A brāhmaṇa will not be required to work like śūdra. A brāhmaṇa will not be required to work like vaiśya. Therefore brāhmaṇa can beg. Paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigrahaḥ. This is brāhmaṇa's business. He must be good scholar in Vedic literature and he must teach others. Not that "I have learned everything; I'll not teach anything." No.
Brāhmaṇa must be well versed in the Vedic literature and he must preach also, make others also brāhmaṇa, paṭhana pāṭhana. Not that, "I have become brāhmaṇa, so there is no need of others becoming brāhmaṇa. There will be competition." Just like in India they have become very much afraid that I am making Europeans and Americans brāhmaṇas, so they are very much against me. They come to fight with me. So in Hyderabad they came to fight: "Sir, you are making brāhmaṇas, these Europeans and Americans? This is not good." "And why not?" So we had some discussion.
So actually it is not that brāhmaṇa is made by birth. Brāhmaṇa means cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13): by quality and work. Similarly, everything, by quality and work. This is confirmed by Nārada Muni:
- yasya yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ
- puṁso varṇābhivyañjakam
- yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta
- tat tenaiva vinirdiśet
- (SB 7.11.35)
Yad anyatra. If the brahminical qualities are visible, manifest, elsewhere . . . elsewhere . . . may be he's śūdra, may be caṇḍāla. Tat tenaiva vinirdiśet. So you . . . one should accept him as brāhmaṇa. Similarly, if one is born in brāhmaṇa family but his qualities are like śūdra, tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35), he should be accepted as śūdra. This is the injunction given by Nārada Muni, not ordinary person. Tat tenaiva vinirdiśet. And upon this, the greatest authority of comment on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīdhara Svāmī, he has commented that janma, birth, is not the chief requisition to become . . . Śama-damādi. One must be qualified with śamo damas titikṣāḥ śuci. Then he should be accepted. So it is the duty of the kṣatriya. Unfortunately, the so-called government men, they are also śūdras. The so-called priests, they are also śūdras. The so-called vaiśyas, they are śūdras. The whole world is now full of śūdras. So you cannot expect anything very nice in this situation, because everything is being conducted by śūdras.