किरातहूणान्ध्रपुलिन्दपुल्कशा आभीरशुम्भा यवनाः खसादयः ।
येऽन्ये च पापा यदपाश्रयाश्रयाः शुध्यन्ति तस्मै प्रभविष्णवे नमः ॥१८॥

kirÄta-hūṇÄndhra-pulinda-pulkaÅ›Ä
ÄbhÄ«ra-Å›umbhÄ yavanÄḥ khasÄdayaḥ
ye 'nye ca pÄpÄ yad-apÄÅ›rayÄÅ›rayÄḥ
śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

70 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: BG(1) , CC(7) , Iso(1) , LBG(12) , LCC(1) , LSB(26) , SB(4) , TLC(1) , TLKS(17)

 kirÄta - a province of old BhÄrata; hūṇa - part of Germany and Russia; Ändhra - a province of southern India; pulinda - the Greeks; pulkaÅ›Äḥ - another province; ÄbhÄ«ra - part of old Sind; Å›umbhÄḥ - another province; yavanÄḥ - the Turks; khasa-Ädayaḥ - the Mongolian province; ye - even those; anye - others; ca - also; pÄpÄḥ - addicted to sinful acts; yat - whose; apÄÅ›raya-ÄÅ›rayÄḥ - having taken shelter of the devotees of the Lord; Å›udhyanti - at once purified; tasmai - unto Him; prabhaviṣṇave - unto the powerful Viṣṇu; namaḥ - my respectful obeisances.


Text

KirÄta, Hūṇa, Ä€ndhra, Pulinda, PulkaÅ›a, Ä€bhÄ«ra, Åšumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.

Purport

KirÄta: A province of old BhÄrata-vará¹£a mentioned in the BhÄ«á¹£ma-parva of MahÄbhÄrata. Generally the KirÄtas are known as the aboriginal tribes of India, and in modern days the Santal Parganas in Bihar and Chota Nagpur might comprise the old province named KirÄta.

Hūṇa: The area of East Germany and part of Russia is known as the province of the Hūṇas. Accordingly, sometimes a kind of hill tribe is known as the Hūṇas.

Ä€ndhra: A province in southern India mentioned in the BhÄ«á¹£ma-parva of MahÄbhÄrata. It is still extant under the same name.

Pulinda: It is mentioned in the MahÄbhÄrata (Ä€di-parva 174.38), viz., the inhabitants of the province of the name Pulinda. This country was conquered by BhÄ«masena and Sahadeva. The Greeks are known as Pulindas, and it is mentioned in the Vana-parva of MahÄbhÄrata that the non-Vedic race of this part of the world would rule over the world. This Pulinda province was also one of the provinces of BhÄrata, and the inhabitants were classified amongst the ká¹£atriya kings. But later on, due to their giving up the brahminical culture, they were mentioned as mlecchas (just as those who are not followers of the Islamic culture are called kafirs and those who are not followers of the Christian culture are called heathens).

Ä€bhÄ«ra: This name also appears in the MahÄbhÄrata, both in the SabhÄ-parva and BhÄ«á¹£ma-parva. It is mentioned that this province was situated on the River SarasvatÄ« in Sind. The modern Sind province formerly extended on the other side of the Arabian Sea, and all the inhabitants of that province were known as the Ä€bhÄ«ras. They were under the domination of MahÄrÄja Yudhiṣṭhira, and according to the statements of MÄrkaṇá¸eya the mlecchas of this part of the world would also rule over BhÄrata. Later on this proved to be true, as in the case of the Pulindas. On behalf of the Pulindas, Alexander the Great conquered India, and on behalf of the Ä€bhÄ«ras, Muhammad Ghori conquered India. These Ä€bhÄ«ras were also formerly ká¹£atriyas within the brahminical culture, but they gave up the connection. The ká¹£atriyas who were afraid of ParaÅ›urÄma and had hidden themselves in the Caucasian hilly regions later on became known as the Ä€bhÄ«ras, and the place they inhabited was known as Ä€bhÄ«radeÅ›a.

Åšumbhas or Kaá¹…kas: The inhabitants of the Kaá¹…ka province of old BhÄrata, mentioned in the MahÄbhÄrata.

Yavanas: Yavana was the name of one of the sons of MahÄrÄja YayÄti who was given the part of the world known as Turkey to rule. Therefore the Turks are Yavanas due to being descendants of MahÄrÄja Yavana. The Yavanas were therefore ká¹£atriyas, and later on, by giving up the brahminical culture, they became mleccha-yavanas. Descriptions of the Yavanas are in the MahÄbhÄrata (Ä€di-parva 85.34). Another prince, called Turvasu, was also known as Yavana, and his country was conquered by Sahadeva, one of the PÄṇá¸avas. The western Yavana joined with Duryodhana in the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra under the pressure of Karṇa. It was also foretold that these Yavanas also would conquer India, and it proved to be true.

Khasa: The inhabitants of the KhasadeÅ›a are mentioned in the MahÄbhÄrata (Droṇa-parva). Those who have a stunted growth of hair on the upper lip are generally called Khasas. As such, the Khasa are the Mongolians, the Chinese and others who are so designated.

The above-mentioned historical names are different nations of the world. Even those who are constantly engaged in sinful acts are all corrigible to the standard of perfect human beings if they take shelter of the devotees of the Lord. Jesus Christ and Muhammad, two powerful devotees of the Lord, have done tremendous service on behalf of the Lord on the surface of the globe. And from the version of ÅšrÄ«la Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« it appears that instead of running a godless civilization in the present context of the world situation, if the leadership of world affairs is entrusted to the devotees of the Lord, for which a worldwide organization under the name and style of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has already been started, then by the grace of the Almighty Lord there can be a thorough change of heart in human beings all over the world because the devotees of the Lord are able authorities to effect such a change by purifying the dust-worn minds of the people in general. The politicians of the world may remain in their respective positions because the pure devotees of the Lord are not interested in political leadership or diplomatic implications. The devotees are interested only in seeing that the people in general are not misguided by political propaganda and that the valuable life of a human being is not spoiled in following a type of civilization which is ultimately doomed. If the politicians, therefore, would be guided by the good counsel of the devotees, then certainly there would be a great change in the world situation by the purifying propaganda of the devotees, as shown by Lord Caitanya. As Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« began his prayer by discussing the word yat-kÄ«rtanam, so also Lord Caitanya recommended that simply by glorifying the Lord’s holy name, a tremendous change of heart can take place by which the complete misunderstanding between the human nations created by politicians can at once be extinguished. And after the extinction of the fire of misunderstanding, other profits will follow. The destination is to go back home, back to Godhead, as we have several times discussed in these pages.

According to the cult of devotion, generally known as the Vaiṣṇava cult, there is no bar against anyone’s advancing in the matter of God realization. A Vaiṣṇava is powerful enough to turn into a Vaiṣṇava even the KirÄta, etc., as above mentioned. In the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (9.32) it is said by the Lord that there is no bar to becoming a devotee of the Lord (even for those who are lowborn, or women, śūdras or vaiÅ›yas), and by becoming a devotee everyone is eligible to return home, back to Godhead. The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge in the transcendental science of Kṛṣṇa (Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ and ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam). Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart. Though a person be even the most sinful man, he can at once be purified by systematic contact with a pure Vaiṣṇava. A Vaiṣṇava, therefore, can accept a bona fide disciple from any part of the world without any consideration of caste and creed and promote him by regulative principles to the status of a pure Vaiṣṇava, who is transcendental to brahminical culture. The system of caste, or varṇÄÅ›rama-dharma, is no longer regular even amongst the so-called followers of the system. Nor is it now possible to reestablish the institutional function in the present context of social, political and economic revolution. Without any reference to the particular custom of a country, one can be accepted to the Vaiṣṇava cult spiritually, and there is no hindrance in the transcendental process. So by the order of Lord ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu, the cult of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam or the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ can be preached all over the world, reclaiming all persons willing to accept the transcendental cult. Such cultural propaganda by the devotees will certainly be accepted by all persons who are reasonable and inquisitive, without any particular bias for the custom of the country. The Vaiṣṇava never accepts another Vaiṣṇava on the basis of birthright, just as he never thinks of the Deity of the Lord in a temple as an idol. And to remove all doubts in this connection, ÅšrÄ«la Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« has invoked the blessings of the Lord, who is all-powerful (prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ). As the all-powerful Lord accepts the humble service of His devotee in devotional activities of the arcana, His form as the worshipable Deity in the temple, similarly the body of a pure Vaiṣṇava changes transcendentally at once when he gives himself up to the service of the Lord and is trained by a qualified Vaiṣṇava. The injunction of Vaiṣṇava regulation in this connection runs as follows: arcye viṣṇau Å›ilÄ-dhÄ«r guruá¹£u nara-matir vaiṣṇave jÄti-buddhiḥ Å›rÄ«-viṣṇor nÄmni Å›abda-sÄmÄnya-buddhiḥ, etc. “One should not consider the Deity of the Lord as worshiped in the temple to be an idol, nor should one consider the authorized spiritual master an ordinary man. Nor should one consider a pure Vaiṣṇava to belong to a particular caste, etc.†(Padma PurÄṇa)

The conclusion is that the Lord, being all-powerful, can, under any and every circumstance, accept anyone from any part of the world, either personally or through His bona fide manifestation as the spiritual master. Lord Caitanya accepted many devotees from communities other than the varṇÄÅ›ramites, and He Himself declared, to teach us, that He does not belong to any caste or social order of life, but that He is the eternal servant of the servant of the Lord who maintains the damsels of Vá¹›ndÄvana (Lord Kṛṣṇa). That is the way of self-realization.