Devanagari
श्रीचमस उवाच
मुखबाहूरुपादेभ्य: पुरुषस्याश्रमै: सह ।
चत्वारो जज्ञिरे वर्णा गुणैर्विप्रादय: पृथक् ॥ २ ॥
Verse text
śrī-camasa uvāca
mukha-bāhūru-pādebhyaḥ
puruṣasyāśramaiḥ saha
catvāro jajṣire varṇā
guṇair viprādayaḥ pṛthak
Synonyms
śrī
—
camasaḥ uvāca — Śrī Camasa said
;
mukha
—
face
;
bāhu
—
arms
;
ūru
—
thighs
;
pādebhyaḥ
—
from the feet
;
puruṣasya
—
of the Supreme Lord
;
āśramaiḥ
—
the four spiritual orders
;
saha
—
with
;
catvāraḥ
—
four
;
jajṣire
—
were born
;
varṇāḥ
—
the social orders
;
guṇaiḥ
—
by the modes of nature
;
vipra
—
ādayaḥ — headed by the brāhmaṇas
;
pṛthak
—
various .
Translation
Śrī Camasa said: Each of the four social orders, headed by the brāhmaṇas, was born through different combinations of the modes of nature, from the face, arms, thighs and feet of the Supreme Lord in His universal form. Thus the four spiritual orders were also generated.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Camasa said: Each of the four social orders, headed by the brāhmaṇas, was born through different combinations of the modes of nature, from the face, arms, thighs and feet of the Supreme Lord in his universal form, along with the āśramas.
In order to describe the unfortunate condition of those who do not worship the Lord, first the practice of worshipping the Lord is described. The brāhmaṇas arise through sattva, the kṣatriyas arise through sattva and rajas, the vaiśyas arise through rajas and tamas and the śūdras arise through tamas. Though it says in this verse that the four āśramas arose in the same way, they do not arise starting from the head. It will be said:
gṛhāśramo jaghanato brahmacaryaṁ hṛdo mama |
vakṣaḥ-sthalād vane vāso nyāsaś śirṣaṇi ca sthitaḥ ||
The gṛhaṣthas are situated in the hips, the brahmacārīs in the heart, the vanaprasthas in the chest and the sannyāsīs in the head. SB 11.17.14
Thus the sequence for the varṇas is head, arms, thighs and feet whereas for the āśramas it is hips, heart, chest and head. In this way the varṇas arose along with the āśramas.
Purport
Those who are not spontaneously attracted to the devotional service of the Lord can be gradually purified by observing the
varṇāśrama
system of four social orders and four spiritual orders. According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, the
brāhmaṇas
are born of the mode of goodness, the
kṣatriyas
of a combination of goodness and passion, the
vaiśyas
of a combination of passion and ignorance and the
śūdras
of the mode of ignorance. Just as the four social orders are born from the face, arms, thighs and feet of the Lord’s universal form, similarly the
brahmacārīs
are generated from the heart of the Lord, the householder order from His loins, the
vānaprasthas
from His chest and the
sannyāsa
order from His head.
A similar verse is found in the
Ṛk-saṁhitā
(8.4.19), as well as the
Śukla-yajur Veda
(34.11) and the
Atharva Veda
(19.66):
brāhmaṇo ’sya mukham āsīd
bāhū rājanyaḥ kṛtaḥ
ūrū tad asya yad vaiśyaḥ
padbhyāṁ śūdro ’jāyata
“The
brāhmaṇa
appeared as His face, the king as His arms, the
vaiśya
as His thighs, and the
śūdra
was born from His feet.”
It is understood that pure devotional service to the Lord has already been described by two of the Yogendras, Drumila and Āvirhotra. Camasa Muni now describes the system of
varṇāśrama-dharma,
because this system is meant to gradually purify those who are inimical to the Supreme Lord, bringing them back to their constitutional position of love of Godhead. Similarly, the
virāṭ-rūpa,
or universal form of the Lord, is an imaginary form meant to help the gross materialists gradually understand the position of the Personality of Godhead. Since the foolish materialist cannot understand anything beyond matter, he is encouraged to see the entire universe as a personal form of the Supreme Lord’s body. The impersonal conception of formlessness is a mere negation of temporary material variety without any concept of the Lord’s spiritual potency. The impersonal view is another kind of material speculative conception. The Supreme Lord is full of spiritual potencies under the principal headings
hlādinī,
or unlimited bliss,
sandhinī,
or eternal existence, and
saṁvit,
or omniscience. It is understood from this verse that the
varṇāśrama-dharma
system generated from the universal form of the Lord is a program offered by the Lord to engage the conditioned souls in a complete social and religious system that gradually brings them back home, back to Godhead.