श्रीबादरायणिरुवाच
पूरोर्वंशं प्रवक्ष्यामि यत्र जातोऽसि भारत ।
यत्र राजर्षयो वंश्या ब्रह्मवंश्याश्च जज्ञिरे ॥१॥

Å›rÄ«-bÄdarÄyaṇir uvÄca
pÅ«ror vamÅ›aá¹ pravaká¹£yÄmi
yatra jÄto 'si bhÄrata
yatra rÄjará¹£ayo vamÅ›yÄ
brahma-vamÅ›yÄÅ› ca jajñire

 Å›rÄ«-bÄdarÄyaṇiḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said; pÅ«roḥ vamÅ›am - the dynasty of MahÄrÄja PÅ«ru; pravaká¹£yÄmi - now I shall narrate; yatra - in which dynasty; jÄtaḥ asi - you were born; bhÄrata - O MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it, descendant of MahÄrÄja Bharata; yatra - in which dynasty; rÄja-ṛṣayaḥ - all the kings were saintly; vamÅ›yÄḥ - one after another; brahma-vamÅ›yÄḥ - many brÄhmaṇa dynasties; ca - also; jajñire - grew up.


Text

Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said: O MahÄrÄja ParÄ«ká¹£it, descendant of MahÄrÄja Bharata, I shall now describe the dynasty of PÅ«ru, in which you were born, in which many saintly kings appeared, and from which many dynasties of brÄhmaṇas began.

Purport

There are many historical instances by which we can understand that from ká¹£atriyas many brÄhmaṇas have been born and that from brÄhmaṇas many ká¹£atriyas have been born. The Lord Himself says in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (4.13), cÄtur-varṇyaá¹ mayÄ sṛṣṭaá¹ guṇa-karma-vibhÄgaÅ›aḥ: “According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me.†Therefore, regardless of the family in which one takes birth, when one is qualified with the symptoms of a particular section, he is to be described accordingly. Yal-laká¹£aṇaá¹ proktam. One’s place in the varṇa divisions of society is determined according to one’s symptoms or qualities. This is maintained everywhere in the Å›Ästra. Birth is a secondary consideration; the first consideration is one’s qualities and activities.