Text 29] The Lord Tastes Nectar 17

We have seen that a person who is not the son of a doctor and has not at-
tended a medical college is sometimes able to practice medicine. By practical
knowledge of how to perform a surgical operation, how to mix medicine and how
to give certain medicines for certain diseases, a person can receive a certificate
and be registered as a medical practitioner in the practical field. He can do a medi-
cal man’s work and be known as a doctor. Although qualified medical men may
consider him a quack, the government will recognize his work. Especially in India,
there are many such doctors who perform their medical services perfectly. They
are accepted even by the government. Similarly, if one is engaged in brahminical
service or occupational duties, he must be considered a brahmana despite the
family in which he is born. That is the verdict of all the sastras.

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, (7.11.35), it is said:

yasya yal laksanam proktam
pumso varnabhivyafijakam
yad anyatrapi drsyeta
tat tenaiva vinirdiset

This is a statement by Narada Muni to Maharaja Yudhisthira, wherein Narada says

that the symptoms of a brahmana, ksatriya and vaisya are all described in sdastra.

Therefore, if one is found exhibiting the symptoms and qualities of a brahmana

and serving in a brahminical occupation, even if he is not born a brahmana or

ksatriya, he should be considered according to his qualifications and occupation.
Similarly, in the Padma Purdna it is said:

na sGdra bhagavad-bhaktas
te tu bhagavata matah
sarva-varnesu te stdra
ye na bhakta janardane

“A devotee should never be considered a stidra. All the devotees of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead should be recognized as bhdagavatas. If one is not a devo-
tee of Lord Krsna, however, even if born of a brahmana, ksatriya or vaisya family,
he should be considered a stidra.”

In the Padma Purana it is also said:

sva-pakam iva nekseta
loke vipram avaisnavam

vaisnavo varno-bahyo ‘pi
punati bhuvana-trayam

“If a person born in a brahmana family is an avaisnava, a nondevotee, one should
not see his face, exactly as one should not look upon the face of a candala, or
