Prabhupāda: "When one is free from material anxiety." Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). That is the stage of free from anxieties. If I've got some anxieties for maintaining or some other, any anxieties, he cannot perfectly chant kīrtana. But even though one is full of anxieties, if he takes to kīrtana, then ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), his unclean heart becomes cleansed, and the more the heart becomes cleansed, he becomes anxiety-less. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. Unless our dirty heart is cleansed by the chanting process . . . by the chanting process, the dirty heart or consciousness or mind will be cleansed. This is the formula given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam.
So long we are in dirty heart, dirty, polluted mind, there is no question of anxiety-less. That is required. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). One who is God-realized, one who is advanced in spiritual life, he will be anxiety-less, prasannātmā. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ (SB 1.2.20). Bhagavad-bhakti-yoga, one who is practicing Bhagavad-yoga, then this is the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That is the verdict of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12).
- evaṁ prasanna-manaso
- bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ
- bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ
- mukta-saṅgasya jāyate
- (SB 1.2.20)
The process is one must be free from anxiety. And how one can become free from anxiety unless one is realized Brahman soul, realized soul, brahma-bhūtaḥ? These are one after another.
So evaṁ prasanna-manaso. Without being anxiety-less, nobody can understand the science of God. This is the verdict of Bhagavad . . . Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti. One who has executed the process of bhagavad-bhakti according to the rules and regulations, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23), he'll be prasanna-manaso. The same thing, as it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). The Bhāgavata says, evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ, bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam (SB 1.2.20). Bhagavat-tattva, the science of God, is a vijñāna. It is a science; it is not sentiment. Sentiment: I close my eyes and shed some tears, and then I go for smoking cigarette. That sentiment will not help us. It is a science. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu said: yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya (CC Madhya 8.128). Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā. One who knows the science of Kṛṣṇa, he can become guru. Pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt. He can make disciples all over the world. Pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirmed it:
- kibā vipra kibā śūdra nyāsī kena naya
- yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya
- (CC Madhya 8.128)
It doesn't matter whether one is a gṛhastha or one is a sannyāsī or one is a brahmin or not brahmin. 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 (Padma Purāṇa). A brahmin, very well expert in his business . . . brāhmin's business means ṣaṭ-karma, six kinds of karma: paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigraha. A brahmin must be very learned scholar, brāhmin paṇḍita. He must be scholar. Scholar means not ordinary, but in transcendental science. Tad vijñānam. So paṭhana pāṭhana. And he must be expert teacher also. He should not . . .
Actually in our India, formerly, the brahmins, they usually become teachers. In any village, a brahmin has no other business. He sits down. He's called catuṣpāṭhī, the higher scholars. But for ordinary also. A brahmin . . . guru-maharṣayaḥ. We studied under guru-maharṣayaḥ in our childhood. Pāṭha śālā. So anywhere a brahmin can sit down and the village boys, small boys, children would come there. He doesn't charge anything, but their father, mother sends everything—rice, ḍāl, cloth. So he has no much demand for bodily necessities. This was paṭhana. This is brahmin. Brahmin should not accept any service.
Formerly, Sanātana Gosvāmī, because he accepted the service of Nawab Hussain Shah, he was rejected from the brahmin society. In the Bhāgavata also it is stated if a brahmin is in difficulty, he may accept the profession of a kṣatriya or a vaiśya, but never of a śūdra. Śūdra has been described there as dog. A dog, without having a master, he cannot live very nicely. Street dog is very wretched, but a dog under the care of a good master is very healthy and very happy. Similarly, a śūdra cannot live without having a master. That has been described as the dog's business.
So similarly a brāhmin will never accept any service. He'll starve, but he will never accept any service. That is against brāhmin principles. Therefore ṣaṭ-karma-nipu . . . he can accept charity if somebody gives willfully. Dana pratigraha. But pratigraha dāna . . . he'll take, pratigraha, accept charity, but whatever he requires, he'll spend, and the balance he'll immediately distribute. Dāna. In Bengal it is said, lakhtakai bamun bhikiri (a brahmin is a beggar even though he has one lakh rupees). The . . . why? A brāhmin gets one lakh of rupees; next day, he's again beggar. Why? He'll not keep anything. Whatever he requires for the day's expenditure, he will take it, and balance he will again distribute.
So ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro (Padma Purāṇa). Such strict brāhmin, very expert in his business, paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigraha. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ . . . and very well expert in his studies, mantra, Vedic mantra, tantra. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ, avaiṣṇava guru na sa syād. If he is avaiṣṇava, then he cannot be guru. Cannot be guru. Sad-vaiṣṇava śva-paca guru. But a śva-paca, a dog-eaters' family, caṇḍāla . . . just the brāhmin is considered to be the highest in the society, similarly caṇḍāla is considered to be the lowest, dog-eaters. So the śāstra says the highest, the topmost man in the society, brāhmin, if he's avaiṣṇava, he cannot be guru, but the . . . a person coming out from the lowest grade of human society, śva-paca, caṇḍāla, if he's a Vaiṣṇava, he can become guru. This is the verdict of the śāstra.