Lord Chaitanya and Ramananda Roy
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taken as the aim of his life to understand the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, and for which aim he has devoted himself to the learning of the Vedas and similar literatures, is called a Brahmin. 2. A person who has taken to the occupation of showing his force and of administering the government is called a Kshatriya. 3. One who is engaged in agriculture and herding cows and trade and business is called a Vaishya. 4. Persons who have no special knowledge but are satisfied by serving the three other higher social divisions are called Sudras. If one faithfully discharges his prescribed duties, it is surely an advancement toward perfection. Therefore, regulated life is the source of perfection for everyone. This regulated life, when culminating in devotional service to the Lord, attains its perfection. Otherwise it is a useless waste of time.
Therefore, Lord Chaitanya, after hearing from Ramananda Roy about the proper execution of regulated life, said that this is external. Indirectly, He asked Ramananda to state something which is better than this external exhibition of life. Formal execution of this ritualistic life or religious life is not very congenial unless it attains the perfection of devotional service. Actually, Lord Vishnu is not satisfied simply by the ritualistic performance of Vedic instructions, but He is actually pleased when one attains the stage of devotional service.
The verse cited by Ramananda Roy in reply to Lord Chaitanya means that, by the divisional ritualistic performances, one can rise up to the point of devotional service. In the  Bhagavad Gita  we find that Lord Sri Krishna, Who appeared Himself for the deliverance of all classes of people, has mentioned that the human being can attain the highest perfectional stage of life by worshipping the Supreme Lord, from Whom everything has emanated, by dint of his occupational duties. It is stated in the  Bhagavad Gita : “A person duly engaged in his occupational duties attains the highest perfection.” This perfectional process is followed by great devotees like Bodhyana, Tanaka, Dramida, Guhadeva, Kapardi, Bharuchi—all these great personalities have followed this particular path of perfection of the human life. The Vedic injunctions also aim at this point of life. Ramananda Roy wanted to present this fact before the Lord. But, apparently, simply discharging the ritualistic duties is not perfection. Therefore Lord Chaitanya said that it is external. Lord Chaitanya’s purport was that a man having a material conception of life, even if he follows the ritualistic regulations, cannot attain the highest perfection.