Srila Prabhupada - Bhagavad Gita 18.67-69 (Enhanced, 721209BG, Ahmedabad)

Prabhupāda: . . . about Kṛṣṇa's forbidding Arjuna not to speak this Bhagavad-gītā to a person who is not very much advanced in austerity and penance. The verse is on the Eighteenth Chapter, verse number 67, in which Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna:
idaṁ te nātapaskāya
nābhaktāya kadācana
na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ
na ca māṁ yo 'bhyasūyati
(BG 18.67)
Kṛṣṇa says: "This confidential knowledge may not be explained to those who are not austere or devoted or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me."
So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He knows very well that there will be so many rascals who are envious of Him. Actually, everyone is trying . . . because Bhagavad-gītā is very popular book of profound knowledge, everyone is trying to prove his own theory through the medium of Bhagavad-gītā, excluding Kṛṣṇa. This is going on. They want to kill Kṛṣṇa, demonic. Anyone who is trying to kill Kṛṣṇa, he's a demon. So to warn the devotees from these demons, this śloka was spoken by Kṛṣṇa Himself.
Atapaskāya. Actually, one who is sinful, who is not undergoing the method of austerities, penance, what he will understand about Bhagavad-gītā? It is not a table talk. People are taking it as a table talk. By so-called scholarship . . . that is not possible. Just like it is said that unless one is a brāhmin, qualified brāhmin, he should not touch the Vedas. That means what he will understand?
Unless one has attained the brahminical qualification: truthfulness, cleanliness, controlling the senses, controlling the mind, simplicity, tolerant, full of Vedic knowledge, practically application in life, and full faith in the Vedas . . . this is, these are the brahminical qualifications. So unless one has attained the brahminical qualification, what he will understand, the Vedas?
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. That is mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā: satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā, satyaṁ śaucam, śamo damas titikṣā ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). Similarly, for kṣatriya, there are seven qualification. Similarly, for the vaiśyas, three qualification: kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). And for the śūdras, only one: paricaryātmakaṁ kāryaṁ śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam.
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