828 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 21

The word askhalita indicates that orders by the king could not be dis-
obeyed by anyone in the entire world. Such orders, however, were never
issued to control saintly persons or the descendants of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Visnu. The Supreme Lord is known as acyuta, and
Lord Krsna is addressed as such by Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita (senayor
ubhayor madhye ratham sthapaya me ‘cyuta). Acyuta refers to one who
does not fall because He is never influenced by the modes of material
nature. When a living entity falls down to the material world from his
original position, he becomes cyuta, which means that he forgets his re-
lationship with acyuta. Actually every living entity is a part and parcel or
a son of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When influenced by the
modes of material nature, a living entity forgets this relationship and thinks
in terms of different species of life; but when he again comes to his ori-
ginal consciousness, he does not observe such bodily designations. This is
indicated in Bhagavad-gita by the words panditah sama-darsinah (Bg. 5.18).

Material designations create differentiation in terms of caste, color,
creed, nationality, etc. Different gotras or family designations are distinc-
tions in terms of the material body, but when one comes to Krsna con-
sciousness he immediately becomes transcendental to all considerations of
caste, creed, color and nationality.

Prthu Maharaja had no control over the brahmana-kula, which refers to
the learned scholars in Vedic knowledge, nor over the Vaisnavas, who are
above the considerations of Vedic knowledge. It is therefore said:

arcye visnau siladhir gurusu nara-matir vaisnave jati-buddhir
visor va vaisnavanam kali-mala-mathane pada-tirthe ‘mbu-buddhih
sri-visnor namni mantre sakala-kalusa-he sabda-samanya-buddhir
visnau sarvesvarese tad-itara-sama-dhir yasya va naraki sah
“One who thinks the Deity in the temple to be made of wood or stone,
who thinks of the spiritual master in the disciplic succession as an ordinary
man, who thinks the Vaisnava in the acyuta-gotra to belong to a certain
caste or creed, or who thinks of caranamrta or Ganges water as ordinary
water, is taken to be a resident of hell.’ (Padma Purana)

From the facts presented in this verse, it appears that people in general
should be controlled by a king until they come to the platform of
Vaisnavas and brahmanas, who are not under the control of anyone.
Brahmana refers to one who knows Brahman, or the impersonal feature
of the Absolute Truth, and a Vaisnava is one who serves the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.
