People misunderstand Hindu culture, Vedic culture, that there are forced caste system. No. It is varnabhivyanjakam, by the symptom, qualification. It is not by birth

Expressions researched:
"People misunderstand Hindu culture, Vedic culture, that there are forced caste system. No. It is varṇābhivyañjakam, by the symptom . . . (indistinct) . . . qualification. It is not by birth"

Lectures

Initiation Lectures

Nobody cared for lakṣaṇa, because his forefather, somebody, was a brahmin, although there was no garbhādhāna ceremony, no system, still. This is not accepted. People misunderstand Hindu culture, Vedic culture, that there are forced caste system. No. It is varṇābhivyañjakam, by the symptom . . . (indistinct) . . . qualification. It is not by birth.

690525 - Lecture Initiation Brahmana - New Vrindaban, USA

That is real symptom of brāhmaṇ: satya, śama. He does not disclose that, "I do not know." Everyone will try to hide if he does not know his father's name. But here is a boy, "Oh," he said: "Oh, you are brahmin. Come on. I shall initiate you." This is lakṣaṇa, symptom. "Such a truthful boy. Never mind what he is born, how he is born."

This system is not new. Therefore we shall have to accept by the symptom. If one is inclined to go to Kṛṣṇa—he is chanting, he is doing, following the principles—then, according to Nārada's version, yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ syāt, here is the lakṣaṇa, symptom, varṇābhivyañjakam, to understand to what class he belongs. Now, he is truthful—he belongs to the brahmin class. He is truthful; therefore he belongs to the brahmin class.

Yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ syāt varṇābhivyañjakam. Abhivyañjakam means just to find out what class of man he is. If he is truthful, he is brahmin. Lakṣaṇa. The lakṣaṇa is there; the symptom is there. Yasya hi yal lakṣaṇaṁ varṇābhivyañjakaṁ tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35). One should take him into that classification. He is truthful? Oh, he is immediately to the brahminical place. If he is a liar, immediately he is pañcama, less than śūdra. You see?

So these things were done. People have misused the whole thing: "Now I am born of a brahmin. By force I am brahmin." You see? Just like Paṇḍitajī, our late Prime Minister Paṇḍitajī. He was less than the caṇḍāla, but he was addressed as "Paṇḍitajī." "Paṇḍitajī" is the address of the brahmin. You see? By lakṣaṇam . . .

Nobody cared for lakṣaṇa, because his forefather, somebody, was a brahmin, although there was no garbhādhāna ceremony, no system, still. This is not accepted. People misunderstand Hindu culture, Vedic culture, that there are forced caste system. No. It is varṇābhivyañjakam, by the symptom . . . (indistinct) . . . qualification. It is not by birth.

So we . . . our . . . one of the item of this mission, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is to establish real varṇāśrama by qualification. We have to pick up brahmins from everywhere, throughout the whole world, not that we have to pick up brahmins in India in some class. No.