TRANSLATION

Srila Suta Gosvami said: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto that great sage [Sukadeva Gosvami] who can enter the hearts of all. When he went away to take up the renounced order of life [sannyasa], leaving home without undergoing the sacred thread ceremony, his father, Vyasadeva, cried out to him, "Oh, my son!" Indeed, only the trees echoed in response to the begrieved father.

The institution of varna and asrama prescribes many regulative duties to be observed by its followers. Such duties enjoin that a candidate willing to study the Vedas must approach a bona fide spiritual master and request acceptance as his disciple. The sacred thread is the sign of those who are competent to study the Vedas from the acarya or the bona fide spiritual master. Sri Sukadeva Gosvami did not undergo such a purificatory ceremony because he was a liberated soul from his very birth.

Generally, a man is born as an ordinary being, and by the purificatory processes he is born for the second time. When he sees a new light and seeks direction for spiritual progress, he approaches a spiritual master to instruct him in the Vedas. The spiritual master accepts only the sincere inquirer as his disciple and gives him the sacred thread. In this way a man becomes twice-born, or a dvija. After qualifying as a dvija one may study the Vedas, and after becoming well versed in the Vedas one becomes a vipra. A vipra or a qualified brahmana thus realizes the Absolute and makes further progress in spiritual life until he reaches the Vaisnava stage. The Vaisnava stage is the postgraduate status of a brahmana. A progressive brahmana must necessarily become a Vaisnava, for a Vaisnava is a self-realized, learned brahmana.

Srila Sukadeva Gosvami was a Vaisnava from the beginning; therefore, there was no need for him to undergo all the processes of the varnasrama institution. Ultimately the aim of varnasrama-dharma is to turn a crude man into a pure devotee of the Lord, or a Vaisnava. Anyone, therefore, who becomes a Vaisnava accepted by the first-class Vaisnava or uttama-adhikari Vaisnava is already considered a brahmana, regardless of his birth or past deeds. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted this principle and recognized Srila Haridasa Thakur as the acarya of the holy name, although Thakur Haridasa appeared in a Mohammedan family. In conclusion, Srila Sukadeva Gosvami was born a Vaisnava, and, therefore, brahminism was included in him. He did not have to undergo any ceremonies. Any low born person-be he a Kirata, Huna, Andhra, Pulinda, Pulkasa, Abhira, Sumbha, Yavana, Khasadi or even lower-can be delivered to the highest transcendental position by the mercy of Vaisnavas. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami was the spiritual master of Sri Suta Gosvami, and therefore he offers his respectful obeisances unto him before he begins his answers to the questions of the sages at Naimisaranya.