TEXT 1
sri-badarayanir uvaca
puror vamsam pravaksyami
yatra jato si bharata
yatra rajarsayo vamsya
brahma-vamsyas ca jajnire
SYNONYMS
sri-badarayanih uvacaSri Sukadeva Gosvami said; puroh vamsamthe dynasty of Maharaja Puru; pravaksyaminow I shall narrate; yatrain which dynasty; jatah asiyou were born; bharataO Maharaja Pariksit, descendant of Maharaja Bharata; yatrain which dynasty; raja-rsayahall the kings were saintly; vamsyahone after another; brahma-vamsyahmany brahmana dynasties; caalso; jajniregrew up.
TRANSLATION
Sukadeva Gosvami said: O Maharaja Pariksit, descendant of Maharaja Bharata, I shall now describe the dynasty of Puru, in which you were born, in which many saintly kings appeared, and from which many dynasties of brahmanas began.
PURPORT
There are many historical instances by which we can understand that from ksatriyas many brahmanas have been born and that from brahmanas many ksatriyas have been born. The Lord Himself says in Bhagavad-gita (4.13), catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah: According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. Therefore, regardless of the family in which one takes birth, when one is qualified with the symptoms of a particular section, he is to be described accordingly. Yal-laksanam proktam. Ones place in the varna divisions of society is determined according to ones symptoms or qualities. This is maintained everywhere in the sastra. Birth is a secondary consideration; the first consideration is ones qualities and activities.

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