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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
<< Canto 3, The Status Quo >> << 12 - Creation of the Kumāras and Others >>
<< VERSE 43 >>
वैखानसा वालखिल्यौ दुम्बराः फेनपा वने न्यासे कुटीचकः पूर्वं बह्वोदो हंसनिष्क्रियौ
vaikhānasā vālakhilyau- dumbarāḥ phenapā vane nyāse kuṭīcakaḥ pūrvaṁ bahvodo haṁsa-niṣkriyau
WORD BY WORD
vaikhānasāḥ the section of men who retire from active life and live on half-boiled meals; vālakhilya one who quits his former stock of grains on receipt of more; audumbarāḥ one who lives on what he gets from the direction towards which he starts after rising from bed; phenapāḥ one who lives on the fruits which automatically fall from the tree; vane in the forest; nyāse in the order of renunciation; kuṭīcakaḥ life in the family without attachment; pūrvam in the beginning; bahvodaḥ giving up all material activities and engaging fully in transcendental service; haṁsa fully engaged in transcendental knowledge; niṣkriyau stopping all kinds of activities.;
TRANSLATION
| The four divisions of retired life are the vaikhānasas, vālakhilyas, audumbaras and phenapas. The four divisions of the renounced order of life are the kuṭīcakas, bahvodas, haṁsas and niṣkriyas. All these were manifested from Brahmā.
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PURPORT
| The varṇāśrama-dharma, or the institution of the four divisions and orders of social and spiritual life, is not a new invention of the modern age, as proposed by the less intelligent. It is an institution established by Brahmā from the beginning of the creation. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.13): cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam.
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