Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.7.35
mainam pārthārhasi trātum
SYNONYMS
mā enam — never unto him; pārtha — O Arjuna; arhasi — ought to; trātum — give release; brahma-bandhum — a relative of a brāhmana; imam — him; jahi — kill; yah — he (who has); asau — those; anāgasah — faultless; suptān — while sleeping; avadhīt — killed; niśi — at night; bālakān — the boys.
TRANSLATION
Lord Śrī Krishna said: O Arjuna, you should not show mercy by releasing this relative of a brāhmana [brahma-bandhu], for he has killed innocent boys in their sleep.
PURPORT
The word brahma-bandhu is significant. A person who happens to take birth in the family of a brāhmana but is not qualified to be called a brāhmana is addressed as the relative of a brāhmana, and not as a brāhmana. The son of a high court judge is not virtually a high court judge, but there is no harm in addressing a high court judge's son as a relative of the Honorable Justice. Therefore, as by birth only one does not become a high court judge, so also one does not become a brāhmana simply by birthright but by acquiring the necessary qualifications of a brāhmana. As the high court judgeship is a post for the qualified man, so also the post of a brāhmana is attainable by qualification only. The śāstra enjoins that even if good qualifications are seen in a person born in a family other than that of a brāhmana, the qualified man has to be accepted as a brāhmana, and similarly if a person born in the family of a brāhmana is void of brahminical qualification, then he must be treated as a non-brāhmana or, in better terms, a relative of a brāhmana. Lord Śrī Krishna, the supreme authority of all religious principles, the Vedas, has personally pointed out these differences, and He is about to explain the reason for this in the following ślokas.
Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness