Text 42] Instructions by Maharaja Prthu 871
bibhrati—illuminates; ha—as he did it; artha—the real purpose of the Vedas;
drstaye—for the purpose of finding out; yatra—wherein; idam—all this;
adarse—in a mirror; iva—like; avabhasate— manifests.
TRANSLATION

In brahminical culture a brahmana’s transcendental position is eternally
maintained because the injunctions of the Vedas are accepted with faith,
austerity, scriptural conclusions, full sense and mind control and medita-
tion. In this way the real goal of life is illuminated, just as one’s face in a
clear mirror is fully reflected.

PURPORT

Since it is described in the previous verse that feeding a living brahmana
is more effective than offering oblations in a fire sacrifice, in this verse it is
now clearly described what brahminism is and who a brahmana is. {n the
age of Kali, taking advantage of the fact that by feeding a brahmana one
obtains a more effective result than by performing sacrifices, a class of
men with no brahminical qualifications claim the eating privilege known
as brahmana-bhojana simply on the basis of their births in brahmana fami-
lies. In order to distinguish this class of men from the real brahmanas,
Maharaja Prthu is giving an exact description of a brahmana and brahmini-
cal culture. One should not take advantage of his position simply to live
like a fire without light. A brahmana must be fully conversant with the
Vedic conclusion, which is described in Bhagavad-gita. Vedais ca sarvair
aham eva vedyah. (Bg. 15.15) The Vedic conclusion—the ultimate under-
standing, or Vedanta understanding—is knowledge of Krsna. Actually that
is a fact because simply by understanding Krsna as He is, as described in
Bhagavad-gita (janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah), one
becomes a perfect brahmana. The brahmana who knows Krsna perfectly
well is always in a transcendental position. This is also confirmed in
Bhagavad-gita:

mam ca yo ‘vyabhicarena bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate

‘One who engages in full devotional service and who does not fall down in
any circumstance at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus
comes to the level of Brahman.” (Bg. 14.26)

Therefore a devotee of Lord Krsna is actually a perfect brahmana. His
situation is transcendental, for he is free from the four defects of condi-
