Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Now let us look at the qualities of Vasyas and Sudras:

Bg 18.44

kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ
vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam
paricaryātmakaṁ karma
śūdrasyāpi svabhāva-jam

Synonyms: 

kṛṣi — plowing; go — of cows; rakṣya — protection; vāṇijyam — trade; vaiśya — of a vaiśya; karma — duty; svabhāva–jam — born of his own nature; paricaryā — service; ātmakam — consisting of; karma — duty; śūdrasya— of the śūdra; api — also; svabhāva–jam — born of his own nature.

Translation: 

Farming, cow protection and business are the natural work for the vaiśyas, and for the śūdras there are labor and service to others.

kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ, 

kṛṣi — plowing; go — of cows; rakṣya — protection; vāṇijyam — trade; vaiśya — of a vaiśya;

In the comparison of the social bodies the sudras are considered to be the feet, the vasyas are considered to be stomach, the Kshtriyas are considered to be arms and the Brahmanas are considered to be the head. So in this way all of these are important in terms of how they contribute to the society. So in this way everyone can contribute to society as well as progress towards transcendence.

go-rakṣya is cow protection some BG translator has translated it is cattle rearing which Srila Prabhupada didn’t agree, as cattle rearing is done where cattle are finally slaughtered.

In general any financial investment if not giving good return it is natural to abandon the investment but over dominating of consciousness by money and looking for profit in everything is not good. To prevent unidimensional viewing of everything in monetary terms, such domination of money in consciousness, to prevent this Vaysyas are ordained to do certain activities even if they doesn’t seem to be financially viable, when a cow stops giving milk she should not be sent to slaughter house of should not be sold to butcher, a cow should be considered as member of a family, Go Mata. Cow urine can be used as  treatment in many medicines and cow dung as fuel, and in fertilization of ground. 

paricaryātmakaṁ karma, servicing others which is role of Sudra. 

Women may have other varan as it is also based on Karma.

End of transcription.