BY QUALIFICATION, NOT BY BIRTH

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SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM 5.4.13 T The Characteristics of Rsabhadeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

TRANSLATION BY HIS DIVINE GRACE AC BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA

yaviyamsa ekasitir jayanteyah pitur adesakara maha-salina maha-srotriya

yajna-silah karma-visuddha brahmana babhuvuh.

 

SYNONYMS

yaviyamsah--younger; ekasitih--numbering eighty-one; jayanteyah--the sons of

Jayanti, the wife of Rsabhadeva; pituh--of their father; adesakarah--following

the order; maha-salinah--well behaved. well cultured; maha-srotriyah--extremely

learned in Vedic knowledge; yajna-silah--expert in performing ritualistic

ceremonies; karma-visuddhah--very pure in their activities;

brahmanah--qualified brahmanas; babhuvuh--became.

TRANSLATION

In addition to these nineteen sons mentioned above, there were eighty-one

younger ones, all born of Rsabhadeva and Jayanti. According to the order of

their father, they became well cultured, well behaved, very pure in their

activities and expert in Vedic knowledge and the performance of Vedic rituals.

Thus they all became perfectly qualified brahmanas.

PURPORT

From this verse we have good information of how the castes are qualified

according to quality and work. Rsabhadeva, a king, was certainly a ksatriya. He

had a hundred sons, and out of these, ten were engaged as ksatriyas and ruled

the planet. Nine sons became good preachers of Srimad-Bhagavatam

(maha-bhagavatas), and this indicates that they were above the position of

brahmanas. The other eighty-one sons became highly qualified brahmanas. THESE

ARE SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW ONE CAN BECOME FIT FOR A CERTAIN TYPE OF

ACTIVITY BY QUALIFICATION, NOT BY BIRTH. ALL THE SONS OF MAHARAJA RSABHADEVA

WERE KSATRIYAS BY BIRTH, BUT BY QUALITY SOME OF THEM BECAME KSATRIYAS, AND SOME

BECAME BRAHMANAS. NINE BECAME PREACHERS OF SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM

(BHAGAVATA-DHARMA-DARSANAH), WHICH MEANS THAT THEY WERE ABOVE THE CATEGORIES OF

KSATRIYA AND BRAHMANA.