Text 17] The Perfect Society: Four Social Classes
39
TRANSLATION
As an alternative, a  brāhmaṇa  may also take to the  vaiśya 's occupational duty of agriculture, cow protection, or trade. He may depend on that which he has received without begging, he may beg in the paddy field every day, he may collect paddy left in a field by its proprietor, or he may collect food grains left here and there in the shops of grain dealers. These are four means of livelihood that may also be adopted by  brāhmaṇas . Among these four, each of them in succession is better than the one preceding it.
PURPORT
A  brāhmaṇa  is sometimes offered land and cows in charity, and thus for his livelihood he may act in the same way as a  vaiśya , by cultivating land, giving protection to cows and trading off his surpluses. A better process, however, is to pick up grains from a field or from a dealer's shop without begging.
TEXT 17
जघन्यो नोत्तमां वृत्तिमनापदि भजेन्नरः ।
ऋते राजन्यमापत्सु सर्वेषामपि सर्वशः ॥१७॥
jaghanyo nottamām vṛttim anāpadi bhajen naraḥ ṛte rājanyam āpatsu sarveṣām api sarvaśaḥ
jaghanyaḥ —low (person);  na —not;  uttamām —high;  vṛttim —means of livelihood;  anāpadi —when there is no social upheaval;  bhajet —may accept;  naraḥ —a man;  ṛte —except;  rājanyam —the profession of the  kṣatriyas ;  āpatsu —at times of emergency;  sarveṣām —of everyone in every status of life;  api —certainly;  sarvaśaḥ —all professions or occupational duties.
TRANSLATION
Except in a time of emergency, lower persons should not accept the occupational duties of those who are higher. When there is such an emergency, of course, everyone but the  kṣatriya  may accept the means of livelihood of others.