Bhagavad Gita -Srila Prabhupada 197

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is -Shri Shrimad A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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Transcendental Knowledge
Chapter 4: Verse-13

cätur-varnyam mayä srstam
guna-karma-vibhägasah
tasya kartäram api mäm
viddhy akartäram avyayam[1]

TRANSLATION

According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchangeable.


PURPORT

The Lord is the creator of everything. Everything is born of Him, everything is sustained by Him, and everything, after annihilation, rests in Him. He is therefore the creator of the four divisions of the social order, beginning with the intelligent class of men, technically called brahmanas due to their being situated in the mode of goodness. Next is the administrative class, technically called the ksatriyas due to their being situated in the mode of passion. The mercantile men, called the vaisyas, are situated in the mixed modes of passion and ignorance, and the südras, or laborer class, are situated in the ignorant mode of material nature. In spite of His creating the four divisions of human society, Lord krsna does not belong to any of these divisions, because He is not one of the conditioned souls, a section of whom form human society. Human society is similar to any other animal society, but to elevate men from the animal status, the above-mentioned divisions are created by the Lord for the systematic development of krsna consciousness. The tendency of a particular man toward work is determined by the modes of material nature which he has acquired. Such symptoms of life, according to the different modes of material nature, are described in the Eighteenth Chapter of this book. A person in krsna consciousness, however, is above even the brahmanas. Although brahmanas by quality are supposed to know about Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth, most of them approach only the impersonal Brahman manifestation of Lord Krsna. But a man who transcends the limited knowledge of a brähmana and reaches the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna, becomes a person in krsna consciousness—or, in other words, a Vaisnava.krsna consciousness includes knowledge of all different plenary expansions of Krsna, namely Räma, Nrsimha, Varäha, etc. And as krsna is transcendental to this system of the four divisions of human society, a person in krsna consciousness is also transcendental to all divisions of human society, whether we consider the divisions of community, nation or species.



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References

  1. cätuh-varëyam=the four divisions of human society; mayä=by Me; srstam=created; guna=of quality; karma=and work; vibhägasah =in terms of division; tasya=of that; kartäram=the father; api=although; mäm=Me; viddhi=you may know; akartäram=as the nondoer; avyayam=unchangeable.

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