Duties of Daiva Varṇāśrama BG 18.44 | Rus Split | Moscow | 11.12.92 | Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī Mahārājā

Om Jñānātma Nandasya Jñānāñjanaśalakya Chakṣurme letāñyena tasmāśrī-gurave namah. Śrī Caitanya Manovastam sapitam yenabhūtale swayam rūpakadāmayāṁ dadāti svāpadaṇṭhikam. Bande ham śrī-guru śrī-utāpada-kamlaṇ śrī-guruṇvaishnava-nāśa. Śrī-rūpaṁ sakraja-tam sahagana-raghunātāṇvatam tam sajivam. Sadveitam savodhūtam prajñanāsāitam kṛṣṇa Caitanya-deva. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Krishna-karma-svabhāva-jam parīcayātmakam karma— Generally, in verses that don't have a purport, we do not comment. But since we only have 35 minutes more for the class to end, we are commenting on this and not taking on, uh, text 46, which is 2 verses after this one with a purport. In this section of the Bhagavad Gita, we're getting a glimpse of the duties of the different varnas. Chatur varna maya śrīṣṭham guna-karma-vibhāgasaḥ. Kṛṣṇa says in the 4th chapter, society must be divided into 4 social and spiritual orders, varna and āśrama. The varnas are the occupations and the āśramas are the spiritual orders of life. The occupations are brahmin, śātya, vāiśya, śudra, and the āśramas are Brahmachari grihastha vanaprastha sannyasa. So in the previous verses, Krishna has explained to us the duties of the brahmanas and the kshatriyas. In the Bhagavatam, it is said that just like for a body to be healthy, there must be the hand, the head and the hand, and the belly and the legs. Similarly, for a society to be peaceful and successful, the four varnas must be present. The Brahmanas have been compared to the head of the body. Why? Because the head is the most important part of the body. You have seen people without hand, legs, eyes, even with one kidney, da? But have you ever seen anyone walking on the road without a head? Have you seen? Da? No, there's no such thing. You can't walk, you're dead. The moment you lose your head, you're dead. So similarly, the moment there are no Brahmanas in society, the society is dead. So even though everybody is running, flying, living high, it is from a spiritual angle a dead society. And the Kshatriyas, they are compared to the arms of the body. What do you do with your arms? You protect, you defend yourself, and you do administration. Then the Vaishyas, they are compared to the belly. What do you put in the belly? You don't put nuts and bolts in the belly, do you? No, you put food in the belly. So that is the business of the Vaishya, to produce food. And the Sudra is compared to the leg of the body. Just like the leg supports the other parts of the body, the Sudra supports the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas. So the Vaishya, according to Lord Shri Krishna, he must look after three things: farming, cow protection, and business. If these three things are taken care properly farming, cow protection, and business, then there will be no problem in society today. Just like in your country now, the crime rate is going up so much. Why? Because food— projecti itai ochindorga— food is very expensive. People don't have money to— because food is so expensive now, so in order to get money to eat and to live, people have to rob, they have to kill, they do so many other criminal activities. And why is food so expensive? First of all, there's a food shortage. Then nobody is looking after the cows. And those who do business, they have no ethics. Their only ethic is beg, borrow, steal, but make money. Therefore, you see the mafia population expanding rapidly because people have no ethics in life now. So farming is an art. And farming is an art because farming acknowledges the role of nature. Maya dakshina prakrati suhitesa characharam. Krishna explained, this material nature is working under my direction. So this material nature, nature that gives you water, nature that gives you sun, nature that gives you the moonshine, the, the stars, all this is running under somebody's control. Because society today is so sinful, we see the natural calamities are always taking place. Sometimes there are floods, sometimes there is drought, and because of these natural disturbances, there is no cooperation from material nature, and in the end, there's no food production, there's less food production. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, annādh-bhāvanī-bhūtānī-prajñanānā-sambhavā, that is, food grains come from rainfall. Rainfall comes from sacrifice. Sacrifice means execution of religious duty. So if we do not execute religious duties, then there will not be proper rainfall. And when there's no proper rainfall, you cannot have agricultural production. You can have all the chemicals at your disposal, if you don't have proper rainfall, these chemicals cannot help you at all. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Queen Kunti offers a very nice prayer to the Lord. She says, my dear Lord, the fields are full of grains, The trees are full of fruits, the oceans and the mountains are full of minerals and diamonds, but all this is due to your merciful glance. Because the merciful glance is there, therefore all these things are there. So how do you get this merciful glance? What is the secret to getting this merciful glance? The secret to getting merciful glance is surrendering to the Lord. So the Vaishyas, They are expert in taking care of spiritual farming. So spiritual farming is different from just farming, because in farming you just employ modern scientific methods, try and exploit the earth to give you as fast as you— as it can, as much grains as possible. Just like when you have a choice, you would prefer eating natural food items. So the earth also would like to take natural ingredients— rainfall, cow dung. Even modern scientists have concluded that these chemicals that the so-called scientists have invented, they may give some temporarily high agricultural output, but in the long run it destroys the soil. So, um, spiritual farming means you glorify the Lord and live by the teachings of the Lord. Actually, the whole Varnashram system is actually known as Daiva Varnashram. Daiva Varnashram means Varnāśrama for the purpose of pleasing the Lord. Deiva varnāśrama means that does not matter whether you are grihastha or sannyāsi or brahmachari or a brahmin or sudra, your focal point is Kṛṣṇa. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is said that, um, varnāśrama ca tā vātapuruṣena para pūrmaṇ viṣṇur aradhate. It does not matter which varna or āśrama you may belong to, but the important point is that Kṛṣṇa should be the focal point. So we have to make Kṛṣṇa the focal point. Just like you may decorate yourself very nicely in nice suits, you may have a nice garland on your body, but if you are not, if you haven't fed your stomach, then what is the use? Just like Prabhupāda used to give the story There's a man who was being drowned. Another man dived in, just saved his cap and coat, came out, and he was boasting to the whole town, "I saved this drowning man. Look at his hat, look at his coat." But then one intelligent man came and said, "Listen, you fool, the man is drowned. All he brought back is just his coat and his, uh—" You may have a very nice golden cage for a bird, you may shine the cage, But if you do not feed the bird, then what use is that cage? So similarly, the varnasram system, it is an, it is an attempt to bring everyone to the point of surrendering to the Lord. It is not some mundane division of society. Mundane division will fail. So the division has to be on the basis of quality, but always with the goal being to serve the Lord. So according to the Vedic system, The farmers must also be devotees of the Lord. And when the farmers are devotees of the Lord, there is no food shortage, there is no black marketing of food, there's plenty of food. But when the farmers are not God conscious, then everyday food prices go up. And so many people are starving all over the world because material nature is not cooperating. Just like in the Srimad Bhagavatam, you have the wonderful story of King Vena and King Pritu. King Vena was a godless king who did not believe in the supremacy of God. He considered himself to be as good as God. So as a result of his godless tendencies, the whole society became unhappy, and in the end, King Vena was cursed to die by the Brahmanas. His son, King Prithu, became the king later. When King Prithu became the king, all the citizens came to him and said, King, we are all hungry and we are your subjects. Just like at Red Square, they used to— sometimes they have big demonstrations. So all the citizens went into a big demonstration in front of the king's palace. They said, give us food to eat, clothing to wear, house to stay. The king said, I have nothing and there's nothing I can do, but if you chant the names of God then all your natural necessities will be supplied. So all the citizens went back to their homes and started chanting the names of God. When they started chanting the names of God, all the natural necessities of life were provided. So this is the secret to economic prosperity— keeping God in the center. The people of your country were thinking if they change over from communism to capitalism, there will be economic prosperity. But that is not the medium. The medium is injecting God in the center. Then the verse says the Vaishyas, they also do cow protection. So the cows must be protected. Go brahmanahinsakare. Though Krishna, he takes care of the cows and the brahmanas. The cows are very dear to the Lord. The cow is considered the most innocent of all animals. The cow gives you milk, and what does it take in exchange? Little bit of grass. So according to the Vedic society, The cow must be protected. A society that kills the innocent cow, a society that kills children in the womb through abortions, can never be peaceful. Today you see everything evil, the suffering in society rapidly increasing. Why is everything increasing? Because God is not in the center. The innocent cow is being slaughtered, innocent children are being killed. Hence there is calamity after calamity. Even in countries like India where they have a law that cow cannot be killed, unfortunately, to make money, so much cow slaughter is going on. So this Krishna Consciousness movement is establishing the importance of cow protection. Cow, as we said, is completely innocent. Even the stool of the cow is used for very practical purposes. The stool of the cow It's also used for cooking. Even in Mayapur in India, where our world headquarters is, their cooking is done on gobar gas plants from the stool of the cow, known as cow dung. So cow dung possesses antiseptic qualities, and in Ayurvedic science, even for many diseases, cow dung is applied. And the urine of the cow, even that contains antiseptic quality. In Ayurvedic medicine, so many times doctors prescribe drinking cow's urine because cow's urine has many good qualities for many diseases. It is very good. And when the cow dies a natural death, then the skin can be used to make mudangas. Mudangas are not made with cows killed, but cows that die a natural death. So the cows must be protected, the cows must be given love. And then the cow will give you unlimited food, milk. And milk is the most perfect food. We all grew up on milk because milk is the most perfect food. It's a— there's a strange irony I will tell you about this. If you go to Canada and America, everywhere they have big, big advertisements, drink milk, the most perfect food. Just like in your country, I see there are many signs of Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola advertisements. So there they have many advertisement, big advertisement campaign for milk. Drink milk, the most perfect food. Yes, milk is the most perfect food, but after you get the milk, you, you crooks, you slaughter the cow. Prabhupada used to say that cow's milk is very good for even developing good intelligence. Buffalo milk will make your brain intelligence dull, but cow's milk will make your intelligence very sharp. So the cow must be protected. This is, uh, so this Krishna Consciousness movement, when Prabhupada started this Krishna Consciousness movement, he also established farm communities all over the world. In America, when the first farm community was opened in New Vrindavan, so there were many, many cows. So devotees experienced that in the beginning, when the cows are brought on the field, when they would go to touch the cow, the cows would run away out of fear. But then when they saw that the devotees were patting the cows, playing with the cows, treating the cows like children, then the cows became so happy and they started giving so much milk because the devotees were not beating the cows but treating the cows with love. So when you take care of the cows with love, the cow will reciprocate. But otherwise, the cow is always scared of coming next to you. Because the cruel society is slaughtering them. In fact, society today is so cruel that to keep milk prices high, they are slaughtering thousands of cows. Few years ago, I was in Poland, and at that time they told me the government had decided to slaughter thousands and thousands of cows. Why? Because the milk prices were getting too low, so they wanted to reduce the milk production And to reduce the milk production, they have to slaughter the cow. This is cruel society. That is, for our economic well-being, we are ready to kill the other people, no problem. This is the tragedy of our society. Just like in many parts of the world, by God's arrangement, there is enough land to provide food to the whole planet, but they will not use all the land for food production. We find that the politicians are talking about Overpopulation, overpopulation, overpopulation. So they are saying kills people because too many people means we'll have a lower standard of living. But actually, if we were to cultivate the land just in 4 countries— America, Canada, Australia, Argentina— these 4 countries alone have enough land to feed the whole world. They can produce enough food for the whole world. But they won't do it. They will throw the grains in the river, but they won't sell it in the market. Why? Because capitalism says if there's more supply, then price will come down. So this is when business is done by those who do not know the importance of Daiva Vanaashram. When God is not the focal point, the goal of business is just exploiting each other. When God is the focal point, then They are spiritual values that guide our conduct. So farming, cow protection, and business are the natural qualities or activities of the Vaishya. And for the Sudra, labor and service to the other three varnas. Sudra must serve the Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaishya. But what is the problem today? Everybody is a Sudra, but they are pretending that they are Brahmin and Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. But it's kalau sudras sambhava, all sudras are there. So when the sudra pretends that he's Brahmana, then it's a disaster. So for the sudras, Lord Caitanya has prescribed a very simple medicine. Hare Nam, Hare Nam, Hare Nam eva kevalam. Kalau nasteva nasteva nasteva eva kathira neta. Chant the holy names, chant the holy names, chant the holy names. This is the medium for everyone in this age. So briefly, what we have discussed are the duties of the Vaishya and the Sudra. And in the 18th chapter, Krishna also explains the duties of the Brahmanas and the Kshatriyas. Now, we had also said that there are 4 ashramas, but unfortunately there's not much time left, so we'll discuss that on another occasion. Hare Krishna. So there are 4 minutes left. I can take some questions related to the verse that we discussed. Not anything under the sun. And how can one determine if one is Vaishnava, Śrīla Prabhupāda? You determine that by your tendencies, what type of work you're attached to. And you can take the help of Vaishnava sadhu and guru to determine. Actually, when you're serving Krishna, it doesn't matter what type of work you're engaged in. Even if you're working for Krishna sweeping the floor, It is very good. When you're serving Kṛṣṇa, it doesn't matter whether you're serving as a sweeper or as a priest. Any other question? Are these, these 4 varnas present everywhere, or it differs from planet to planet? Well, these— so this is for this planet. Actually, everything that Kṛṣṇa has given us is transcendental knowledge. It's in all the planets, but we are not talking about the spiritual planets. We're talking about all the material planets. If one is poor and according to his karma, not subject to become wealthy, and what, can he make a commitment with Krishna so, you know, to become wealthy? Yes, I mean, this is between you and Krishna. You can try your best. Actually, you are wealthy. You are the real millionaires of your country because you have taken to Krishna consciousness. Everyone who takes the Krishna consciousness is wealthy, and one who doesn't take the Krishna consciousness is poverty-stricken. Hare Rama. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rama Hare Hare.