Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.8.6

tvam hi brahma-vidām śreshthah

samskārān kartum arhasi

bālayor anayor nrinām

janmanā brāhmano guruh

SYNONYMS

tvam — Your Holiness; hi — indeed; brahma-vidām — of all brāhmanas, or persons who understand what is Brahman (brahma jānātīti brāhmanah); śreshthah — you are the best; samskārān — ceremonies performed for reformation (because by these reformatory activities one takes one's second birth: samskārād bhaved dvijah); kartum arhasi — because you have kindly come here, kindly execute; bālayoh — of these two sons (Krishna and Balarāma); anayoh — of both of Them; nrinām — not only of Them, but of all human society; janmanā — as soon as he takes birth; brāhmanah — immediately the brāhmana becomes; guruh — the guide.*

TRANSLATION

My lord, you are the best of the brāhmanas, especially because you are fully aware of the jyotih-śāstra, the astrological science. Therefore you are naturally the spiritual master of every human being. This being so, since you have kindly come to my house, kindly execute the reformatory activities for my two sons.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.13), cātur-varnyam mayā srishtam guna-karma-vibhāgaśah: the four varnas — brāhmana, kshatriya, vaiśya and śūdra — must be present in society. The brāhmanas are required for the guidance of the whole society. If there is no such institution as varnāśrama-dharma and if human society has no such guide as the brāhmana, human society will be hellish. In Kali-yuga, especially at the present moment, there is no such thing as a real brāhmana, and therefore society is in a chaotic condition. Formerly there were qualified brāhmanas, but at present, although there are certainly persons who think themselves brāhmanas, they actually have no ability to guide society. The Krishna consciousness movement is therefore very much eager to reintroduce the varnāśrama system into human society so that those who are bewildered or less intelligent will be able to take guidance from qualified brāhmanas.

Brāhmana means Vaishnava. After one becomes a brāhmana, the next stage of development in human society is to become a Vaishnava. People in general must be guided to the destination or goal of life, and therefore they must understand Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The whole system of Vedic knowledge is based on this principle, but people have lost the clue (na te viduh svārtha-gatim hi vishnum [SB 7.5.31]), and they are simply pursuing sense gratification, with the risk of gliding down to a lower grade of life (mrityu-samsāra-vartmani). It doesn't matter whether one is born a brāhmana or not. No one is born a brāhmana; everyone is born a śūdra. But by the guidance of a brāhmana and by samskāra, one can become dvija, twice-born, and then gradually become a brāhmana. Brāhmanism is not a system meant to create a monopoly for a particular class of men. Everyone should be educated so as to become a brāhmana. At least there must be an opportunity to allow everyone to attain the destination of life. Regardless of whether one is born in a brāhmana family, a kshatriya family or a śūdra family, one may be guided by a proper brāhmana and be promoted to the highest platform of being a Vaishnava. Thus the Krishna consciousness movement affords an opportunity to develop the right destiny for human society. Nanda Mahārāja took advantage of the opportunity of Gargamuni's presence by requesting him to perform the necessary reformatory activities for his sons to guide Them toward the destination of life.

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