Nobody wants to be a sudra?

[Guest guest]

>MOST of us are sudras. That's a fact, isn't it? So what is the big problem

>with being a sudra then?

 

It is quite common to talk about shudra as varna based on the type of

work/type of payment alone. However it is not how Srila Prabhupada usually

defines it in relation to devotees.

 

Take Prabhupadas presentation - in most cases he will define brahmana or

shudra categories by QUALITIES not by type of employment.

 

Also being a devotee (worship Krsna, take krsna-prasadam, chant, read,

write, preach about Krsna) is a to be brahmana by action.

 

SB 1. 2. 20

<<And others, who are not in the mode of goodness, are either ksatriyas,

vaisyas, sudras or less than the sudras. The brahminical stage is the

highest stage of human life because of its good qualities. So one cannot be

a devotee unless one at least qualifies as a brahmana. The devotee is

already a brahmana by action. But that is not the end of it.>>

 

Here Prabhupada actually defines that it is not the goal to be brahmana. But

the beginning of the progress in bhakti-marga.

 

<<As referred to above, such a brahmana has to become a Vaisnava in fact to

be actually in the transcendental stage. A pure Vaisnava is a liberated soul

and is transcendental even to the position of a brahmana. >>

 

 

When one does sudra work for Krishna he is not that his goal is to remain

shudra as he is (by qualities and birth) but to change his guna and karma.

Whole process of bhakti yoga (starting from gudupadasraya, diksha, etc) is

meant for changing ones guna and karma. It should include the work one is

doing (otherwise this work is the waste of time and why spiritual master

should engage ones disciples in such a work?)

 

If one is labeled as sudra why he should try to improve? I don't think that

devotees who are working in you factory are shudras. They work there not

just for payment. Sadhu-sanga and guru-seva are their actual motivations.

 

So if we separate the issue of (1) type of work/payment with (2) shudra by

svabahava (gunas/birth/association/social position/rights/samskaras) we can

see that first is perfectly acceptable by a devotee (and can change to other

occupation with time or even be combined with brahminical work in the same

period of time) where as labeling one with 'shudra' label will imply that

person designated by the spiritual master as shudra and this is an

unfortunate situation.

 

As Srila Prabhupad said: <<Everyone is born a sudra, a foolish. Sudra means

a foolish man who simply laments. That is the real meaning of sudra. Anyone

who has no intelligence, he is sudra. We also generally say, gadah, less

intelligent. So brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas, ... Brahmana, first-class

because his intelligence is first-class. Ksatriya, his intelligence is

second-class. Vaisya, his intelligence is third-class. And sudra means

fourth-class.>>

 

Even BG 9.32 refers that sudra other less intelligent (by guna and karma)

can BECOME devotees. Srila Prabhupada was giving dvija-diksha even to

ladies. So that is the meaning -- to be transformed as bell metal is

transformed by the alchemical process.

 

So in training and social definition I don't think that this definition of

being shudra can be used towards the devotees (person may think that he is

shudra, but to label others is quite dangerous). That is my humble opinion.

 

 

ys ccd