26 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 5, Ch. 1
TEXT 14
° AN
Tats aa DORR:
AS. e bal
aged vd gaifsan: |
~ N
a Tet ated
mat aelt fargt ATIE! NVI
yad-vaci tantyarn guna-karma-damabhih
sudustarair vatsa vayam suyojitah
sarve vahamo balim isvardya
prota nasiva dvi-pade catus-padah
yat—of whom; vaci—in the form of Vedic instruction; tantyam—toa
long rope; guna—of quality; karma—and work; damabhih—by the
ropes; su-dustaraih—very difficult to avoid; vatsa—my dear boy;
vayam—we; su-yojitah—are engaged; sarve—all; vahadmah—carry
out; balim—orders to please Him; isvaraéya—unto the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead; protah—being bound; nasi—in the nose; iva—
like; dvi-pade—to the two-legged (driver); catuh-padah—the four-
legged (bulls).
TRANSLATION
My dear boy, all of us are bound by the Vedic injunctions to the
divisions of varnaSrama according to our qualities and work. These
divisions are difficult to avoid because they are scientifically ar-
ranged. We must therefore carry out our duties of varnasrama-
dharma, like bulls obliged to move according to the direction of a
driver pulling on ropes knotted to their noses.
PURPORT
In this verse, the words tantyaém guna-karma-damabhih are very im-
portant. We each get a body according to our association with the gunas,
the qualities or modes of material nature, and we act accordingly. As
stated in Bhagavad-gita, the four orders of the social system—namely
brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and sudra— are arranged according to guna
and karma, their qualities and work. There is some controversy about
