Verse 1.16.293

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.16.293:

যুগ-শেষে শূদ্র বেদ করিবে বাখানে এখনৈ তাহা দেখি, শেষে আর কেনে? ॥ ২৯৩ ॥

युग-शेषे शूद्र वेद करिबे वाखाने एखनै ताहा देखि, शेषे आर केने? ॥ २९३ ॥

yuga-śeṣe śūdra veda karibe vākhāne ekhanai tāhā dekhi, śeṣe āra kene? || 293 ||

yuga-sese sudra veda karibe vakhane ekhanai taha dekhi, sese ara kene? (293)

English translation:

(293) “It is stated that śūdras will explain the Vedas at the end of Kali- yuga. But why only at the end of the age? We can see it happening even now.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The phrase yuga-śeṣe refers to the last part of Kali-yuga. A mahā-yuga consists of the four yugas—Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali. The duration of these four yugas diminishes respectively from 4/10ths, to 3/10ths, to 2/10ths, to 1/10th of a mahā-yuga. The duration of Kali-yuga is 432,000 earth years. A manvantara consists of 71 mahā-yugas. A kalpa, or a day of Brahmā, consists of fourteen manvantaras, or the duration of fifteen Satya-yugas subtracted from one thousand mahā-yugas. This Kali-yuga comes in the twenty-eighth mahā-yuga, or cycle of four yugas, in the reign of Vaivasvata, the seventh Manu, of the Śveta-varāha-kalpa. We have only passed a few years since the beginning of Kali-yuga. It is mentioned in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (12.1.36-41, 12.2.1-16, and

12.3.31-46) that at the end of Kali-yuga the varṇāśrama principles will be completely absent. We are already experiencing the future behavior of Kali-yuga in the beginning of the age. According to the varṇāśrama

system, only the three varṇas, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, and vaiśya, are eligible to study the Vedas; and of them, only the brāhmaṇas are qualified to teach the Vedas. These three twice-born castes generally accept ten saṃskāras, or purificatory rites, but the sinful śūdras are not at all qualified to undergo the saṃskāras of the twice-born. The śūdras can never have any qualification for either studying or teaching the Vedas, but due to the influence of Kali, deviations and distortions in varṇāśrama principles are seen. Although there are deviations in varṇāśrama principles, twice-born persons still desire to increase their prestige simply by external symptoms. In the consideration of varṇa, there are three types of birth—śaukra, by semen; sāvitra, by initiation; and daikṣa, by becoming a perfect brāhmaṇa. Those who want to become twice-born through seminal birth must accept the sāvitra-saṃskāra, or sacred thread ceremony. Then, by taking Viṣṇu-dīkṣa after becoming a twice-born, one achieves the third, or daikṣa, birth. A śūdra, however, has no second or third birth. Due to wide-spread discrepancies in the practice of garbhādhāna-saṃskāra, it is more reasonable and faultless to ascertain one as a twice-born by his symptoms, nature, and āgama-dīkṣa, or Vedic initiation, rather than by seminal consideration. That is why the Vaiṣṇava consideration does not approve of seminal consideration. Though persons engaged in fruitive activities do not highly regard Vaiṣṇava considerations, the Vaiṣṇava considerations based on śāstras are the most respectable methods for ascertaining daiva-varṇāśrama principles. Since ignorant persons expert in material knowledge follow nonscriptural methods of ascertaining varṇa, the original ever-lasting method has recently become endangered. That is why sinful persons who are engaged in fruitive activities and envious of the Vaiṣṇavas become bewildered by illusion while considering who is brāhmaṇa and who is a śūdra.

In this case also, the atheistic, meat-eating, nondevotee, seminal, so- called brāhmaṇa has presented external, mundane, gross bodily considerations of Vaiṣṇavas. That fallen brāhmaṇa mistakenly and sinfully considered that since Ṭhākura Haridāsa was not born in a

brāhmaṇa family, he was completely incapable of acting as a religious instructor. Moreover, taking shelter of vivarta-vāda, the theory of illusion, that person angrily condemned the Vaiṣṇavas, who reveal purpose of the Vedas, as śūdras. Actually that atheist was himself an abominable śūdra. Godlessness, cripple-mindedness, and untruthfulness made him averse to pure Vaiṣṇavas in every sphere of his life. Although he was a fallen śūdra who proudly considered himself a brāhmaṇa, he considered a Vaiṣṇava, who is spiritual master of the brāhmaṇas, as belonging to a particular caste. In this way he committed a grave offense and went to hell. That fallen sinful śūdra, who was envious of the Vaiṣṇavas and proud of being a brāhmaṇa, must have heard descriptions of Kali-yuga stating that śūdras attentive to worldly subjects rather than the study of the Vedas will become so-called brāhmaṇas and study and teach the Vedas in Kali-yuga. But the popular statement that one can also become a brāhmaṇa through śaiva-dīkṣa, or initiation into the worship of Śiva, is not approved by Vedic literature. Rather, according to the Pañcarātras, on the strength of viṣṇu-dīkṣa, the devotees attain Vedic brahminical status. One cannot study the Vedas through śaiva-dīkṣa. This is clearly described in the Brahma-sūtra. Śrī Yāmunācārya has completely refuted the atheists’ view that “Vaiṣṇavas are not brāhmaṇas” by presenting evidence from the āgamas, authorized works of Vedic literature, as follows: “Furthermore, the bhāgavatas who have abandoned Vedic duties such as sāvitry-anuvacana (chanting the Vedic mantras that establish someone as a wearer of the sacrificial thread) and instead observe the forty saṃskāras enjoined in the Ekāyana-śruti are properly adhering to the principles enunciated in the Gṛhya-sūtras of their own branch and thus have never fallen from the status of brāhmaṇas on account of not performing the rituals of a different branch. After all, if by not following the rules of all the Vedic branches a brāhmaṇa becomes fallen, then the followers of other branches would also have to be considered fallen from brahminical status because they do not perform the rituals of other branches.” Among the devotees of South India, the

title of Āyeṅgāra (Iyengar) is still current. This Tamil word refers to a brāhmaṇa who has undergone more than five saṃskāras. The nondevotee brāhmaṇas who have undergone ten saṃskāras are known as Āyāra (Iyer). The Āyeṅgāras undergo fifteen saṃskāras. Among the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas there are five additional saṃskāras. Therefore they undergo twenty saṃskāras. In his Saṃskāra-dīpikā, which is an appendix to his Sat-kriyā-sāra-dīpikā, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī has mentioned these saṃskāras. The Vaiṣṇavas state:

svayaṃ brahmaṇi nikṣaptān jātān eva hi mantrataḥ vinītānatha putrādīn saṃskṛtya pratibodhayet

“When the guru gives mantra to his disciple according to the rules and regulations of pāñcarātrika-viddhi, then, by the influence of that mantra, the disciple never takes birth again. A humble disciple behaves with great respect for his spiritual master as if he is a son of the guru. To such a humble disciple, who has been purified by the appropriate saṃskāras, the guru teaches the meaning of the mantra.” But since the uninitiated mental speculators who are opposed to Hari, Guru, and Vaiṣṇava do not accept the Vedic and Pāñcarātrika systems, formidable errors have entered into their process of consideration. Following in the footsteps of such averse persons, this sinful fallen brāhmaṇa demonstrated the future behavior of Kali-yuga in the beginning of the age.

na śūdrā bhagavad-bhaktās te tu bhāgavatā matāḥ sarva-varṇeṣu te śūdrā ye na bhaktā janārdane

“A devotee should never be considered a śūdra. All the devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead should be recognized as bhāgavatas. If one is not a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, even if born of a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya family, he should be considered a śūdra.” It should be understood that those who disregard the above evidence of Vaiṣṇava literature have no respect for the Vaiṣṇavas or the pure devotional path; indeed, they are guru-drohī, or envious of the spiritual master.