Text 10] Narada Instructs the Pracetas 1567

tathd diksa-vidhanena
dvijatvam jayate nrnam

“As bell-metal, when mixed with mercury, is transformed to gold, a per-
son, even though not golden pure, can be transformed into a brahmana or
dvija simply by the initiation process.” Thus if one is initiated by a proper
person, he can be accepted as twice-born immediately. In our Krsna con-
sciousness movement, we therefore offer the student his first initiation and
allow him to chant the Hare Krsna mahd-mantra. By chanting the Hare
Krsna maha@-mantra regularly and following the regulative principles, one
becomes qualified to be initiated as a brahmana because unless one is a
qualified brahmana he cannot be allowed to worship Lord Visnu. This is
called yajnika-janma. In our Krsna consciousness society, unless one is
twice initiated—first by chanting Hare Krsna and second by the Gayatri
mantra—he is not allowed to enter the kitchen or Deity room to execute
duties. However, when one is elevated to the platform on which he can
worship the Deity, his previous birth does not matter.

candalo ’pi dvija-srestho
hari-bhakti-parayanah

hari-bhakti-vihinas ca
dvijo ‘pi §vapacadhamah

“Even if one is born in the family of a candala, if one engages in the devo-
tional service of the Lord, he becomes the best of brahmanas. But even a
brahmana who is devoid of devotional service is on the level of the lowest
dog-eater.”

If a person is advanced in devotional service, it does not matter whether
he was born in a candala family. He becomes purified. As Sri Prahlada

Maharaj id:
—_—s viprad dvisad-guna-yutdd aravinda-nabha-

padaravinda-vimukhdc chvapacam varistham
(Bhag. 7.9.10)

Even if one is a brahmana and is qualified with all the brahminical qualifi-
cations, he is considered degraded if he is averse to worshiping the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. But if a person is attached to the service
of the Lord, he becomes glorified even if he is born in a canddla family.
Indeed, such a candala can deliver not only himself but all his family pre-
decessors. Without devotional service, even a proud brahmana cannot de-
liver himself, and what to speak of his family. In many instances in the
Sdstras it is seen that even a brahmana has become a ksatriya, vaisya, stidra,
mleccha or non-brahmana. And there are many instances of one’s being
