Brahmin and Vaishnava

All Glories to HDG Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj

All Glories  to HDG Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada

The pure Vaishnavas always respect those in the Brahmin order while a  person of the Brahman order  worships an elevated Vaishnava  without fail. Everybody knows that a brahmana by right is generally worship able by  all others. In the early days ,the students learning sanskrit grammer quote this verse to depict the sixth and seven case  in grammer as varnanam varnesu va brahmanah sreshtah meaning of all the four orders of life the Brahmanah is considered the most superior. Many are unaware of the fact there can be a class  that could  be even more superior.   Krishna was worshipped by all the Brahmans but then He was none other than the Supreme Lord but the fact is that even Krishna bears the footprint of the brahman, Bhrgu Muni on His chest. Although it seems that the brahmanah class is most superior yet Krishna had stated that the Vaishnava is any  time  greater than just a  born brahmnah. Of thousands of Brahmans ,the yajnic brahmana is superior and of thousands of such yajnic brahmanas, they who understand the Vedanta Sutras are superior and of millions of such scholars, the devotee of Vishnu or Vaishnvas are  considered superior. Therefore, one who is a Vaishnava does  no lack of the qualities of a brahmana . Just as a rich man may possess a hundred thousand rupees but  we know that a mere  thousand rupees  or say ten thousand rupees are also contained in it. In short ,one who is a Vaishnava is definitely a brahmana too. Just to refer a Vaishnava simply as a brahmanah means to slight him. Although in the ordinary perspective Vaishnava does not mind to be considered  as either low or high because his nature is usually  very humble and the well wisher of all and careful to avoid the proud and envious who can pave the way to being degraded. There were many such envious ,ignorant people who were grudging in their mood to give  respect to others rather they  dared to refer the most pure associates of the Lord as Srila Raghunath Das ,Narottam Das, Jhada Thakur, Syamananda Thakur, and such great souls as Sudras. In fact ,many of those adverse to Vaishnavas accepted such ignorant people as their guru and they too persisted in such criticism of the pure Vaishnavas. Actually those who are entrenched in the bodily conception of life and therefore adapted to mundane society values ,how can they understand the real spiritual identity of a Vaishnava? Their vision cannot go above their individual bodily designations. But the Vaishnava is not limited in such vision being the pure  eternal servant of the Supreme Lord. Further ,that they are part and parcel of the  transcendental Supreme Lord and always engaged in His eternal service. At every cycle, the souls appear to establish the glories of Lord Vishnu and his associates  and preach on the  original, constitutional function of every living entity .In the course  of doing so , they automatically reveal the narrowness and inferiority of those who are adverse to Lord Vishnu and His devotees .To counter the narrowness and materialism of these external ritualistic Brahmanas they seem  to appear in a like form. Mahaprabhu danced with the body of  low born Haridas Thakur in his hands with also begging grains for  conducting a grand  festival  on his behalf  together with other devotees  on that disappearance day of Haridas Thakur. Advaita Acarya offered the first offering of food to low born Haridas Thakur on the occasion of His annual   deceased forefathers offering whilst  in the midst of high stature Brahmanas . On being questioned by Haridas for that action he  replied that Haridas  being a great devotee of the Lord was equal  to a million Brahmans in worth. At  one time ,the guru of Ramunacharya or Mahapurna was noted giving respect supposedly  to a Sudra who had passed away and this action was condemned by all the ritualistic brahmanas at that time but Mahapurna did not care a fig for their words. Sri Ramachandra gave respect to Jatayu who was a bird .Jhata Thakur who was born from a low caste but that did not prevent Kali Das, a relative of  Raghunath Das Goswami from chewing on the remnants of  the mango fruit relished by him previously. Vrndavan Das Thakur, the son of Narayani ,who although born from a high brahmin order took pains in describing the glories of the Vaishnava devotees and woe to those who criticize such Vaishnavas on account of their birth for the result will be being demoted to hellish destinations . Also those who are proud of their scholarship and birth will never understand the real  identity of a Vaishnava. In the Chaitanya Charitramita, those brahmanas who are adverse to the Vaishnavas  are compared to maneaters or rakshahshas. In the Varaha Purana there are similar verses which state that these high class brahmanas  who are not devotees of Lord Visnu  and who are antagonistic to the pure Vaishnavas does in fact quote in opposition to the revealed scriptures and Padma Purana states that  all such people should be avoided completely. In Bhakti Sandharbha ,Jiva goswami has clarified the following verse vipradvisad yuta gunaravindanabha  padaravinda  vimukhat svapacha garistham  Bh 7 /meaning one who has wealth ,beauty ,high birth, austerity, studied  scriptures, power ,radiance ,strength ,manliness, victory all these twelve qualities complete in him or  equipped with control of mind ,equanimity, austerity ,contentment ,truth, belief in God but in spite of all these if such a person is averse to the Supreme Lord Vishnu then  in contrast, a low born Chandala who has surrendered his mind ,wealth, words and effort to Vishnu is any time superior to such a proud Brahmin possessed of all such  qualities. The reason is that lowly chandala can purify his own dynasty but the high class Brahmanah may not be able to even deliver himself what to speak? 

Kirat hunandhra pulinda pulkasa abhira khanakah yavana kahasadayah Bh  2/4/17

Meaning :the verse states that those who are born in a low caste or of  sinful births if they were to take the shelter of a  bona fide spiritual master  then they become freed from the caste they were born together with the effects of all their previous reactions of work. By performing  devotional service, all that previous  work which are undergoing  reactions and all that  stock of work which are waiting to be undergone  become  completely nullified. So those  people who refer to the devotee by their birth are common place but that does  have any spiritual value for that is not now his present identity. That is why the scriptures forbid one to refer to a devotee on account of his  birth caste or creed  hence such a vilifier is designated as hellish. Srila Jiva has illustrated this from a verse from the Bhagavatam dhig janmana strivid tatdvig vratam dhigbahujnata 10 /23 /32

The Yajnik Brahmanas lament ,'We are averse to the Supreme Lord Vishnu who is above the material senses and  who cannot be understood by these material senses. Woe to our three births termed  accordingly as  seminal ,initiation and sacrifice! ,woe to our vow of celibacy! Woe to our amassed knowledge !Woe to our birth in the brahmana order! Woe to our  expertise in the performance of sacrifices! The Bhagavatam has used  the word woe for anything  other  than  Adhoksaja or Supreme Lord  having rejected every thing material with establishing devotion to the Supreme Lord  as the main goal. Those materialistic ritualistic workers who fathom that the Vaishnava cannot follow celibacy ,nor has expertise or do not possess any qualities of Brahminhood are completely mistaken .atra sarvagunair samasta sura as the verse of the Bhagavatam or the Vaishnava devotees has  all the  divine qualities of the demigods .Therefore a Vaishnava is never a false brahmana. To simply call a Vaishnava a  Brahmana is to slight or look down on him. The brahmana who is endowed with the connecting knowledge is a Vaishnava also he is the yogi endowed with knowledge of the Supersoul. He can be also termed as the brahmana who worships the Supreme Lord.     The Brahmana is always following the Vaishnava, so therefore the Vaishnava can be termed the guru  of the yogis and brahmanas .Both the   devotee Brahmana   and the Vaishnava are considered to be transcendental. It is in order to  make the ignorant people understand is the reason that the elevated  Vaishnavas refer to Vaishnava as best of the Brahmanas   or the servant of the Vaishnava guru. If the Vaishnava does not refer himself as aa brahmana ,then the ignorant  ritualistic workers  likewise will never agree to so. The brahmana who has .realized the brahman stage is also the servant of the Vaishnava  because the highest stage of knowledge is that  of Bhagavan or the Lord as realized by the Vaishnava  which is above the level  of  the stages of Brahman and  the Supersoul .  .Just as before the final graduation of a person ,  one has to first  go through Matriculation ,similarly , The Vaishnava must have all the qualities of a brahmana.