SB 1.13.15 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 15
Avibhrad aryama dandam yathabat agharkishu Yavat dadhana sudratwam sapadvarsa satam yamah.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Avibhrad—administered, Aryama—of the name, Dandam—punishment, Yathabat—as it was suitable, Agharkishu—unto the persons who committed sins, Yava—as long as, Dadhana—accepted, Sudratwam—the tabernacle of a Sudra, Sapad—as the result of curse, Varsasatam—for one hundred years, Yamah—of the name.
TRANSLATION
As long as Vidura played the part of so called Sudra being cursed by Manduk Muni (see page 750) Aryama officiated the post of Yamaraj to punish those who committed sinful acts.
PURPORT
Vidura born in the womb of a Sudra woman was forbidden even to be a party of royal heritage along with his brothers Dhritarastra and Pandu and then how could he occupy the post of a preacher to instruct such learned kings and Kshatriyas like Dhritarastra and Maharaj Yudhisthira. There may be a question like this. The first answer is that even though it is accepted that he was Sudra by birth but because he renounced the world for being spiritually enlightened by such authority like Rishi Moitreya and he was thoroughly educated by him in the transcendental knowledge, he was quite competent to occupy the post of an Acharya or spiritual preceptor. According to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu anyone who is conversant in the transcendental knowledge or the science of Godhead may he be a Brahmin, or a Sudra, a householder or a Sanyasi, is elligible to become a spiritual master. Even in the ordinary moral codes (as it is said by Canakya Pandit the great politician and moralist) there in no harm to take lessons from a person who may be by birth less than a Sudra. This is one part of the answer. The other answer is Vidura was not actually Sudra. He was to play the part of a so called Sudra for one hundred years being cursed by Manduk Muni. He was the incarnation of Yamaraj one of the twelve Mahajans on the level of such exhalted personalities as Brahma, Narada, Shiva, Kapila, Bhisma, Prahlada etc. Being a Mahajan it is the duty of Yamaraj to preach the cult of devotion to the people of the world as Narada, Brahma and other Mahajans do it. But Yamaraja is always busy in his plutonic kingdom for punishing the doers of sinful acts. Yamaraja is deputed by the Lord in a particular planet some lacs of miles away from the planet of earth to take away the corrupted souls after death and convict them in accordance with their respective sinful activities. As such Yamaraja has very little time to take leave from his responsible office of punishing the wrongdoers. The number of wrongdoers is more than that of righteous men. Therefore, Yamaraja has to do more work than other demigods authorised agents of the Supreme Lord. But he wanted to preach the glories of the Lord and therefore by the will of the Lord he got cursed by Manduk Muni to take a chance of coming over the world in the incarnation of Vidura and worked very hard as a great devotee. Such devotee is neither a Sudra nor a Brahmin. They are transcendental to such divisions of the mundane society as much as the Personality of Godhead assumes His incarnation like a hog but he is neither a hog nor a Brahma. He is above all mundane creatures. The Lord and His different authorised devotees sometimes have to play the role of many lower creatures for claiming the conditioned souls but both the Lord and His pure devotees are always in the transcendental position. When Yamaraj thus incarnated himelf as Vidura his post was officiated by acting Aryama one of the many sons of Kasyapa and Aditi. The Adityas are sons of Aditi and there are twelve Adityas. Aryama is one of the twelve Adityas and therefore it was quite possible for him to take charge of the office of Yamaraj during his one hundred years of absence in the form of Vidura. The conclusion is that Vidura was never a Sudra but he was more than the most purest type of a Brahmin.