. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find it is said, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). By the division, qualitative division and their engagement, there are four castes. You sometimes criticize that India has got caste system. Everywhere the caste system is there—everywhere, throughout the whole universe. Because the three qualities are ruling. So some of them are in goodness, some of them are in passion, some of them are in ignorance, and some of them are in mixed-up qualities. So mixed-up qualities means vaiśya, and pure goodness is brāhmaṇa, and pure passion is kṣatriya, and pure ignorance is śūdra. So these divisions you'll find everywhere throughout the universe.
We are mixing with the different types of material qualities, and as such we are developing different modes of material nature in our consciousness. This consciousness has to be cleared. This consciousness... Even our consciousness is goodness... Just like there are many people who are very charitably disposed: they want to make charity, they want to open schools, that want to open hospitals. That is goodness. That is all right. But still it is material; it is not spiritual. Similarly, there are others also who are contacting the modes of passion, just like big, big kings, they are very much anxious or very much ambitious to expand their kingdom. This is called association with the modes of passion. Similarly, there are mixture also, mixture of goodness, passion and ignorance. So according to these different types of mixture, or original quality, there are different classes of men. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). These three qualities, when one is developed in the modes of goodness, he is very intelligent or he is brāhmaṇa. When we are developed..., our consciousness is passion, that is called kṣatriya, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya. And when it is mixed up, it is called vaiśya. And when it is ignorance, it is called śūdra. These are the divisions. So here Kṛṣṇa says, "If you want to transcend these qualitative situations of material life, then you have to come to Me."
Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says,
- māṁ ca (yo) 'vyabhicāreṇa
- bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate
- sa guṇān samatītya etān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
So two sides we are trying, to define the natural division of human society. The intelligent class, the administrator class, the productive class, and the worker class. There is natural division. You cannot say that everywhere simply there are intelligent class of men. No. Because we are infected with the three kinds of the material modes. You cannot expect all men are on the same level. That is not possible. Someone is in the modes of goodness, someone is in the modes of passion, someone is in the modes of ignorance, and someone is in the modes of mixture. That is the natural division—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaisya, śūdra. Those who are purely in goodness, they are brāhmaṇa. Next to that, passion, kṣatriya. And next to that, vaiśya, mixture. And next to that, śūdra. And next to that, caṇḍāla.
| Page Title: | Vaisya means they are situated in the mixed quality of passion and ignorance |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 22 of Apr, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=9, Con=1, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 10 |