Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 9.15.10

tad viditva munih praha

patnim kashtam akarashih

ghoro danda-dharah putro

bhrata te brahma-vittamah

SYNONYMS

tat -- this fact; viditva -- having learned; munih -- the great sage; praha -- said; patnim -- unto his wife; kashtam -- very regrettable; akarashih -- you have done; ghorah -- fierce; danda-dharah -- a great personality who can punish others; putrah -- such a son; bhrata -- brother; te -- your; brahma-vittamah -- a learned scholar in spiritual science.

TRANSLATION

When the great sage Ricika returned home after bathing and understood what had happened in his absence, he said to his wife, Satyavati, "You have done a great wrong. Your son will be a fierce kshatriya, able to punish everyone, and your brother will be a learned scholar in spiritual science."

PURPORT

A brahmana is highly qualified when he can control his senses and mind, when he is a learned scholar in spiritual science and when he is tolerant and forgiving. A kshatriya, however, is highly qualified when he is fierce in giving punishment to wrongdoers. These qualities are stated in Bhagavad-gita (18.42-43). Because Satyavati, instead of eating her own oblation, had eaten that which was meant for her mother, she would give birth to a son imbued with the kshatriya spirit. This was undesirable. The son of a brahmana is generally expected to become a brahmana, but if such a son becomes fierce like a kshatriya, he is designated according to the description of the four varnas in Bhagavad-gita (catur-varnyam maya srishtam guna-karma-vibhagasah [Bg. 4.13]). If the son of a brahmana does not become like a brahmana, he may be called a kshatriya, vaisya or sudra, according to his qualifications. The basic principle for dividing society is not a person's birth but his qualities and actions.

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