Devotee:

sva-dharmam api cävekñya
na vikampitum arhasi
dharmyäddhi yuddhäc chreyo 'nyat
kñatriyasya na vidyate

"Considering your specific duty as a kñatriya, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting on religious principles; and so there is no need for hesitation."

Prabhupäda: Sva-dharmam. Sva means "own." And dharmam means "occupation." Dharma means occupation and... (to Pradyumna:) You finished?

Pradyumna: Yes.

Prabhupäda: Sva means "own." Sva-dharmam: "one's own occupation." So according to Vedic civilization, everyone has his own sva-dharma. This has been misinterpreted by the rascals. Sva-dharma means anyone can discover his own religious principle. Yato mata tato patha. Whatever you think is religious principle, that's all right. This is going on. But that is not the meaning. Sva-dharma means "own occupation." Actually dharma means which you cannot give up. Dhå-dhätu. You have to capture it; to keep your existence you must capture it.

So because we have got body and soul, two different things, we are combination, body and soul. That is already explained very nicely in so many ways. So actually sva-dharma means the occupation of the soul. Because in the material condition we do not understand what I am-whether I am this body or I am soul. Mostly people they do not know that one is soul, not this body. Body is the dress or outward covering, external covering. Subtle covering and gross covering. But so long one is in the bodily concept of life, so one has got different occupational duty according to the conception of the body. So the nature is being conducted by three modes of nature. Therefore, according to one's nature there is occupational duty. That is scientific division. At the present moment there is no such division. Therefore gradually people are degrading to the lowest quality-ignorance, çüdra. They are taking to the çüdra principles. Yesterday I was presented with a paper, Indian government scheme to help people starting small-scale industries, and government is ready to help. (aside:) You sit cross-legged, not like that. All of you. So a small industry, there are so many motor parts, so many other parts. About 200, 300 items, government is ready to help a small industry. But the government does not know or the leaders do not know that to engage people in such industrial affair means to bring them to the çüdra platform. Çüdra platform. Every government is encouraging people how to become çüdra. But actually, the human society must be divided into four parts. Four divisions: brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya and çüdra. Just like in our body there is division. The head department, the arms department, the belly department and the leg department. You cannot say, "Let there be only leg department. There is no use of head and arms and belly." Will that go on nicely? If your body, you cut off all other parts and simply keep the legs, will that be very nice proposal? Leg is required. But if you keep the body only by the legs, then this kind of body is dead body. Any part of the body. Especially the head. If you cut off the head then the body is altogether dead. You can cut off the arms, you can cut off the legs, but it is very difficult to cut off the belly also. Then it will be dead.

So, sva-dharma. Sva-dharma means the division, kñatriya division of the society. The brähmaëa division, the kñatriya division, the vaiçya division and the çüdra division. Everything is required. It is not that çüdra is not required. Çüdra is required, but if you make propaganda simply to make people çüdras, then who will give direction? If there is no head, who will give the direction? So a kñatriya, kñatriya has got a very difficult task to see. Kñatriya means government, the governing division. So the governing division has got a very important duty to see that everyone is following his duty. The brähmaëa is following his duty, a kñatriya is following his duty, vaiçya is following the duty, and çüdra... That is, government's duty is... Just like in India nowadays it has become a secular government. Secular government means impartial to any religious system. But the government should not be so callous that in religious principle, let people do whatever he likes. No. The government cannot do so. You can say that "You are Hindu; you execute your own system of religion. You are Muslim; you can execute your system of religion. You are Christian; you follow your system of religion. You are Buddhist; you follow your system of religion." But the government cannot be callous that whatever they may follow or whatever they may not do, and government is neutral. No. Anyone, if he is professing himself that "I am Hindu," then it is the government's duty to see whether he is actually executing the Hindu principles of religion. That is secular state. If you are calling himself Muslim, then it is government's duty to see that whether actually you are following the Muslim principles of religion. If you are a Christian, it is the government's duty is to see that you are following the Christian principle of religion. Not that callous, "You can do whatever you like." No. Kñatriya's duty is to see. The king, government's duty is to see. Similarly, if one is claiming that he is a brähmaëa, it is the government's duty to see whether he's strictly following the brähmaëa principles: çamo damas titikñä, ärjavam, whether he is strictly following how to become self-controlled, how to remain always pure, clean, çuci. Brähmaëas' another name is çuci, always cleansed. Similarly ärjavam, simplicity. Brähmaëa's life should be very simple. They should not imitate the kñatriyas and the vaiçyas and the çüdras. So this principle, whether one is actually following the brahminical principle...

So here Kåñëa is pointing out that "As a kñatriya you must follow your principle, kñatriya principle." What is kñatriya principle? Kñatriya principle is that dharmyäddhi yuddhät, dharmyäddhi yuddhäc chreyo 'nyat kñatriyasya na vidyate. Kñatriya must be always prepared, and if required, to fight also, whether people are keeping their own principle of religion. That is kñatriya's duty. He, if (a) brähmaëa is bluffing people, that "I am brähmaëa," but he is acting as a çüdra, immediately kñatriya should point out and offer him fight, "Why you are cheating people? Why you are cheating people?" Similarly, a kñatriya is declaring himself that "I am kñatriya," but he's acting as a çüdra, it is the kñatriya's or the government's duty, that, "Why you are cheating people?" So a kñatriya's business is always prepared to fight. Fight means that to see that everyone is acting nicely. Because if you are not acting nicely, and if I say that "You are not acting nicely," you'll be angry. Upadeço hi mürkhäëäà prakopäya na çäntaye. Because if one is actually brähmaëa, he must act as a brähmaëa. So if somebody says that "You are declaring yourself as brähmaëa but you are not following the brähmaëa principle," he will be angry. But a kñatriya's duty is that if he is angry, he should be punished immediately. He should be punished immediately. Kñatriya's yuddhäc, dharmyäddhi yuddhät. He should challenge. Challenging means yuddha, fight.

So kñatriya cannot be nonviolent. It is not possible. Violence is also required to keep the social system strictly in order. Just like the government has violence department, the police department, the military department. That is required to keep up the society in order. So here Kåñëa says that "You are kñatriya; your duty is to fight." Dharmyäddhi yuddhät. "This fight arranged by Me in the battlefield of Kurukñetra, because it is sanctioned by Me, it is dharma-yuddha, it is religious fighting." It is not the political diplomats declaring war to keep the people in ignorance. No. It is sanctioned by Kåñëa. Whatever is sanctioned by Kåñëa, that is dharma. Dharma, the explanation of dharma I have several times given you. Dharmaà hi säkñäd bhagavat-praëétam: Whatever God sanctions, that is dharma. So God, Kåñëa personally has sanctioned this Battle of Kurukñetra. So therefore it is dharma, dharma-yuddha religious fight. It is not ordinary fighting of the diplomats and the politicians. It is dharma-yuddha. Therefore He says, dharmyäddhi yuddhäc chreyo 'nyat kñatriyasya na vidyate: "You are kñatriya. You are fighting for the sake of religious system. That is the, your first-class duty." Çreyaù.

So a kñatriya... These four principles must be there in the society, brähmaëa, kñat... The brähmaëa will not be required to fight. A brähmaëa will not be required to work like çüdra. A brähmaëa will not be required to work like vaiçya. Therefore brähmaëa can beg. Paöhana päöhana yajana yäjana däna pratigrahaù. This is brähmaëa's business. He must be good scholar in Vedic literature and he must teach others. Not that "I have learned everything; I'll not teach anything." No. Brähmaëa must be well-versed in the Vedic literature and he must preach also, make others also brähmaëa, paöhana päöhana. Not that "I have become brähmaëa. So there is no need of others becoming brähmaëa. There will be competition." Just like in India they have become very much afraid that I am making Europeans and Americans brähmaëas, so they are very much against me. They come to fight with me. In Hyderabad they came to fight. "Sir, you are making brähmaëas, these Europeans and Americans? This is not good." "And why not?" So we had some discussion. So actually it is not that brähmaëa is made by birth. Brähmaëa means, cätur-varëyaà mayä såñöaà guëa-karma-vibhägaçaù [Bg. 4.13]. By quality and work. Similarly, everything, by quality and work. This is confirmed by Närada Muni.

yasya yal lakñaëaà proktaà
puàso varëäbhivyaïjakam
yad anyaträpi dåçyeta
tat tenaiva vinirdiçet
[SB 7.11.35]

Yad anyatra. If the brahminical qualities are visible, manifest, elsewhere. Elsewhere, may be he's çüdra, may be caëòäla. Tat tenaiva vinirdiçet. So you, one should accept him as brähmaëa. Similarly, if one is born in brähmaëa family but his qualities are like çüdra, tat tenaiva vinirdiçet [SB 7.11.35]. He should be accepted as çüdra. This is the injunction given by Närada Muni. Not ordinary person. Tat tenaiva vinirdiçet. And upon this the greatest authority of comment on Çrémad-Bhägavatam, Çrédhara Svämé, he has commented that janma, birth, is not the chief requisition to become...çama-damädi. One must be qualified with çamo damas titikñäù çuci. Then he should be accepted.

So it is the duty of the kñatriya... Unfortunately, the so-called government men, they are also çüdras. The so-called priests, they are also çüdras. The so-called vaiçyas, they are çüdras. The whole world is now full of çüdras. So you cannot expect anything very nice in this situation because everything is being conducted by çüdras. So Kåñëa is advising Arjuna that "This fight is not ordinary fight. It is dharma-yuddha, and you should accept it, you should not hesitate. After all, the soul is never killed. It is the duty, it is the duty of different dharma." Sva-dharma, sva-dharma means so long one is in the bodily concept of life, this sva-dharma means this brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra. This is sva-dharma. And Arjuna belonged to the kñatriya; therefore his sva-dharma, his occupational duty, is to fight. So, and real sva-dharma is spiritual sva-dharma. In the spiritual. So when you go deep into the matter, when you understand that "I am not this body; I am soul," then that is real sva-dharma. And what is the occupation of that sva-dharma? That is to be engaged in the service of the Lord. Jévera svarüpa haya nitya-kåñëa-däsa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109]. Actually that is sva-dharma. Every soul is eternally servant of Kåñëa. That is spiritual sva-dharma. And material sva-dharma means this brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra.

Therefore the sva-dharma changes. Sva-dharma changes as soon as one is elevated to the spiritual platform. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gétä. Sa guëän samatétyaitän brahma-bhüyäya kalpate [Bg. 14.26]. Who? Brahma-bhüyäya kalpate. One who is engaged in devotional service. A devotee's position is transcendental. He has no, no more sva-dharma in the bodily concept of life. Because he's neither brähmaëa, neither kñatriya, nor vaiçya nor çüdra. Caitanya Mahäprabhu has said, "I am not a brähmaëa, I am not a çüdra, I am not a kñatriya, I am not a brahmacäré, I am not a sannyäsé." In this way He negativated all the eight items because sva-dharma means varëäçrama dharma. Varëa and äçrama. Four castes: brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra. And four spiritual order: brahmacäré, gåhastha, vänaprastha and sannyäsa. So Caitanya Mahäprabhu denied, that "I am not this, I am not this, I am not that, I am not that." Then what you are? Gopé-bhartuù pada-kamalayor däsa-däsänudäsaù. Jévera svarüpa haya nitya-kåñëa-däsa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109]. Gopé-bhartuù means this maintainer of the gopés, Kåñëa. Gopé-bhartuù. Gopé-bhartuù pada-kamalayoù. "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant who is engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Kåñëa."

So this is... Those who are in Kåñëa consciousness, those who have decided to serve Kåñëa only, they are no longer in the categories of sva-dharma, the bodily sva-dharma, brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra, or brahmacäré, vänaprastha. He is transcendental. That is confirmed in every çästra. So so far we are concerned, Kåñëa conscious, so long our bodily concept of life is not completely eradicated, we must follow the sva-dharma of the body. Brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra, ity ädi. But when actually advanced, that is mahä-bhägavata. We should not imitate that, but our process is the more we advance in Kåñëa consciousness, we become transcendental to this bodily concept of life, brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra. But Kåñëa says:

mäà ca yo 'vyabhicäreëa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guëän samatétyaitän
brahma-bhüyäya kalpate
[Bg. 14.26]

So anyone who engages himself without any reservation to the service of the Lord, he is not within the category of these eight varëäçrama-dharma. He's transcendental. Sa brahma-bhüyäya kalpate. So as a Kåñëa consciousness person, he can act like anything by the order of Kåñëa. He can act as a brähmaëa, he can act as a çüdra, because his main business is to carry out Kåñëa's order. He's no longer within the category of this sva-dharma. So Kåñëa asking Arjuna, that "If you are thinking in the bodily concept of life, then also..." Means "First of all, when I have ordered, I have sanctioned, you can work it beyond the bodily concept of life. But if you are thinking still that you are in the bodily concept of life, then, as a kñatriya, it is your duty to fight." Kåñëa is trying to put Arjuna in the dilemma, "This way or that way, you must have to fight. If you think that you are not in bodily concept of life, then it is My order, 'You must fight.' If you think that you are in bodily concept of life, then you are a kñatriya, you must fight. Both ways you have to fight." This is Kåñëa's conclusion.