Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 9.20.1

sri-badarayanir uvaca

puror vamsam pravakshyami

yatra jato 'si bharata

yatra rajarshayo vamsya

brahma-vamsyas ca jajnire

SYNONYMS

sri-badarayanih uvaca -- Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said; puroh vamsam -- the dynasty of Maharaja Puru; pravakshyami -- now I shall narrate; yatra -- in which dynasty; jatah asi -- you were born; bharata -- O Maharaja Parikshit, descendant of Maharaja Bharata; yatra -- in which dynasty; raja-rishayah -- all the kings were saintly; vamsyah -- one after another; brahma-vamsyah -- many brahmana dynasties; ca -- also; jajnire -- grew up.

TRANSLATION

Sukadeva Gosvami said: O Maharaja Parikshit, descendant of Maharaja Bharata, I shall now describe the dynasty of Puru, in which you were born, in which many saintly kings appeared, and from which many dynasties of brahmanas began.

PURPORT

There are many historical instances by which we can understand that from kshatriyas many brahmanas have been born and that from brahmanas many kshatriyas have been born. The Lord Himself says in Bhagavad-gita (4.13), catur-varnyam maya srishtam guna-karma-vibhagasah: "According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me." Therefore, regardless of the family in which one takes birth, when one is qualified with the symptoms of a particular section, he is to be described accordingly. Yal-lakshanam proktam. One's place in the varna divisions of society is determined according to one's symptoms or qualities. This is maintained everywhere in the sastra. Birth is a secondary consideration; the first consideration is one's qualities and activities.

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