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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. (More...) This is... It is, it is the authoritative statement of Narada. Yasya yal laksanam proktam varnabhivyanjakam. In the Bhagavad-gita, varnabhivyanjakam, how to decide to which class or which caste a certain man belongs to, so there are symptoms. Satyam saucam samo damah ksantir arjavam, jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam [Bg. 18.42]. So Narada Muni says, yasya yal laksanam proktam. These are the symptoms. So if such symptoms are visible in another place, then tat tenaiva vinirdiset [SB 7.11.35]. And Sridhara Svami has given his note that birth is not everything. One has to acquire the quality. Then he'll be classified. So prasangam ajaram. We are attached to some quality and some work. In this way we are getting different bodies, one after another. This body finished, we create another body. This life is creating another body. This is called prasangam ajaram. Attachment to the material qualities, we are conditioned. And suppose we have got now human form of body or in a very rich family, that is all right, but it will not continue. You have to give it up. And any moment, by the superior authority, when it is ordered, "Immediately please leave this position," you have to do it. This is called conditioned life. You cannot stay in any status of life for all the days. If you think that "I am American. I am very happy," that... That's all right. You're American, you're happy, or Indian, you are very happy. You have chalked out your plan how to continue happiness. But nature will not allow you to stay. Daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya [Bg. 7.14]. As soon as nature will call back, "Please give up this post. Now take the post of a dog,"... Karmana daiva-netrena [SB 3.31.1]. "You have acted... You were given the most, I mean to say, exalted form of life, human being... You did not act as human being, you acted as a dog. Now you take the body of a dog." This is karmana daiva-netrena. (More...) The tendency of a particular man toward work is determined by the modes of material nature which he has acquired. The Lord is the creator of everything. Everything is born of Him, everything is sustained by Him, and everything, after annihilation, rests in Him. He is therefore the creator of the four divisions of the social order, beginning with the intelligent class of men, technically called brahmanas due to their being situated in the mode of goodness. Next is the administrative class, technically called the ksatriyas due to their being situated in the mode of passion. The mercantile men, called the vaisyas, are situated in the mixed modes of passion and ignorance, and the sudras, or laborer class, are situated in the ignorant mode of material nature. In spite of His creating the four divisions of human society, Lord Krsna does not belong to any of these divisions, because He is not one of the conditioned souls, a section of whom form human society. Human society is similar to any other animal society, but to elevate men from the animal status, the abovementioned divisions are created by the Lord for the systematic development of Krsna consciousness. The tendency of a particular man toward work is determined by the modes of material nature which he has acquired. Such symptoms of life, according to different modes of material nature, are described in the Eighteenth Chapter of this book. A person in Krsna consciousness, however, is above even the brahmanas, because a brahmana by quality is supposed to know about Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth. Most of them approach the impersonal Brahman manifestation of Lord Krsna, but only a man who transcends the limited knowledge of a brahmana and reaches the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, becomes a person in Krsna consciousness—or, in other words, a Vaisnava. Krsna consciousness includes knowledge of all different plenary expansions of Krsna, namely Rama, Nrsimha, Varaha, etc. However, as Krsna is transcendental to this system of the four divisions of human society, a person in Krsna consciousness is also transcendental to all divisions of human society, whether we consider the divisions of community, nation or species.
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