striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās te ’pi yānti parāṁ gatim (Bg. 9.32).
It does not matter what one is, whether a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra or a degraded woman. If one engages himself seriously in devotional service, working with body, mind and intelligence, he is sure to be successful in going back home, back to Godhead.
This verse is very important for us to understand how devotional service to the personality of Godhead can bring everyone back to Godhead. It doesn’t matter from whatever position one comes. In other words one can take steps toward going back to Godhead regardless of his nature or social character. By performing devotional service one will gradually attain perfection.
Back to Godhead means liberated from material life, which is full of suffering. According to Vedic Scripture, there are four main goals of human society: religiousity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. People who do not believe in God have different ideas. They think that being human and honest is enough to get economic development and sense gratification and therefore there is no need of God.
But, as Srila Prabhupada mention;
It is generally found that even if two men have the same moral standards of ethics, honesty and morality, their positions are still not the same. Similarly, in economic development it is seen that if two men work very hard day and night, still the results are not the same. One person may enjoy great opulence without even working, whereas another person, although working very hard, does not even get two sufficient meals a day. Similarly, in the matter of sense gratification, sometimes one who has sufficient food is still not happy in his family affairs or sometimes is not even married, whereas another person, even though not economically well off, has the greatest opportunity for sense gratification. Even an animal like a hog or a dog may have greater opportunities for sense gratification than a human being. Aside from liberation, even if we consider only the preliminary necessities of life — dharma, artha and kāma (religion, economic development and sense gratification) — we will see that they are not the same for everyone. Therefore it must be accepted that there is someone who determines the different standards. In conclusion, not only for liberation must one depend on the Lord, but even for ordinary necessities in this material world. SB Purport 4.21.30
We have to depend on the Lord that is the way how we will success in life, Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam: by discharging one’s prescribed duty, one can become very successful in life if he simply satisfies the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The human life is mean to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Viṣṇur ārādhyate panthāḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 3.8.9).
Somehow or other to attain success in life one has to satisfy the Supreme Lord. According to the Vedas there are two steps for the conditioned soul to gradually become expert. First one must practice sadhana Bhakti or orientation toward Bhakti, then gradually by training and associating with the saintly Vaisnava, he will attain the liberated stage of realizing that he is not the body but is spirit soul. Next he will become aware of his eternal position as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. As such he will naturally offer devotional service to the Supreme Lord. This is mentioned clearly by Srila Prabhupad in the Bhagad Gita.
As will be seen in Bhagavad-gītā, actual devotional service begins after liberation. After one is liberated, when one is situated in the Brahman position (brahma-bhūta), one’s devotional service begins (samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām). No one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by executing karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, aṣṭāṅga-yoga or any other yoga independently. By these yogic methods one may make a little progress toward bhakti-yoga, but without coming to the stage of devotional service one cannot understand what is the Personality of Godhead. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is also confirmed that when one becomes purified by executing the process of devotional service, especially by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā from realized souls, then he can understand the science of Kṛṣṇa, or the science of God. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ. When one’s heart is cleared of all nonsense, then one can understand what God is. (Bg purport 9.2)
Before being able to satisfy The Lord of course, we have to know who is God. This means the conditioned soul must undergo Sadhana, then Bhakti, and then we can serve the Supreme Lord. In this connection the welfare of society will depend on how people understand the science of God. As we understand from the authority of the acharya, realization of God is understood in three steps….one is Brahman, then Paramatma (Who is present in everyone’s heart) and finally Bhagavan. Mayavadis accept The Lord in the Brahman feature or the impersonal aspect. The mystic yogi accepts The Lord as the localized Paramatma and the devotees accept The Lord as Bhagavan also known as Govinda and Krishna. The supreme Lord is situated in His supreme spiritual abode with innumerable expansions, forms and pastimes. Krishna is known as the original form Who possesses the highest supreme qualities and opulence. He is addressed in the Vedas as follows:
namo brahmaṇya-devāya
go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca
jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya
govindāya namo namaḥ
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.19.65)
Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the prime protector of brahminical culture and the cow. Without knowing and respecting these, one cannot realize the science of God, and without this knowledge, any welfare activities or humanitarian propaganda cannot be successful.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the Lord does not need to work to achieve material gain. Since He is perpetually supremely perfect, He does not need to obtain anything, but still it is said that He obtained His opulences by worshiping the lotus feet of the brāhmaṇas. These are His exemplary actions. and then;
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura also says, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ: by satisfying the senses of the spiritual master, one can satisfy the senses of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus this behavior is not only mentioned in scriptures but also followed by ācāryas. Pṛthu Mahārāja advised his citizens to follow the exemplary behavior of the Lord Himself and thus engage in the service of brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. (SB purport, 4.21.39)
By engaging in the service of the Brahmanas and the Vaisnava one can develop devotional service, knowledge and renunciation. As mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam, by associating with the sages, Sri Narada got the taste for hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, and he developed a great desire for devotional service.
Nārada was actually a son of a maidservant. He had no opportunity to go to school. He was simply assisting his mother, and fortunately his mother rendered some service to the devotees. The child Nārada also got the opportunity and simply by association achieved the highest goal of all religion. The highest goal of all religion is devotional service, as stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje). (Bg 9.2)
The conclusion is that to understand Krishna we need the association of the Brahmanas and the Vaisnavas, and we need to render service to them. Let us continue to discover how we can get the association of the Vaisnavas and learn their culture through serving them. There is a common word in the Vaisnava community called Sanatana Dharma or the eternal Dharma which is the life style and culture of all Vaisnavas.
In the scriptures dharmyam means ” the path of religion”. Religion is meant for self realization and devotional service (Bhakti) to the Supreme Lord. The Vaisnava who is expert in this science of Bhakti achieves perfection of religion. One who is not yet expert will gradually come toward perfection because he lives in the association of Vaisnavas in the community of Vaisnavas and then experiences the culture of Sanatana Dharma.
We can easily understand this principal through definitions of Dharma.
Dharma is the eternal art of how to serve the Supreme Lord. This already exists as the eternal nature of the soul or jiva. Either we are in the material world or the spiritual world, in conditional stage or liberated stage. Dharma is always an aspect of the jiva or soul. There are two aspects of Dharma known as Bhagavat Dharma and Varnashram Dharma. Bhagavat Dharma is service to the Supreme Lord and Varnashram Dharma refers to the prescribed duties of the four social orders and four spiritual orders of life. The Vaisnava community is engaged in both. The combination of the above as well as the instructions of the previous Acharyas is called Daivi Varnashram.
In Bhagavad-gītā (18.46) it is said:
yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṁ
yena sarvam idaṁ tatam
sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya
siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ
“By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, man can, in the performance of his own duty, attain perfection.”
According to the story,all the great kings in the Bhagavatam were able to make kingdoms very opulent because they implemented both forms of Dharma. Prithu Maharaj instructed his assembly in this way.
SB 4.21.25 — Pṛthu Mahārāja continued: Therefore, my dear citizens, for the welfare of your king after his death, you should execute your duties properly in terms of your positions of varṇa and āśrama and should always think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within your hearts. By doing so, you will protect your own interests, and you will bestow mercy upon your king for his welfare after death.
Nowadays, because Vaisnava behavior is lacking, society is collapsing.
“…In modern times, since the protection of the government or the king has been withdrawn, social order has practically collapsed. No one knows who is a brāhmaṇa, who is a kṣatriya, who is a vaiśya or who is a śūdra, and people claim to belong to a particular social order by birthright only. It is the duty of the government to reestablish social order in terms of occupational duties and the modes of material nature, for that will make the entire world population actually civilized. (SB purport 4.21.22)
So it is very important to re-establish these four social orders of Brahmana, Kshatriyas, Vaisya and Sudra and the four spiritual orders of Brahmacary,Grihasta, Vanaprasta and Sanyasi because this is the eternal system made by Lord Krishna Himself to help all fallen souls.
cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ
guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ
tasya kartāram api māṁ
viddhy akartāram avyayam
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. Bg 4.13
Krishna and His devotee are very compassionate to all living entities by re-establishing this community of Vaishnavas known as Daivi Varnashram, and then the entire world can become Vaisnavas. One Vaisnava can help thousands of fallen souls and thus the whole world can become liberated and attain eternal happiness. This can solve the problem distinctions of classes in society.
As Srila Prabhupad said this can bring about a real classless society because in executing prescribed duties of life , no one is higher or lower. There are such divisions as “higher” and “lower,” but since there is actually a common interest — to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead — there are no distinctions between them.
All glories to all the Vaisnavas who can give proper instruction, who always remain satisfied without lust and greed, who are always merciful and compassionate by seeing to the prime interest of everyone, who can fulfill all desire, who can deliver all fallen souls, who are the representatives of the Supreme Lord, who have acquired all good qualities, who are endowed with all opulence by the grace of The Lord and who are the dearest to The Lord.
vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
Hare Krishna
Gunaavatara dasa
**edit by Kala Dasa Prabhu
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