Text 15] Dhrtarastra Quits Home 679
TEXT 15
afin ae TaReTETT |
TAI Used ATTA TA: LUM
abibhrad aryama dandam
yathavad aghakarisu
yavad dadhara sitdratvam
Sapad varsasatarn yamah

abibhrat—administered; aryama—Aryama; dandam—punishment; yath-
avat—as it was suitable; aghakarisu—unto the persons who committed
sins; yavat—as long as; dadhara—accepted; sudratvam—the tabernacle of
a Sidra; Sapat—as the result of a curse; varsasatam—for one hundred years;
yamah—Yamaraja.

TRANSLATION

As long as Vidura played the part of a sudra, being cursed by Manduka
Muni, Aryama officiated at the post of Yamaraja to punish those who
committed sinful acts.

PURPORT

Vidura, born in the womb of a siidra woman, was forbidden even to a
party of royal heritage along with his brothers Dhrtarastra and Pandu.
Then how could he occupy the post of a preacher to instruct such learned
kings and ksatriyas as Dhrtarastra and Maharaja Yudhisthira? The first
answer is that even though it is accepted that he was sudra by birth,
because he renounced the world for spiritual enlightenment by the authori-
ty of Rsi Maitreya and was thoroughly educated by him in transcendental
knowledge, he was quite competent to occupy the post of an acarya or
spiritual preceptor. According to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, anyone who
is conversant in the transcendental knowledge or the science of Godhead,
be he a brahmana or a Sidra, a householder or a sannyasi, is eligible to
become a spiritual master. Even in the ordinary moral codes (maintained
by Canakya Pandit, the great politician and moralist) there is no harm in
taking lessons from a person who may be by birth less than a sitdra. This
is one part of the answer. The other is that Vidura was not actually a
