Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Madhya 15.277

uthaha, amogha, tumi lao krishna-nāma

acire tomāre kripā karibe bhagavān

SYNONYMS

uthaha — get up; amogha — Amogha; tumi — you; lao — chant; krishna-nāma — the holy name of Lord Krishna; acire — very soon; tomāre — unto you; kripā — mercy; karibe — will bestow; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

"Therefore, Amogha, get up and chant the Hare Krishna mahā-mantra! If you do so, Krishna will unfailingly bestow mercy upon you."

PURPORT

The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases — impersonal Brahman, Paramātmā and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān. All of these are one and the same truth, but Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān constitute three different features. Whoever understands Brahman is called a brāhmana, and when a brāhmana engages in the Lord's devotional service, he is called a Vaishnava. Unless one comes to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his realization of impersonal Brahman is imperfect. A brāhmana can chant the Hare Krishna mantra on the platform of nāmābhāsa, but not on the platform of pure vibration. When a brāhmana engages in the Lord's service, fully understanding his eternal relationship, his devotional service is called abhidheya. When one attains that stage, he is called a bhāgavata, or Vaishnava. This indicates that he is free from contamination and material attachment. Lord Krishna confirms this in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.28):

yeshām tv anta-gatam pāpam janānām punya-karmanām

te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā bhajante mām dridha-vratāh

"Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the duality of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination."

A brāhmana may be a very learned scholar, but this does not mean that he is free from material contamination. A brāhmana's contamination, however, is in the mode of goodness. In the material world, the three modes are goodness, passion and ignorance, and all of these are simply different gradations of contamination. Unless a brāhmana transcends such contamination and approaches the platform of unalloyed devotional service, he cannot be accepted as a Vaishnava. An impersonalist may be aware of the impersonal Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth, but his activities are on the impersonal platform. Sometimes he imagines a form of the Lord (saguna-upāsanā), but such an attempt is never successful in helping one attain complete realization. The impersonalist may consider himself a brāhmana and may be situated in the mode of goodness, but nonetheless he is conditioned by one of the modes of material nature. This means that he is not yet liberated, for liberation cannot be attained unless one is completely free from the modes. In any case, the Māyāvāda philosophy keeps one conditioned. If one becomes a Vaishnava through proper initiation, he automatically becomes a brāhmana. There is no doubt about it. The Garuda Purāna confirms this:

brāhmanānām sahasrebhyah satra-yājī viśishyate

satra-yāji-sahasrebhyah sarva-vedānta-pāragah

sarva-vedānta-vit-kotyā vishnu-bhakto viśishyate

"Out of many thousands of brāhmanas, one may become qualified to perform yajña. Out of many thousands of such qualified brāhmanas, one may be fully aware of the Vedānta philosophy. Out of many millions of learned Vedānta scholars, there may be one vishnu-bhakta, or devotee of Lord Vishnu. It is he who is most exalted."

Unless one is a fully qualified brāhmana, he cannot advance in the spiritual science. A real brāhmana is never envious of Vaishnavas. If he is, he is considered an imperfect neophyte. Impersonalist brāhmanas are always opposed to Vaishnava principles. They are envious of Vaishnavas because they do not know the goal of life. Na te viduh svārtha-gatim hi vishnum [SB 7.5.31]. However, when a brāhmana becomes a Vaishnava, there is no duality. If a brāhmana does not become a Vaishnava, he certainly falls down from the brāhmana platform. This is confirmed by Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.3): na bhajanty avajānanti sthānād bhrashtāh patanty adhah.

We can actually see that in this Age of Kali many so-called brāhmanas are envious of Vaishnavas. The Kali-contaminated brāhmanas consider Deity worship to be imaginative: arcye vishnau śilā-dhīr gurushu nara-matir vaishnave jāti-buddhih. Such a contaminated brāhmana may superficially imagine a form of the Lord, but actually he considers the Deity in the temple to be made of stone or wood. Similarly, such a contaminated brāhmana considers the guru to be an ordinary human being, and he objects when a Vaishnava is created by the Krishna consciousness movement. Many so-called brāhmanas attempt to fight us, saying, "How can you create a brāhmana out of a European or American? A brāhmana can be born only in a brāhmana family." They do not consider that this is never stated in any revealed scripture. Lord Krishna specifically states in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.13), cātur-varnyam mayā srishtam guna-karma-vibhāgaśah: "According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me."

Thus a brāhmana is not a result of the caste system. He becomes a brāhmana only by qualification. Similarly, a Vaishnava does not belong to a particular caste; rather, his designation is determined by the rendering of devotional service.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness