Sattva-guṇa means knowledge, rajo-guṇa means passion and tamo-guṇa means ignorance. So this world is being carried on by these three guṇas. Those who are accepting the tamo-guṇa, they are kāma, lusty, too much lusty. And those who are in rajo-guṇa, they're too much greedy. And those who are in the sattva-guṇa, they know things. That is brahminical qualification. That is brahminical qualification. Veda jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipro brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. By reading Vedas, one becomes a vipra. Then not only vipra, but when . . . vipra means brāhmin.
So to become brāhmin by qualification is not sufficient. One must know the Brahman, the Supreme Brahman, Para-brahman. Just like Arjuna understood Kṛṣṇa, paraṁ brahma, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). That is real stage. That is brahminical stage. Don't think that Arjuna was a kṣatriya. He, after studying Bhagavad-gītā, he became brāhmin, because he understood Kṛṣṇa. He says, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān. He understood Kṛṣṇa rightly. Others, they . . .
That story of the yājñika-brāhmins . . . not story, fact. They could not understand Kṛṣṇa. When the yājñika-brāhmins were engaged in sacrifice, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma was requested by their friends, cowherd boys, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, we are hungry. Please give us some food." They knew Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Kṛṣṇa said that, "There is a sacrifice. A great ceremony is going on. The brāhmins, the yājñika-brāhmins, are engaged. Go there and ask some food." So they approached. You'll find this description in the Kṛṣṇa Book.
So the brāhmins refused, because they could not understand Kṛṣṇa. They thought that, "Unless the sacrifice is finished, how the foodstuff can be distributed?" But they were so ignorant that they could not understand that the person for whom the sacrifice was being performed, He's asking personally. That is ignorance.
So Kṛṣṇa says therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). Simply by becoming brāhmin, one cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. He must become a devotee. Because Kṛṣṇa is understood by simply devotional service. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Kṛṣṇa does not say that to . . . "By becoming brāhmin, one can understand Me." No. Brāhmin stage is impersonal realization of Brahman. There is no personal realization. When the personal realization is there, he's called Vaiṣṇava, brāhmin-vaiṣṇava.
The brāhmin has got two titles: brāhmin-paṇḍita. Still, in India, a brāhmin is addressed as paṇḍita, however rascal he may be. Because it is expected, when one is born in the brāhmin family, he must be well-learned. These are the six occupational duties of brāhmin: paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. A brāhmin must be very learned scholar, studying. All Vedic knowledge is meant for the brāhmins. Saddhaya, tapasya, satyam, śaucam, tapa, ārjava, titikṣā, jñānam, vijñānam, āstikyam, brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). These qualifications must be there to become a brāhmin.
So in spite of becoming a brāhmin, qualified, śāstra says, ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ. A brāhmin, he is expert in his occupational duties. Ṣaṭ-karma means paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana, six kinds of occupational duties. But avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇa, uh . . . yes:
- ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro
- mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ
- avaiṣṇavo gurur na sa syād
- vaiṣṇavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ
- (Padma Purāṇa)
This is the injunction of the śāstra. In spite of his good qualification, expert in six occupational duties of a brāhmin, if he's an avaiṣṇava, if he has not understood Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then he cannot become guru. Therefore, according to Vedic system, not a brāhmin is accepted as guru, but when he becomes gosvāmī. Gosvāmī means fully controlled in full knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He can become guru.