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abibhrad aryamä daëòaà

yathävad agha-käriñu

yävad dadhära çüdratvaà

çäpäd varña-çataà yamaù

SYNONYMS

abibhrat—administered; aryamä—Aryamä; daëòam—punishment; yathävat—as it was

suitable; agha-käriñu—unto persons who had committed sins; yävat—as long as;

dadhära—accepted; çüdratvam—the tabernacle of a çüdra; çäpät—as the result

of a curse; varña-çatam—for one hundred years; yamaù—Yamaräja.

TRANSLATION

As long as Vidura played the part of a çüdra, being cursed by Maëòüka Muni,

Aryamä officiated at the post of Yamaräja to punish those who committed sinful

acts.

PURPORT

Vidura, born in the womb of a çüdra woman, was forbidden even to be a party

of royal heritage along with his brothers Dhåtaräñöra and Päëòu. Then how could

 

he occupy the post of a preacher to instruct such learned kings and kñatriyas

as Dhåtaräñöra and Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira? The first answer is that even though

it is accepted that he was a çüdra by birth, because he renounced the world

for spiritual enlightenment by the authority of Åñi Maitreya and was thoroughly

 

educated by him in transcendental knowledge, he was quite competent to occupy

the post of an äcärya, or spiritual preceptor. According to Çré Caitanya

Mahäprabhu, anyone who is conversant in the transcendental knowledge, or the

science of Godhead, be he a brähmaëa or a çüdra, a householder or a sannyäsé,

is

eligible to become a spiritual master. Even in the ordinary moral codes

(maintained by Cäëakya Paëòita, the great politician and moralist) there is no

harm in

taking lessons from a person who may be by birth less than a çüdra. This is

one part of the answer. The other is that Vidura was not actually a çüdra. He

was to play the part of a so-called çüdra for one hundred years, being cursed

by Maëòüka Muni. He was the incarnation of Yamaräja, one of the twelve

mahäjanas, on the level with such exalted personalities as Brahmä, Närada,

Çiva,

Kapila, Bhéñma, Prahläda, etc. Being a mahäjana, it is the duty of Yamaräja to

preach the cult of devotion to the people of the world, as Närada, Brahmä, and

other mahäjanas do. But Yamaräja is always busy in his plutonic kingdom

punishing

the doers of sinful acts. Yamaräja is deputed by the Lord to a particular

planet, some hundreds of thousands of miles away from the planet of earth, to

take away the corrupt souls after death and convict them in accordance with

their

respective sinful activities. Thus Yamaräja has very little time to take

leave from his responsible office of punishing the wrongdoers. There are more

wrongdoers than righteous men. Therefore Yamaräja has to do more work than

other

demigods who are also authorized agents of the Supreme Lord. But he wanted to

preach the glories of the Lord, and therefore by the will of the Lord he was

cursed by Maëòüka Muni to come into the world in the incarnation of Vidura and

work very hard as a great devotee. Such a devotee is neither a çüdra nor a

brähmaëa. He is transcendental to such divisions of mundane society, just as

the

Personality of Godhead assumes His incarnation as a hog, but He is neither a

hog nor a Brahmä. He is above all mundane creatures. The Lord and His different

 

authorized devotees sometimes have to play the role of many lower creatures to

claim the conditioned souls, but both the Lord and His pure devotees are

always in the transcendental position. When Yamaräja thus incarnated himself as

 

Vidura, his post was officiated by Aryamä, one of the many sons of Kaçyapa and

Aditi. The Ädityas are sons of Aditi, and there are twelve Ädityas. Aryamä is

one of the twelve Ädityas, and therefore it was quite possible for him to take

charge of the office of Yamaräja during his one hundred years' absence in the

form of Vidura. The conclusion is that Vidura was never a çüdra, but was

greater than the purest type of brähmaëa.