Text 15]
Dhṛtarāṣṭra Quits Home
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TEXT 15
अविभ्रदर्यमा दण्डं यथावदधकारिषु । यावद्धार शूद्रत्वं शापाद्वर्षशतं यमः ॥१५॥
abibhrad aryamā daṇḍam yathāvad aghakāriṣu yāvad dadhāra śūdratvam śāpād varṣaśatam yamaḥ
abibhrat—administered; aryamā—Aryama; daṇḍam—punishment; yathāvat—as it was suitable; aghakāriṣu—unto the persons who committed sins; yāvat—as long as; dadhāra—accepted; śūdratvam—the tabernacle of a śūdra; śāpāt—as the result of a curse; varṣaśatam—for one hundred years; yamaḥ—Yamarāja.
TRANSLATION
As long as Vidura played the part of a śūdra, being cursed by Maṇḍuka Muni, Aryama officiated at the post of Yamarāja to punish those who committed sinful acts.
PURPORT
Vidura, born in the womb of a śūdra woman, was forbidden even to a party of royal heritage along with his brothers Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Pāṇḍu. Then how could he occupy the post of a preacher to instruct such learned kings and  kṣatriyas  as Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira? The first answer is that even though it is accepted that he was śūdra by birth, because he renounced the world for spiritual enlightenment by the authority of Rṣi Maitreya and was thoroughly educated by him in transcendental knowledge, he was quite competent to occupy the post of an  ācārya  or spiritual preceptor. According to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, anyone who is conversant in the transcendental knowledge or the science of Godhead, be he a  brāhmaṇa  or a śūdra, a householder or a  sannyāsī , is eligible to become a spiritual master. Even in the ordinary moral codes (maintained by Cāṇakya Paṇḍit, the great politician and moralist) there is no harm in taking lessons from a person who may be by birth less than a śūdra. This is one part of the answer. The other is that Vidura was not actually a