So these are the some of the glorious points of this fight. But he depended on Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna. Therefore he was successful, victorious. You do, act as kṣatriya. Not that as kṣatriya he should become a brāhmaṇa beggar, no. A kṣatriya cannot be beggar, neither a brāhmaṇa cannot be vaiśya. This is real caste system. But you work as a cobbler, and at the same time you claim to become a brāhmaṇa, this is not allowed. Formerly the king used to see whether a brāhmaṇa is acting like a brāhmaṇa. Otherwise he will be stopped. Then he will be designated as he is working. This was the duty of the king to see that everyone is employed according to his profession. It was the duty of the king to see. Everyone must be employed. A brāhmaṇa must be working like a brāhmaṇa. A kṣatriya must be working like a kṣatriya. A vaiśya must be working as a... Otherwise he cannot say.
Cobbler
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 4
A devotee is equipoised. He sees everyone on the same transcendental platform. A devotee knows that although a conditioned soul has a particular type of body according to his past fruitive activities, factually everyone is part of the Supreme Lord. A devotee sees all living entities with spiritual vision and does not discriminate on the platform of the bodily concept of life. Such qualities develop only in the association of devotees. Without the association of devotees, one cannot advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore, we have established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Factually, whoever lives in this society automatically develops Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Devotees are dear to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is only dear to devotees. On this platform only can one make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Persons in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or devotees of the Lord, can please everyone, as is evident in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We invite everyone, without discrimination; we request everyone to sit down and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and take as much prasāda as we can supply, and thus everyone is pleased with us. This is the qualification. Sarva-bhūtānurañjanāḥ. As for purification, no one can be more pure than devotees. Anyone who once utters the name of Viṣṇu immediately becomes purified, inside and outside (yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam). Since a devotee constantly chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, no contamination of the material world can touch him. He is, therefore, actually purified. Muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. It is said that even a cobbler or person born in the family of a cobbler can be elevated to the position of a brāhmaṇa (śuci) if he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Any person who is purely Kṛṣṇa conscious and who engages in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is the purest in the whole universe.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Instruction
There are many incidents that illustrate this point. Once a great karmī accumulated a vast fortune for his sons and grandsons, but later, according to his karma, he took his birth in a cobbler's house located near the building which in his previous life he had constructed for his children. It so happened that when this very cobbler came to his former house, his former sons and grandsons beat him with shoes. Unless the karmīs and jñānīs become interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they will simply continue to waste their life in fruitless activities.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
This child is given a room, an apartment, according to his capacity of paying rent. And the other child is given another apartment, very luxurious apartment, according to his capacity of rent-paying. This is called karma-kāṇḍa. According to your karma, or work, you get a body, either as a king's son or a cobbler's son or a dog's son or a cat's son or a tree's son or a plant's son. This is the nature. This is to be understood. Kṛṣṇa said in the last verse that "Don't think we did not exist in the past. We are existing at present, and we shall continue to exist in the future." Exactly like that, that we live in one apartment. Then, if I am able to pay more rent, I transfer to another apartment. Or if I cannot pay the present rent, then I'll have to move to another, less rented apartment.
Here it is said. Kṛṣṇa says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam, you cannot cancel this system of varṇāśrama. Then you will suffer. You cannot cancel. You must accept, that there must be a class of men, real, brāhmaṇa. Not that "I am born in a brāhmaṇa family and I am doing the work of a cobbler. Still, I am a brāhmaṇa. No, not like that. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. Kṛṣṇa never says that brāhmaṇa is born in a brāhmaṇa family. Here it is clearly said, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Guṇa means quality. As you purchase something, that it is good quality, nice quality, similarly, you should accept a brāhmaṇa, a kṣatriya, a vaiśya, a śūdra, by the quality and by the work.
You will get birth. Śucīnām means first-class brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava. Śuci. Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bāhyābhyantara-śuciḥ.
Śuci means brāhmaṇa, and muci means cobbler. Muci means cobbler. There is a Bengali verse, śuci haya muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyaje. The first line is muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje: "One who takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even he is born in the family of cobbler, muci..." Everyone knows, Indians. So muci haya śuci haya, although he is born in the family of a muci, cobbler, he becomes śuci, a brāhmaṇa, by, yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje, if he is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, if he is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje or śuci haya muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyaje: "If one is born of a brāhmaṇa family, but gives up Kṛṣṇa bhajana, devotional life, he becomes a muci." Karmaṇā. Because he's changed his karma.
When typhoid is there, it does not discriminate that "Here is a rich body. I shall give him less pain." No. When the typhoid is there, either your body is rich body or poor body, you have to suffer the same pain. When you are within the womb of your mother, you have to suffer the same pain, either you become in the queen's womb or in the cobbler's wife's womb. That packed up situation... But they do not know. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā. There are so many sufferings. In the process of birth. There are so many sufferings in the process of birth and death and old age. A rich man or poor man, when we are old, we have to suffer so many invalidity.
"Sir, where you are going?" He said, "I am going to Vṛndāvana, yes, Vaikuṇṭha, to see my Lord." "Oh, you are going there?" Nārada Muni has got free passage to everyone. So, "Will you ask Nārāyaṇa when my liberation will come?" "All right, I shall ask." Then he met another cobbler. He was sewing shoes. So he also asked, "Sir, where you are going?" "Now I am going to Vaikuṇṭha to see my Lord." So, "Will you ask when I shall get salvation?" So Nārada Muni noted, "All right, I shall ask." So when Nārada Muni met Nārāyaṇa, he, after finishing his business, he asked the two men's question, that "These two men, one very learned scholar, brāhmaṇa, he also asked me this question, and the cobbler also asked me." So Nārāyaṇa said "This cobbler will get his salvation after finishing this life, and this brāhmaṇa will have to take, wait for many, many births."
So he immediately said, "All right, sir, namaskāra. Your, all these big, big stories we cannot believe, that an elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle." And the same question was raised by the cobbler, and he, Nārada Muni replied in the same way. And he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful. He can do anything." So Nārada Muni inquired that "How do you believe that the elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle?" "Now, why not? I am seeing daily. I am sitting under this banyan tree and there is fig, banyan fruit, and there are thousands of seeds, and I know that each seed's containing a big tree like this."
So when he was passing on the road, so one very learned brāhmaṇa and taking thrice bath and everything very nicely, he asked Nārada Muni, "Oh, you are going to Lord. Will you inquire when I shall get my salvation?" "All right. I shall ask." And then another cobbler, he was under the tree, sewing the shoes, old shoes. He also saw Nārada Muni. He also inquired, "Will you kindly inquire from God when my salvation is...?" Now, when he inquired Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa... Nārada Muni goes generally to Nārāyaṇa, in another planet. So "Yes, two, one brāhmaṇa and one cobbler, they inquired like this. So may I know what is their destination?"
"Well, yes, the cobbler, this after giving up this body, he's coming here at Vaikuṇṭha." "And what about that brāhmaṇa?" "Oh, he has to remain there still so many births, or I do not know when he's coming." So Nārada Muni was astonished, that "I saw that he's very nice brāhmaṇa, and he's a cobbler. Why is that?" So he inquired that "I could not, cannot understand the mystery. Why You say that cobbler is coming this, after this body, and why not this brāhmaṇa?" "Oh, that will, you'll understand. If they inquire that 'What Kṛṣṇa, or Nārāyaṇa, was doing in the, in His abode,' so just explain that He was taking one elephant from the holes of a," I mean to say, what is called...?
"Oh, therefore I have no faith in your... I, I, I have got all respect for your garb, but we don't believe all this nonsense." Then Nārada could understand, "Oh, this man has no faith. He simply reads book. That's all." And when he went to the cobbler, he also asked, "Oh, you have seen? What Nārāyaṇa was doing?" He also said that "He was doing like this..." Oh, he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is wonderful. He can do anything." So Nārada inquired, "So do you believe that Lord can push one elephant through the holes of a needle?" "Oh, why not? I must believe." "Then what is your reason?" "Oh, my reason?
We have no other explanation. But we have to understand in this way. Our reasoning, our argument, our logic should go in this way.
So those who are devotee... Just like the cobbler. He may be a cobbler. They believe everything. And those who are not devotee, they'll say, "Oh, these are all bluffs. It is all bluff." But they are not bluff. It is simply meant for the devotees. They can understand. The nondevotees, they cannot understand. Yes.
Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bāhyābhyantaraṁ śuciḥ. So you have to cleansed yourself externally and internally.
By remembering, yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam, the lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa, if you always think, that is śuci. And in Bengali there is a word, poetry, muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. If one is Kṛṣṇa conscious, even if he is born in a cobbler's family, muci... In India there are two things, muci and śuci. Śuci means perfect brāhmaṇa, and muci means cobbler, the shoemaker. So muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. If one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, even if he is born in the family of a muci, camāra, he can become a brāhmaṇa. And śuci haya muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyaje. And if he gives up Kṛṣṇa, even if he's born in a brāhmaṇa family, he becomes a muci.
To rise early in the morning and cleanse yourself, evacuate, then take bath, cleanse your teeth, cleanse your hands, legs, and be refreshed, that is required. Śaucam. Śuci. This is the brāhmaṇa's business. Just like brāhmaṇa's another name is śuci. And one who does not observe the cleanliness process, he is called muci, means cobbler. So this is the symptom, that the asuras, they do not know which way is their goal of life. Na śaucam: "They are very unclean." Na śaucam.
We cleanse external body and internally by cleansing the intestine, the heart, the mind, the consciousness. That is internally cleansing. And external. Both cleansed one must be. Bāhya abhyantara-śuciḥ. Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bāhya abhyantara-śuciḥ. Because they are not śuci... Śuci means brāhmaṇas, always cleansed, hygienic. That is śuci. And muci. Muci means cobbler. There is a class in India, cobbler. Their business is to take away the dead animals, especially cows. Other animals, they do not care. They are taken by the vultures and others. But when a cow is dead, that is very important. Cow is alive important and dead also important. It is so important. When the cow is dead the skin is valuable, the hoof is valuable, the horn is valuable, the bones are valuable. Everything is valuable. Just like elephant. Dead or alive, it is one lakh of rupees.
And if the elephant is dead, that is also one lakh of rupees because it contains the ivory bones, very, very costly. So there are animals; either dead or alive, the price is the same. Similarly, cow, dead or alive, the price is the same.
So this cobbler... Just like we are protecting cows. We cannot kill for the skin, but these asuras, they are killing thousands and thousands of cows for getting the skin, only for the skin. So if you are interested in the skin, if you are interested in the flesh, so at least wait for the time the animal will die. There is no doubt about it. So at least let him, let her die natural death. Why you should kill? You can take at that time the skin, the bone, the hoof.
Tanning with oil and keeping it in the sunshine, the skin becomes soft and durable, and then you can prepare shoes. A class of men, muci. So there was no problem. And the bones you gather together and keep in a place. In due course of time it will become very good fertilization. And they can eat the flesh also. Only the cobbler class, the muci class, they eat this cow's flesh after taking the dead animal. So after killing, everyone eats, so why not wait for the natural death and eat it?
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Prahlāda Mahārāja said, sukhum aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām. You, you are destined to a certain standard of sukha, happiness, according to your body. Just like a man is born in a millionaire's family, family. He has got a type of body so the enjoyment is there, and it is..., and at the same time a man is born in a cobbler's family, he cannot expect the enjoyment of the millionaire's family. That is not possible, because he has got a different type of body and he has got a different type of body. So śāstra says, as you have got body, so your happiness, let us take the happiness portion. Distress also is there. There cannot be any unalloyed happiness. There must be distress. But you take only the good portion, happiness portion.
Everyone is very happy. This is called māyā's influence. Unless a hog feels happy, how he can live in this abominable life? This is called prakṣepātmika-śakti, covering. If one man knows or..., that "I was king in my previous life. Now I have become a poor cobbler" or something like..., then he will become mad. So therefore he forgets. Death means forget. Because the living entity does not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). There is no death. Death means forgetting everything of my past life. That's all. Just like we forget. At night, when we dream, we accept another body, and we forget this body. And in the daytime we forget the night dream body and accept this body.
So śāstra says that what is the meaning of this decoration? What benefit the man who is dead, what benefit he's getting? Suppose you make lips very smiling, but actually that man is smiling? (laughter) Similarly, in India also, the cobbler class men, they, during their life, they will dress very wretchedly, not spend money, but after death they will purchase some velvet and cover the body and very nicely decorate, and with band party they'll take, lead the dead body. Aprāṇasyeva dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. So it may be very much pleasing to the relatives. Just like the dead body's decorated. The sons of that dead body may see him, that "Oh, my father is smiling." (laughter) But he does not know where his father has already gone. You see?
Similarly, this body is dead. It is numbered: this dead body will remain for such and such time. That is called duration of life. But people are interested with this dead body exactly like the cobbler class or these decorating men. So decoration of the dead body. Aprāṇasyeva... Aprāṇasya means dead. Aprāṇasyeva maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. Loka-rañjanam: "It is very pleasing to the relatives." That's all. Similarly, to get liberation, nirañjanam-nirañjanam means to get out of this so-called decoration of the dead body—one requires to acquire knowledge.
They are called pañcamas, fifth grade. First grade, brāhmaṇa, second grade, kṣatriya, third grade, vaiśya, fourth grade, śūdra, and all others—fifth grade. They are called caṇḍālas. The caṇḍālas... The sweeper, the cobbler, and the... Low grade. Still, in India, these fifth-grade persons only, they eat meat, pigs, and sometimes cows. Fifth grade. Now it has become a practice. And he's a first-grade man. So just see. What was the business of the fifth-grade men, that has become the business of the so-called politicians. You see. So if you are ruled by the fifth-grade men, then how you can be happy? That is not possible. How there can be any social tranquillity? That is not possible.
Whether you are actually qualified as a brāhmaṇa? Whether you are working as a brāhmaṇa?" It is the state's duty to see. It is the king's duty. He may not misguide others.
Just like nowadays a so-called brāhmaṇa is working as a cobbler, and he is claiming to become brāhmaṇa. Not like that. It is the... Just like a medical man. A medical man, if he wants to practice, then he must get certificate from the medical board, registration. The medical board will see whether he is qualified as a medical man, whether he has passed medical examination. Then he will be allowed to practice as a medical man. So whenever a medical practitioner gives you a prescription along with his name, he gives his title, M.D., B.S. and registered number. That means he is approved. Then he can practice.
Bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya jātiḥ śāstraṁ japas tapaḥ. All these are simply decoration of the dead body. I do not know whether in your country it is a fashion. In India there is a custom that low-class men... Just like cobbler. Cobbler is taken as the low..., those who prepare, expert in skin. So they are generally very poor man. Now they have advanced, because now the Kali-yuga is the age of the śūdras. So they decorate the dead body. If a cobbler's father dies, he brings, he spends money. He brings nice covering cloth, and with flower and everything...
Therefore he has to begin next life... He is given chance next life. What is that? Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe. He takes birth in two families. What is that? Śucīnām. Śucīnām means brāhmaṇa, śuci. Śuci means brāhmaṇa: always clean and pure. Therefore they are called śuci. And muci. Muci means cobbler, just the end. That is the lowest, and this is the highest, śuci and muci. There is a Bengali poetry: śuci haya muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyaje, muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. If somebody takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even born in the family of cobbler, muci, he becomes śuci. He becomes more than a brāhmaṇa. And muci haya śuci haya. If one is born in the family of a brāhmaṇa, but he... (sounds of fireworks) ...but if he gives up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he becomes a muci.
It is not that Kṛṣṇa is open for the brāhmaṇas, the learned scholars or the Hindus or the Muslims or Christian, no, Kṛṣṇa is open for everyone. Striyo śūdra tathā vaiśyās te 'pi yānti param, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32), even pāpa-yonayaḥ. Pāpa-yoni means low class. Just like in our country we have got low class people, the cobbler muci, the caṇḍālas the dog-eaters. They are considered as low class. So Kṛṣṇa is open even for the low class.
The praviśanti is there. In the material world you are praviśanti from one body to another, and you are suffering.
So long you get this body, you must suffer. Either you get the king's body or the cobbler's body or ant's body or dog's body, to accept material body means suffering. There cannot be akuto-bhayam. Unless you enter in the spiritual world with your spiritual body, there is no question of akuto-bhayam. So that akuto-bhayam is possible when you are practiced to bhakti-yogam.
Mantravit. Mantravit and śuci. Śuci means brāhmaṇa, and muci means non-brāhmaṇa.
There are two words still current in the Hindu society: śuci and muci. Muci means cobbler, dealing with skin. "I am this skin," "I am white skin," "I am black skin," "I am American skin," "I am Indian skin"—this understanding means muci. And muci is skin expert. "This is cow skin. This is goat skin. It is lamb skin." This is... He is called muci, skin expert. Modern technology has given the title "tannery expert." So this "tannery expert," if you become tannery expert, then you are muci. So there is a Bengali proverb, muci haya śuci haya, yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. Every one of us, we are all tannery expert and we have created so many "isms" on the basis of becoming a tannery expert. Therefore they are called muci.
To understand Brahman, to understand the situation of this world, they understand spiritual knowledge. Those who are engaged in such cultivation of knowledge, they were called brāhmaṇa. But at the present moment anyone who is born in the family of a brāhmaṇa, he is called a brāhmaṇa. But actually he may be a cobbler. But that is not the idea.
So these eight divisions of human society, scientific division of human society, is now lost. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed that kalau, "In this age," nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā, "there is no other alternative for advancement of human society's goal of life." Because human society is meant for advancing in the goal of life, and that goal of life is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The brahmacārī, the disciple, must have genuine love for guru. Then he can be under his control. Otherwise why one should be under the control of another person? Therefore it is said, ācaran dāsavat. Dāsa. Dāsa means servant. Not only servant, but menial servant. Menial servant means just like the sweeper, the cobbler, like that. They are called menial servants. So in India there is system. The sweeper class is different, the cobbler class is different, and domestic servant is different, and the barber, he is also servant, different. The washerman, he is also servant. So nīca means just like the washerman or the barber or the cobbler. They are less than the domestic servant at home. They are śūdras, and they are considered less than the śūdras, pañcama. So a disciple is expected to live in gurukula or... Gurukula means at the shelter of guru; nicavat, menial servant.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
So the brāhmaṇa asked him, "Oh, you are going to meet Nārāyaṇa. Will you kindly inquire for me when my..., when I shall be liberated." Nārada Muni said, "Yes, I shall inquire." Similarly, on the way, he met one cobbler. He also inquired Nārada Muni where he was going, and he said, will you kindly inquire from Lord Nārāyaṇa when he would be liberated? So when Nārada Muni met Nārāyaṇa, so he inquired—because he's saintly person; he promised—that "Such and such brāhmaṇa inquired like this, and the, and a cobbler also inquired like this." So Nārāyaṇa said, "The, this cobbler will be liberated in this life, and that brāhmaṇa will take some time, some many births."
So Nārāyaṇa said, "The, this cobbler will be liberated in this life, and that brāhmaṇa will take some time, some many births."
So Nārada Muni became astonished that he, he was a learned scholar and brāhmaṇa, and he would take so much time, and the cobbler would be liberated in this life. "Oh, what is the reason, Sir?" So Nārāyaṇa gave him one needle, and He requested him that "When they inquire what Nārāyaṇa was doing, you can say that Nārāyaṇa was pulling one elephant through the hole of the needle, this side and that side," in this way. So when he came back, the brāhmaṇa said, "Sir, you are... I offer my respectful obeisances unto you and Nārāyaṇa. We cannot believe this, that through the needle or through the hole of a needle, a elephant is being passed, this side and that side." And when it was informed to the cobbler, he began to cry.
And so many," what is called, "figs are falling down. And each fig there are thousands of small seeds, and in each seed there is a banyan tree. So if Nārāyaṇa can keep thousands of banyan trees within this fig fruit, how it is not possible for Him to pull an elephant through the hole of a needle?"
So this is called faith. The faith is not blind. There is proof. He, the cobbler was not blindly believing that Nārāyaṇa was pulling an elephant through the hole of an needle, but he sees practically the potency, the power of the Lord, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10), how He keeps all the potencies of the banyan tree within the seed. So otherwise there is no meaning, "all-powerful." He can do whatever He likes. Inconceivable. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī therefore explains that unless we believe (in the) inconceivable potency of the Lord, then we cannot understand that activities...
It doesn't matter whether one is a gṛhastha or one is a sannyāsī or one is a brāhmaṇa or not brāhmaṇa. It doesn't matter. Because this is not the science of this physiological ana..., anatomical science, or cobbler's science. Cobbler's science means cobbler knows what kind of skin it is. It is not like that. Neither cobbler's science nor anatomical science or physiological science. Bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam. It is another science. So anyone who is well-versed in bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam, he's, he can become guru. Not others. And in many places this is confirmed, that ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro. A brāhmaṇa, very well expert in his business... Brāhmaṇa's business means ṣaṭ-karma, six kinds of karma. Paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigraha. A brāhmaṇa must be very learned scholar.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
What is that implication? Implication is that your sinful life will get you next body which is also sinful. And again you suffer. Suffering there is. As soon as you get material body, there is suffering. It may be a king's body or it may be a cobbler's body, it doesn't matter, the suffering is there. But because these people are māyayāpahṛta-jñānā, they are accepting suffering as pleasure. This is called māyā. He's suffering, but he is thinking it is a good pleasure. Just like the pig. He's eating stool, and he's thinking he's enjoying life. This is called ignorant. He does not know that he's suffering. Māyā has given his body to suffer, but even in the pig's body, he's thinking that is enjoying life. This is called māyā. Mohitaṁ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam (BG 7.13). This is called illusion. Illusion.
So for them also, it is guaranteed a human life. Not only human life, but in very good family. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe. Śucīnām means by perfectly well behaved, cleansed family, brāhmaṇa family. Śucīnām. Śuci means very clean. So you are becoming all brāhmaṇas. You must remain always very clean. Śucīnām, that is called śuci. And muci means unclean, cobbler. Śuci and muci. So don't become muci. (laughter) Yes. Uncleanliness is muci, cobbler. They are dealing always with skin, and bad smell, and no bathing. So in our country, muci, the cobbler, is taken as the lowest of the mankind, narādhamāḥ, because their business is when the cow dies, so the mucis are prepared to take away the dead cow or bull. They eat the flesh, and they take out the skin and the bones for their business. Muci prepare shoes. He gets the skin for nothing, without any payment. He doesn't have to invest his capital, and he nicely cleanses it, tans, and then prepares shoes and sell in the market. So get the money.
Initiation Lectures
Not ordinary. He's Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura is one of the ācāryas. He has written Caitanya-Bhāgavata. As there is Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, he has written Caitanya-Bhāgavata. Perhaps you have heard the name. So his opinion is, muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. Muci and śuci, just opposite. Muci means the most nasty cobbler. He eats everything and does all nonsense. He is called muci. Muci means cobbler. In India, when a cow or bull dies, these muci class are called to take away the carcass. So they take it away and they take out the skin and tan it for... This is the original system of shoe-making. And make some shoes and sell in the market.
So this business is done by the muci class. And they take the flesh also. After taking out the skin, the flesh they take. Therefore they are considered very low class, muci. And śuci means brāhmaṇa. So Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura says, muci haya śuci haya. A cobbler, muci, can become a śuci, yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje, if he's Kṛṣṇa conscious. That's all. If he's Kṛṣṇa conscious, never mind he is a cobbler, he becomes immediately brāhmaṇa. Muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. Śuci haya muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyaje. And even if he's born in a brāhmaṇa family, if he gives up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's immediately cobbler. So don't lose this opportunity. Always remember Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. (laughter) Don't become cobbler. (break)
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: No. The thing is just like Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). This is going on all over the world. The occupation is that just like engineering occupation. So who can become engineer? Guṇa-karma, one who has acquired the qualification of engineering profession and is actually acting as engineer. That is wanted. Guṇa-karma. Kṛṣṇa never says, "Birth" But later on, because an engineer trains his boy as engineer, so naturally he becomes also engineer. Formerly, as we understand from the history of Ajāmila... He was a son of a brāhmaṇa, and he was being trained up as a brāhmaṇa. That was the system. Not that because he has born in the brāhmaṇa family he becomes brāhmaṇa. No. He has got the chance of being trained up as brāhmaṇa by the brāhmaṇa father. So it became later on as caste, by birth, because naturally a brāhmaṇa father trains his son to become brāhmaṇa. But when the brāhmaṇa's son becomes a cobbler, that does not mean he is still brāhmaṇa.
Prabhupāda: Tadīya lakṣaṇaṁ dṛśyeta tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35). If a brāhmaṇa's son has become a cobbler, he should be called a cobbler, or a cobbler's son has become a brāhmaṇa, he should be called a brāhmaṇa. Not by the birth. But it became a qualification of birth because formerly it was easy, because he is dealing with his father and father is brāhmaṇa, so automatically, fifty percent he becomes brāhmaṇa, and fifty percent by training, then he becomes complete brāhmaṇa—by association, by family. So it is not that a cobbler cannot become brāhmaṇa if he also acquires the qualification of a brāhmaṇa. Nārada said, tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35). If he has already acquired the qualification of brāhmaṇa then he should be called a brāhmaṇa. Not that a brāhmaṇa's sons becomes qualified as a cobbler, tannery expert, and he remains brāhmaṇa. That is not. He has no knowledge. That means if you have studied all the Vedic literature, he could not say like that. The injunction is tadīya lakṣaṇaṁ dṛśyeta.
Prabhupāda: The qualification, if you find elsewhere, then he should be designated by the qualification. A doctor's son, instead of taking up the life of medical life, if he becomes engineer, so he should be called engineer, not doctor. Tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35), it is clearly said. So the, Kṛṣṇa's plan, that "I have created four divisions according to quality and work," cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma (BG 4.13), that is final. One must have the qualification and he must work. If... He must have the brahminical qualification and he must act as a brāhmaṇa. Simply theoretical will not do. Just like we are giving sacred thread to a person who is born in low family, but we are training him also to act as a brāhmaṇa. Not that you take the sacred thread and go be..., work as cobbler. No. You must be engaged in Deity worship, brāhmaṇa's work, business, then you are a brāhmaṇa. Otherwise you are not a brāhmaṇa.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So the florist is given a certain tract of land free, and let him produce flower and make business. But the quantity of flower I require for my temple, he must supply daily. Similarly, the bandsman, he should come and play band. Everything was on land distribution. That was the system. And tax was paid to the government. Not by assessment. Uh, assessment... Whatever your land production is there, you give to the government one-fourth. That's all. If you have produced 1,000 mound grains, you have to give to the government 250 mounds. And if you have produced 100, then you give 25. So there is no question of harassment. Whatever is the production is there... So these profession is accepted from Vedic time, different kinds of men engaged in different kinds of activities. Maybe a florist, maybe a potter, maybe a cobbler, maybe anything, grain producer... So many, society requires so many things.
Prabhupāda: Now, if you want to become engineer, so you have to change your occupation as potter. But in the spiritual world you haven't got to change your position, and still, you get success, spiritual life. That is the beauty. You haven't got to change. If somebody says that "Sir, I am potter. How can I be Kṛṣṇa conscious? It requires that one should be a brāhmaṇa, one should be very learned man, Vedānta philosophy, and one must have the sacred thread, and this and that. So I am a potter. I am a cobbler. I am a washerman." No. Kṛṣṇa says, "No." You do not require to change. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also says, "You do not require to change." Kṛṣṇa says that svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya. You just try to worship the Supreme Lord by the result of your occupation.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Temple is open for everyone. Let them come and sit down, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, hear Bhagavad-gītā. We don't say, "Oh, are you potter? No. You are not allowed." We don't say that. "Are you cobbler? Oh, you are not allowed." No. We don't say that. Everyone is welcome. Come on. And what is the business? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Everyone can do it. And what is the next business? We read some nice philosophical portion from Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Yes. You have got ears. (shouts:) But the rascals are not coming! That is their rascaldom. Because they will go to hell. We are offering the greatest facility, but they are so rascals they are not coming. This is a rascaldom civilization. What is difficulty there? You come, sit down, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, take nice prasādam, hear philosophy, see nice pictures, decorated Deity.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) This is material life. We are rounding sometimes this way, sometimes that way, and we are thinking "new." (devotees laugh) Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona (CC Madhya 19.151). In this way you are wandering all over the universe. Find out something new. But there is nothing new. Everything is old. (break) ...a living entity is offered change of the body. You see? When he becomes fatigued of this life, "It's so troublesome"—old men generally think like that. So he has to change another, another new body, child. Since born he is taken care, he thinks "Now, I have got so comfortable life." And again becomes old, disgusted, so he cannot live disgusting, therefore Kṛṣṇa is so kind: "All right, change body again." Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Chewing the chewed. The business is the same, but changing body gives some relief. Just like these men, the business is they're wasting time by changing, wasting time at home, come to the golf club. That's all. The business is the same—wasting time, either here or there. Kṛṣṇa is giving so much facilities. Sometimes, "All right, you become tree." "All right, some, become a serpent," "All right, you become a demigod," "All right, you become a human being," "All right, you become king," "You become a cobbler," "You go to the heavenly planets," "Go to the hellish planets." Varieties is there.
Prabhupāda: We have..., taking sacred thread has qualities less than śūdra. Camaras, cobblers. Camara means expert in skin. I am white, I am black, I am this, I am that. That is camara. Expert in skin. (break) People are very receptive?
Devotee: Yes, especially Gujarati and Marwari communities.
Prabhupāda: Ah.
Devotee: The south Indians, they are not so receptive. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...men, so everyone should be very alert in their behavior. Rising early in the morning, taking bath, be prepared for maṅgala āratik immediately. Then class. Everything in regulated way. (break) ...and still everyone comes to the point, "I know everything." This point.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Some of them do not; some of them do, but under restriction, and that is restricted with the goat animal. Less than the śūdras-caṇḍālas, pañcama, fifth grade—they eat everything. Especially they eat—because cow protection in India is very strict—so these caṇḍālas, fifth grade men, they eat generally pigs. Pigs they eat. Outside the village, they have their residential quarters, and they fry live pigs. And they make... Not daily; sometimes. But they eat pigs, and amongst them, there is a class—they are cobblers—they eat this cows' flesh when the animal is dead, not living and we'll kill.
Bernard Manischewitz: He dies his own natural death?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because the higher class, they keep cows, they maintain, but after all, the animal will die. So when the animal dies, they call for this cobbler class, and he takes away the dead cows. So he gets out the skin, hooves, bones and flesh, they eat, and this skin is tanned by them, and they prepare shoes. So they get their raw material without any price.
Bernard Manischewitz: I see, yes. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: They are poor class. So our program, "When he will die," so they wait for the death of the animal and get the skin, hoof, bones, they make trade. (to devotee:) So what is this key, the elmira?
Jagadīśa: Cobbler?
Prabhupāda: Cobbler is less than śūdra. Yes. Cobbler means when the cows die, the cobbler may take it. If he wants, he can eat the flesh, and he can utilize the bone, hoofs. He can prepare... He gets the skin without any price. So he can make shoes and he'll make some profit. And because he is cobbler, he can be allowed to eat meat, fifth-class... Not that "Professor such-and-such," and eating meat. This is the degradation of society. He is doing the work of a brāhmaṇa—teacher means brāhmaṇa—and eating meat-Oh, horrible! Śyāmasundara? So make, organize. I can give you the idea, but I'll not live very long. If you can carry out, you can change the whole... Especially if you can change America, then whole world will change. Then the whole world... And it is the duty because they are kept in darkness and ignorance, then the human life is being spoiled.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So similarly, when the cow is dead, you dig, or put it within the.... Or take it. No, nobody will object. In India, that is the system. When the cow is dead, there is a class, they are called cobblers, camar(?). They are informed and they'll come. They'll take it. And they'll eat the flesh and take the skin, and tan it in their own method, and then prepare shoes. They sell it in the market. So without any price, they get the skin, they eat the flesh. So nobody is harmed. But there is a class.... (break) ...they are not going to starve. From economic point of view, it is very good. So why you are killing and maintaining so big, big slaughterhouse? Let everyone maintain the cows for taking milk. And when it dies, you take it, you meat-eaters. Make that arrangement.
Prabhupāda: And when the real question is there, mattaḥ kore het. Ceylon jumping, melancholy. Hanumān jumped over the ocean, so other monkeys, they also become very proud: "I am..., Hanumān is our leader, we can...," "Can you jump over Ceylon?" Mattaḥ het. (break) ...speak all these things, Indian villagers, they will immediately believe. One cobbler.... I think I narrated this story. Nārada Muni was going to Vaikuṇṭha. Did I say that?
Hari-śauri: I think this story's in Rāja-vidyā, that small book. The one about the brāhmaṇa and the cobbler?
Hari-śauri: I think this story's in Rāja-vidyā, that small book. The one about the brāhmaṇa and the cobbler?
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. Cobbler immediately believed when he was informed by Nārada Muni that "I saw God is pulling one elephant through the hole of a needle, this side and again this side." The brāhmaṇa did not believe it. And as soon as the cobbler, he was also devotee, oh, he began to pray, "Oh, my Lord can do anything." Nārada Muni, "You believed it?" "Yes, why not?" "How do you believe it?" "I am daily seeing. I am underneath the tree, and so many figs are dropping, and each fig has got thousands of seeds, and in each seed there is another tree. Why should I not believe it?" He did not believe it blindly. With reason, and he gave immediately reason: "When I see this fig tree, big fig tree, and there are millions of figs dropping, and in each fig there are millions of seeds, and each seed there is.... Why shall I not believe it?" God, nothing is impossible by God, everything.
Prabhupāda: So one learned brāhmaṇa, he said, "All right sir, namaskār your Kṛṣṇa. I cannot believe all these things." And the cobbler, he began to cry, "Ah, Kṛṣṇa is so great, He can do anything." So he, Nārada Muni asked, he saw the learned brāhmaṇa refused to accept, and this cobbler is so absorbed that he's crying, "Ah, Kṛṣṇa can do anything." So he asked him, "Do you believe this?" "Yes, why not?" "So how do you believe it?" "Now I'm sitting under this banyan tree, and so many banyan fruits are falling down, and I can see there are hundreds and thousands of seeds within the fig, and each seed contains a banyan tree. So why can I not believe? If within this seed a big banyan tree can be kept, what is the difficulty for Kṛṣṇa to pull the elephant through the hole of a needle?" He has got reason. He is not blindly believing. How the scientist who does not believe in God, he can explain that within the small seed there is a big banyan tree? Let them do that. By chemical composition make little seed. As I told, make little egg. They cannot do anything. Still they are so proud.
Devotee (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, in that story, the cobbler actually was more advanced than the brāhmaṇa, and yet in Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa explains that "Anyone can approach Me, even the strī śūdra dvija bandhu," they can all approach the supreme destination. Then in the next verse he says "How much greater, then, are the brāhmaṇas, the righteous, the devotees, the saintly kings." I was wondering how are they greater?
Prabhupāda: You do not understand it?
Prabhupāda: They do not. Rascals... How to live, they do not know. Animals. There is a class of men in India, they take, I told you, the dead body of a cow.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Cobblers.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: Mucis?
Prabhupāda: Muci, yes. Their business is shoe maker. So when the cow is dead, they take it, they eat the meat and take the skin and the hoof. They make business without any, what is called, investment. Harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21). That is economic. He gets the skin without any price, and he makes shoes and gets full profit. But that is for a class of men, not for all. Economic gain for a cobbler is not the economic gain for a brāhmaṇa. "One man's food another man's poison."
Prabhupāda: So our business is to stop slaughter. Meat-eating we cannot stop. Certain persons, they must eat. They are fourth-class, and then fifth-class men. There are four classifications—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra and caṇḍāla. Caṇḍālas, they will remain, and they are eating. Let them eat meat. That is the system in India still. It is not that in India nobody's eating meat. The cobbler class, they eat; the caṇḍāla class, they eat.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Even cows, cow flesh.
Prabhupāda: Dead. This cow killing has been introduced by these Britishers.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: Christian.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). It is Kṛṣṇa's wonderful mercy that one can get guru. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya. Don't forget for a moment, that Kṛṣṇa is insignificant. He's always the most wonderful. He can do anything, whatever He likes. They have no such belief. They have no such idea. They are different. "We believe in this." Not believe. This is a fact! You believe or not believe, who cares for you? Fact is fact. So arrange. We shall go. (break) "...Kṛṣṇa is wonderful," that makes one perfect. You know that story? The cobbler and Nārada Muni? Hm? The cobbler believed, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is wonderful." And Nārada Muni immediately certified, "Yes, your salvation, this life guaranteed." The cobbler has his conviction, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is wonderful. Kṛṣṇa can do anything. Kṛṣṇa can draw an elephant through the hole of a needle. Why not? It's possible." That faith made him perfect. If Kṛṣṇa is not wonderful, is it possible for me to do all these things? What I am?
Prabhupāda: Did you know that story, the Nārada was going to Vaikuṇṭha? Nārada came back and replied to a cobbler... Cobbler asked him what Nārāyaṇa is doing. "He has taken one elephant and He's drawing through the hole of a needle like this and again taking." The learned brāhmaṇa, he began to laugh. "These are all stories." And the cobbler began to cry, "Oh, Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, can..." Nārada inquired, "How do you believe that elephant is being drawn through the hole of needle?" "No, why not? I'm daily seeing by sitting under this banyan tree, and within a fruit there are thousands of seeds. And each seed contains the big tree." Can the scientists make such small seed contain a big banyan tree? So it is acintya. That's a fact. (break) ...thing is inconceivable.
Correspondence
1973 Correspondence
They are mostly illiterate, how they will understand? We must avoid the risk of a separatist movement, unity is our purpose; just like in London where the Indians are starting their own Hindu Radha-Krsna Temple. We want to avoid skin disease and the Indian people are like the tannery expert. Such a cobbler is expert at skin disease. They will see our Sankirtana Party and think it is a white dance. Anyway, how to gather Indian devotees, that program is wanting.
That is their success in life. This is the position of India especially. The whole of India is now under technological instruction which means to become sudras. Just like a carpenter can manufacture so much nice furniture by his technological education, but in our Vedic society, the carpenter is considered a sudra. Similarly a tannery expert was called a cobbler. So these things are now lost. Everyone is prepared to become a cobbler, a carpenter, a chemist, a physicist, an electrician and so many other things, but they do not know that after such education one has to depend on other's mercy. So-called highly qualified technologists cannot earn their livelihood without getting a suitable job. It is just like a dog, however stout and strong it may be, it cannot be happy without having gotten a wealthy master.
| Page Title: | Cobbler |
| Compiler: | MadhuGopaldas, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 19 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=40, Con=17, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 61 |