It is not that Mr. Max Mueller translates Veda. This is all nonsense. What Max Mueller will understand Bhagavad, uh, Vedas? It is, these are not the subject matter of advanced in A-B-C-D. No. These are transcendental subject matter. Tat. Oṁ tat sat. Unless one is advanced . . . everything . . . just like in our ordinary life also, unless one has graduated, he cannot enter into the law college.
So it is not prohibition. The law college is open for everyone. But he must be properly qualified to get entrance. Similarly, one must be properly qualified to enter into the transcendental subject matter. Everyone and anyone cannot. Śūdras, those who are in śūdra qualification, how they can understand Vedas? It is not possible.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa knows that mostly they are persons contaminated. Therefore He said, idaṁ te na atapaskāya. Those who are too much contaminated with the material qualities, three qualities: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa . . . so generally, people are contaminated with tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa. Hardly, at the present moment, hardly we shall find out one is qualified with the sattva-guṇa, brahminical qualification.
Śāstra says, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In this age, Kali-yuga, mostly all of them are śūdras." No brāhmin, no kṣatriya, no vaiśya, according to qualification. You can, by force, you can say, "I am brahmin; because I am son of a brahmin, I am brahmin." That you can do, but that is not the qualification. If somebody says, "My father is high-court judge; therefore I am a high-court judge," is that very nice proposal? One must attain the qualification of high-court judge, even though he's a son of a high-court judge.
So these things are mentioned in the śāstras, but we are defying. Nārada Muni says . . . not ordinary authority.
- yasya yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ
- puṁso varṇābhivyañjakam
- yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta
- tat tenaiva vinirdiśet
- (SB 7.11.35)
The purport is that there are symptoms, characteristics, of brāhmin, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra.