Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

So let us look at the qualities of the Brahmana:

Bg 18.42

śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ
kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ
brahma-karma svabhāva-jam

Synonyms: 

śamaḥ — peacefulness; damaḥ — self-control; tapaḥ — austerity; śaucam — purity; kṣāntiḥ — tolerance; ārjavam— honesty; eva — certainly; ca — and; jñānam — knowledge; vijñānam — wisdom; āstikyam — religiousness; brahma — of a brāhmaṇa; karma — duty; svabhāva–jam — born of his own nature.

Translation: 

Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom and religiousness – these are the natural qualities by which the brāhmaṇas work.

śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ, so Sri Krishna lists here 4+2+3 = 9 qualities of a Brahmana, and He is saying brahma-karma svabhāva-jam, so for a person who has to do Brahmana Karma these qualities are important, what are these qualities? It is interesting when Krishna talks about these qualities there is no mention of Bhakti over here. Quality that is relevant here is āstikyam — religiousness, faith in scripture. Faith in the principles of vedic culture. That doesn’t have to be in highest principle in Vedic culture which is Shudha Bhakti, pure devotion. E.g. Sukracharya works against the purpose of Lord Vishnu. Although Sukracharya does that we don’t see he is chastised by Lord Vishnu, Brahmana can be in different modes and some can perform rajasik or even tamasik yajan or rituals also. 

Prahllad Maharaj said in SB that even if there is a Brahmana but of he has turned away from Lord Vishnu and a dog eater who has turned towards Lord Vishnu, the dog eater is greater. So from a materialistic point of view the Brahmana is higher varan but need not be from spiritual point of view. 

Sama refers to mind control and Damah refers to sense control. So it is best if we don’t let the mind agitated by temptation but if the mind gets agitated then at least we don’t act according to temptation. So best is we should busy ourselves in KC activities so that maya doesn’t enter and if she enters we have to push her out again by focusing on KC activities. If we can’t do Sama then at least dama. 

And living in this way of Sama and Dama is Tapah.

Tapa also refers to fasting. 

Cleanness is śaucaṁ.

kṣāntir is tolerance here. Brahaman generally don’t raise weapons even when they are attacked, they just tolerate. 

Ārjavam means honesty. Brahmana doesn’t speak falsehood. They should speak ultimate truth and meant to take people to ultimate truth. 

jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ, theoretical knowledge and self-realized knowledge, internalized knowledge. And to have this they should have faith in scriptures. 

brahma-karma svabhāva-jam, these are the qualities of a Brahmana. 

As devotees also we should try to develop as many of these qualities as possible and by that we create a platform by which we make steady spiritual advancement. 

What is the role of Varnashram in Bhakti Yoga we will discuss further.

End of transcription.