1540 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 30

penances within the water, and they did not take any food for a very long
time. They practiced these austerities not for material benediction but for
the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. One may engage in any business—
material or spiritual—but the purpose should be the satisfaction of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. This verse presents a perfect picture of
Vedic civilization. People training to become devotees should be respectful
not only to the Supreme Personality of Godhead but also to those who
are elderly in knowledge, who are Aryans and actual devotees of the Lord.
An Aryan is one who does not boast but is an actual devotee of the Lord.
Aryan means advanced. Formerly, those who claimed to be Aryans had to
be devotees of the Lord. For instance, in Bhagavad-gita Krsna chastised
Arjuna by saying that he was speaking like a non-Aryan.

$ri bhagavan uvaca
kutas tua kasmalam idam

visame samupasthitam
anarya-justam asvargyam

akirti-karam arjuna

“The Supreme Person [Bhagavan] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these
impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows
the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to
infamy.” (Bg. 2.2)

Arjuna, the ksatriya, was refusing to fight despite being directly ordered
by the Supreme Lord. He was thus chastised by the Lord as belonging to a
non-Aryan family. Anyone who is advanced in the devotional service of
the Lord certainly knows his duty. It does not matter whether this duty is
violent or nonviolent. If it is sanctioned and ordered by the Supreme Lord,
it must be performed. An Aryan performs his duty. It is not that the
Aryans are unnecessarily inimical to living entities. The Aryans never main-
tained slaughterhouses, and they are never enemies of poor animals. The
Pracetés underwent severe austerities for many, many years, even within
the water. Accepting austerities and penances is the avowed business of
those interested in advanced civilization.

The word nirandhasém means without food. Eating voraciously and
unnecessarily is not the business of an Aryan. Rather, the eating process
should be restricted as far as possible. When Aryans eat, they eat only
prescribed eatables. Regarding this, the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita:

patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
