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TEXT 13 catur-varnyam maya srstam
SYNONYMS  catuh-varnyam--the
four divisions of human society; maya--by Me; srstam--created;
guna--quality;
karma--work; vibhagasah--in terms of division; tasya--of
that; kartaram--the father; api--although;
mam--Me;
viddhi--you may know; akartaram--as the non-doer;
avyayam--being
unchangeable.
TRANSLATION According
to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the
four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am
the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer,
being unchangeable.
PURPORT 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 above-mentioned 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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