Devanagari
मुखतोऽवर्तत ब्रह्म पुरुषस्य कुरूद्वह ।
यस्तून्मुखत्वाद्वर्णानां मुख्योऽभूद्ब्राह्मणो गुरु: ॥ ३० ॥
Verse text
mukhato ’vartata brahma
puruṣasya kurūdvaha
yas tūnmukhatvād varṇānāṁ
mukhyo ’bhūd brāhmaṇo guruḥ
Synonyms
mukhataḥ
—
from the mouth
;
avartata
—
generated
;
brahma
—
the Vedic wisdom
;
puruṣasya
—
of the virāṭ-puruṣa, the gigantic form
;
kuru
—
udvaha — O chief of the Kuru dynasty
;
yaḥ
—
who are
;
tu
—
due to
;
unmukhatvāt
—
inclined to
;
varṇānām
—
of the orders of society
;
mukhyaḥ
—
the chief
;
abhūt
—
so became
;
brāhmaṇaḥ
—
called the brāhmaṇas
;
guruḥ
—
the recognized teacher or spiritual master .
Translation
O chief of the Kuru dynasty, the Vedic wisdom became manifested from the mouth of the virāṭ, the gigantic form. Those who are inclined to this Vedic knowledge are called brāhmaṇas, and they are the natural teachers and spiritual masters of all the orders of society.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O best of the Kurus! From the mouth of the universal form the Vedas appeared. The brāhmaṇas, who are the chief among the castes and the gurus of the castes, because they favorable towards the Vedas, also appeared from the mouth of the universal form.
This describes the manifestation of the varṇas. The Vedas (brahma) appeared from the mouth of the universal form, called the puruṣa because of identity with the Lord by the worshipper. The brāhmaṇas, who, because of being favorable to the Vedas, became the chief of the castes, the gurus of the castes, also appeared from the mouth.
Purport
As confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(4.13)
, the four orders of human society developed with the order of the body of the gigantic form. The bodily divisions are the mouth, arms, waist and legs. Those who are situated on the mouth are called
brāhmaṇas,
those who are situated on the arms are called
kṣatriyas,
those who are situated on the waist are called
vaiśyas,
and those who are situated on the legs are called
śūdras.
Everyone is situated in the body of the Supreme in His gigantic
viśva-rūpa
form. In terms of the four orders, therefore, no caste is to be considered degraded because of being situated on a particular part of the body. In our own bodies we do not show any actual difference in our treatment towards the hands or legs. Each and every part of the body is important, although the mouth is the most important of the bodily parts. If other parts are cut off from the body, a man can continue his life, but if the mouth is cut off, one cannot live. Therefore, this most important part of the body of the Lord is called the sitting place of the
brāhmaṇas,
who are inclined to the Vedic wisdom. One who is not inclined to the Vedic wisdom but to mundane affairs cannot be called a
brāhmaṇa,
even if he is born of a
brāhmaṇa
family or father. To have a
brāhmaṇa
father does not qualify one as a
brāhmaṇa.
The main qualification of a
brāhmaṇa
is to be inclined to the Vedic wisdom. The
Vedas
are situated on the mouth of the Lord, and therefore anyone who is inclined to the Vedic wisdom is certainly situated on the mouth of the Lord, and he is a
brāhmaṇa.
This inclination towards Vedic wisdom is also not restricted to any particular caste or community. Anyone from any family and from any part of the world may become inclined to the Vedic wisdom, and that will qualify him as a real
brāhmaṇa.
A real
brāhmaṇa
is the natural teacher or spiritual master. Unless one has Vedic knowledge, one cannot become a spiritual master. The perfect knowledge of the
Vedas
is to know the Lord, the Personality of Godhead, and that is the end of Vedic knowledge, or
Vedānta.
One who is situated in the impersonal Brahman and has no information of the Supreme Personality of Godhead may become a
brāhmaṇa,
but he cannot become a spiritual master. It is said in the
Padma Purāṇa:
ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro
mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ
avaiṣṇavo gurur na syād
vaiṣṇavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ
An impersonalist can become a qualified
brāhmaṇa,
but he cannot become a spiritual master unless and until he is promoted to the stage of a Vaiṣṇava, or a devotee of the Personality of Godhead. Lord Caitanya, the great authority of Vedic wisdom in the modern age, stated:
kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya
yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya
A person may be a
brāhmaṇa
or a
śūdra
or a
sannyāsī,
but if he happens to be well versed in the science of Kṛṣṇa, then he is fit to become a spiritual master. (Cc.
Madhya
8.128) The qualification, then, of a spiritual master is not to be a qualified
brāhmaṇa,
but to be well versed in the science of Kṛṣṇa.
One who is conversant with Vedic wisdom is a
brāhmaṇa.
And only a
brāhmaṇa
who is a pure Vaiṣṇava and knows all the intricacies of the science of Kṛṣṇa can become a spiritual master.