250 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 6

disease of the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul in the material world
wants to lord it over others, Illusioned by the external energy of the Lord,
he is forced to become a servant of the material world. That is the real
position of the conditioned soul. The last snare of the illusory external
energy is the conception of becoming one with the Lord, and due to this
conception the illusioned soul remains in the bondage of material energy,
falsely thinking himself a liberated soul and “‘as good as Narayana.”

It is actually better to be a sudra than to be a brahmana and not develop
the service attitude because that attitude alone satisfies the Lord. Every
living being—even if he be a brahmana by qualification—must take to the
transcendental service of the Lord. Both Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad-
Bhagavatam support that this service attitude is the perfection of the
living entity. A brahmana, ksatriya, vaigya or sidra can perfect his
occupational duties only by rendering service unto the Lord. A brahmana
is supposed to know this fact due to his perfection in Vedic wisdom. The
other sections are supposed to follow the direction of the brahmana-
Vaigyava (one who is a brahmana by qualification and a Vaisnava by
action). That will make the entire society perfect in regard to the order of
its social construction. A disordered society cannot satisfy either the
members of the society or the Lord. Even if one is not a perfect brahmana,
ksatriya, vaisya or sudra but takes to the service of the Lord, not caring
for the perfection of his social position, he becomes a perfect human _ being
simply by developing the attitude of service to the Supreme Lord.

TEXT 34

Oa TM: Sa Taher ATS af |
ASUSSHT IAT TMM: AE TIANA

ete varnah sva-dharmena
yajanti sva-gurum harim
§raddhaya ”’tma-visuddh yartham
yaj jatah saha vrttibhih

ete—all these; varnah—orders of society; sva-dharmena—by one’s own
occupational duties; yajanti— worship; sva-gurum—with the spiritual master;
harim—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; sraddhaya—with faith and
devotion; atma—self; visuddhyartham—for purifying; yat—from whom;
jatah—born; saha—along with; vrttibhih—occupational duty.
