Gotra Dharma — The Principle of Universal Protection

One of the five most essential glories of Kṛṣṇa mentioned in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.90.47) is:

yat kṛto gotra-dharmaḥ

“Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, established the principle of gotra-dharma.”

What is gotra-dharma? And why is it so important that it has to be mentioned amongst the five chief glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa who possesses unlimited glories? In fact, as will be demonstrated in this article, it is arguably the most important glory of Kṛṣṇa. Let us find out why.

SEMINAL GOTRA

The principle of gotra is usually understood as the seminal dynasties of various sages in Vedic history. The veracity and relevance of one’s seminal descent may be questioned. For example, how can a man prove his descent from such-and-such sage, other than hearsay from his family elders? And how is it relevant apart from the liturgy, which, in itself, seems only ceremonial, and hardly pragmatic in one’s course of social or professional life?

The seminal aspect of gotra is certainly of legitimate significance, albeit of lesser importance than the spiritual aspect, which will be discussed elaborately in this article. In the case of the selection of a spouse, even today, in India, people of the same gotra do not marry each other. This is based on smṛti-śāstra. This seminal aspect of gotra certainly helps avoid inbreeding and the resulting genetic disorders associated with it. This understanding of inbreeding is, by far, the most sophisticated. Thus, the progeny is kept at a very high quality. While today’s scientific corpus on genetics does educate us on the ill effects of incest, it is unquestionably limited compared to the sophisticated principle of seminal gotra.

DEFINITIONS

But there is much more to gotra than the seminal aspect. Let us start with the basic definition. Gotra is a combination of two words — go and tra. Go means ‘cow,’ as well as ‘senses,’ and tra stands for trāyate, meaning ‘to protect.’ The literal meanings, therefore, are ‘cow protection’ and ‘protection of the senses.’ From these two definitions, the entire meaning of the word can be expanded, and we can also understand thoroughly how it is tied to the definition of lineage.

IMPORTANCE OF COW PROTECTION

Cow protection is important because the cow produces pañca-gavya, the five auspicious products from a cow, namely milk, yogurt, ghee, cow urine and cow dung. The milk of the cow can not only nourish the entire body but also help develop finer tissues in the brain that enable one to understand spiritual knowledge as revealed in the scriptures. Apart from the nutritional benefits of the first three items of pañca-gavya and the medicinal aspect of the remaining two, the brāhmaṇas use these five products in all kinds of ritualistic sacrifices and ceremonies that advance them gradually toward the kingdom of God. The bulls are traditionally employed in agriculture, which sustains human life. Because she supplies milk, the cow is considered a mother and because he helps till land and bring food, the bull is considered a father.

The importance of the cow and bull for human society was underscored by Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, the Personalities of Godhead Themselves. Though They initially appeared in a royal family — to Vasudeva and Devakī — before accepting royal duties, They first showed the world the importance of cow protection. As children, They herded calves as Their daily pastime. They spent Their entire childhood among the cowherd community of Vṛndāvana in the family of vaiśyas, whose occupation was cow protection and agriculture. Kṛṣṇa carried a flute to call the cows and Balarāma carried a plow which is used in agriculture, wherein bulls are employed. Thus, even by Their insignia, They taught the importance of gotra, or cow protection. They taught by personal example that without cow protection, there is no question of auspiciousness for human civilization. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa is worshiped by the following mantra:

namo brahmaṇya-devāya
go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca
jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya
govindāya namo namaḥ

“My Lord, You are the well-wisher of the cows and the brāhmaṇas, and You are the well-wisher of the entire human society and world.” (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.19.65)

The word jagad-dhitāya in this verse means that Kṛṣṇa is the well-wisher of the entire universe. But before that, He is the well-wisher of the cows and the brāhminical culture because, without that, there is no auspiciousness for the world. In other words, we cannot wish well for the world while neglecting cow protection and brāminical culture.

THE OVERBURDENED EARTH

There are seven mothers for everyone, and cow is one of them.

ātma-mātā guroḥ-patnī
brāhmaṇī rāja-patnikā
dhenur dhātrī tathā pṛthvī
saptaitā mātaraḥ smṛtāḥ

“One’s own mother, the wife of the guru, the wife of a brāhmaṇa, the wife of a king, the cow, the nurse, and the earth are known as the seven mothers of a man.”

From this verse, we learn that both the cow and the earth are referred to as mothers. In fact, as stated in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.1.17-22), once, when the deity of mother earth became overburdened by demoniac, irreligious kings ruling her land, she assumed the form of a cow and approached Lord Brahmā in great distress, seeking relief. Lord Brahmā then petitioned the Supreme Lord to descend into this material world by chanting the Puruṣa-sūkta prayers. The Lord, who already knew the earth’s condition, caused the demigods, who are devotees of the Lord, to descend into the Yadu dynasty. Then He personally descended on the earth in that Yadu dynasty to enact His pastimes of protecting devotees, annihilating miscreants, and reestablishing religious principles. Therefore, gotra in this context refers to protecting the earth, who assumed the form of a cow.

In this incident, we find the importance of lineage that led to the protection of the earth, or gotra. The Lord is everyone’s father. He is nobody’s son or descendant. But to the devotees who want to serve the Lord as His parents, He becomes their son. Only a devotee can cause the Lord to descend into this world. Every incarnation of the Lord has descended here in the material world only by the devotional strength of a powerful devotee. Therefore, before His appearance, the Lord caused His devotees to appear on earth first, and only in their family did He make His appearance, thus protecting the earth from the burden of demoniac kings. Thus, the dynasty of Yadus is a gotra, a protector of the earth. We are beginning to see the relationship between the literal meaning of gotra, which is cow protection, to the implied meaning which is the lineage. It gets even more interesting from here on.

Just as the husband is the natural protector of the wife, the bull is the natural protector of the cow. We have seen that the cow represents the earth. Now, religion is symbolized by the bull. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.17.22) states:

dharmo ‘si vṛṣa-rūpa-dhṛk

“Religion took the form of a bull.”

In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.16.25), the bull of religion is referred to as follows:

caturbhir vartase yena
pādair loka-sukhāvahaiḥ

“Once you too were maintained by your four legs (austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness), and you increased happiness all over the universe by the mercy of the Lord.”

Therefore, to protect the cow of earth, the bull of religion is necessary. Nowadays, the scientific and political communities of the world are attempting to save the earth without religion, or God-consciousness. They, first of all, create problems such as industrialization, and now take up and push for public participation in ostensibly noble causes such as fighting climate change by reducing one’s carbon footprint. They create weapons of mass destruction and set up large-scale slaughterhouses on one hand and on the other hand, sign peace treaties and set up expensive organizations like the United Nations to protect the earth. They take to hunting and deforestation on one hand and then start conservation projects to protect the endangered species and habitats. On one hand, they allow promiscuous movies, advertisements and other such visuals in the name of entertainment, and on the other hand, they administer moral education. Innumerable such examples can be given. None of these stopgap repair works are going to solve the problems. They only serve to create an endless chain of miserable conditions. Even so-called religious communities promote violence against animals and sometimes even humans. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga, the age of quarrel and hypocrisy.

In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (chapter 1.16), we find an illuminating conversation between the personality of religion and the personality of earth in the shape of bull and cow respectively. The bull of religion asks the cow of earth as follows:

The personality of religious principles, Dharma, was wandering about in the form of a bull. And he met the personality of earth in the form of a cow who appeared to grieve like a mother who had lost her child. She had tears in her eyes, and the beauty of her body was lost. Thus Dharma questioned the earth as follows.

Dharma [in the form of a bull] asked: “Madam, are you not hale and hearty? Why are you covered with the shadow of grief?

“I have lost my three legs and am now standing on one only. Are you lamenting for my state of existence? Or are you in great anxiety because henceforward the unlawful meat-eaters will exploit you? Or are you in a sorry plight because the demigods are now bereft of their share of sacrificial offerings because no sacrifices are being performed at present? Or are you grieving for living beings because of their sufferings due to famine and drought?

“Are you feeling compunction for the unhappy women and children who are left forlorn by unscrupulous persons? Or are you unhappy because the goddess of learning is being handled by brāhmaṇas addicted to acts against the principles of religion? Or are you sorry to see that the brāhmaṇas have taken shelter of administrative families that do not respect brāhminical culture?

“The so-called administrators are now bewildered by the influence of this age of Kali, and thus they have put all state affairs into disorder. Are you now lamenting this disorder? Now the general populace does not follow the rules and regulations for eating, sleeping, drinking, mating, etc., and they are inclined to perform such anywhere and everywhere. Are you unhappy because of this?”

— Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.16.18-22

These questions summarize the sorry state of world affairs when she is not governed according to authorized religious principles.

THE FOUR LEGS OF RELIGION

Here, we find a reference to the bull standing on only one leg, having lost the other three. The explanation is as follows. The four legs of the bull of religion are explained in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.17.24) as:

tapaḥ śaucaṁ dayā satyam
iti pādāḥ kṛte kṛtāḥ
adharmāṁśais trayo bhagnāḥ
smaya-saṅga-madais tava

“In the age of Satya [truthfulness] your four legs were established by the four principles of austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness. But it appears that three of your legs are broken due to rampant irreligion in the form of pride, lust for women, and intoxication.”

The leg of austerity is protected when the population refrains from the irreligious activity of intoxication. The leg of cleanliness is protected by refraining from illicit sex life. The leg of mercy is protected by refraining from killing animals and eating meat. The leg of truthfulness is protected by refraining from gambling. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.17.38) states:

dyūtaṁ pānaṁ striyaḥ sūnā
yatrādharmaś catur-vidhaḥ

“Gambling, drinking, prostitution and animal slaughter are the four chief principles of adharma, or irreligion.”

In Satya-yuga, people completely refrained from these irreligious behaviors. Therefore, the religion’s four legs were stout and strong. In Tretā-yuga, such religious life decreased by a portion of one-fourth. In Dvāpara-yuga, it decreased by half. In Kali-yuga, it has decreased by three-fourths. Only a quarter of such religious principles are being followed. And that too is declining fast. In fact, truthfulness is the only principle that still has some standing, although extremely wobbly.

These four principles of austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness, alone, do not constitute the entirety of dharma. They are the foundation, or legs, upon which dharma stands. They are, at best, precursors to actual dharma. The real body of dharma comprises knowledge of God and loving service to Him. But that cannot happen if the foundational principles are not in order. At the same time, the legs cannot be strengthened without strengthening the body. In other words, without engagement in devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, which is the eternal religious principle of all souls, the senses cannot be effectively restrained from indulgence in the four pillars of sin.

THE SUPERIOR TASTE OF BHAKTI

Devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, or bhakti-yoga, is the only effective means of controlling the senses because, unlike other processes of elevation, it can be performed in great joy, su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam, and such superior taste of pleasure automatically makes the devotee disinterested in other forms of inferior material pleasure derived from engagement in sense gratification (karma) and mental speculation (jñāna).

Therefore, Lord Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.59) as follows:

viṣayā vinivartante
nirāhārasya dehinaḥ
rasa-varjaṁ raso ‘py asya
paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

“The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.”

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (4.22.39) expresses this point even more emphatically:

yat-pāda-paṅkaja-palāśa-vilāsa-bhaktyā
karmāśayaṁ grathitam udgrathayanti santaḥ
tadvan na rikta-matayo yatayo ‘pi ruddha-
sroto-gaṇās tam araṇaṁ bhaja vāsudevam

“The devotees, who are always engaged in the service of the toes of the lotus feet of the Lord, can very easily overcome hard-knotted desires for fruitive activities. Because this is very difficult, the nondevotees—the jñānīs and yogīs — although trying to stop the waves of sense gratification, cannot do so. Therefore you are advised to engage in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva.”

PROTECTING THE SENSES

One’s uncontrolled senses lead one to hellish suffering.

Bhagavad-gītā (16.21) confirms this as follows:

tri-vidhaṁ narakasyedaṁ
dvāraṁ nāśanam ātmanaḥ
kāmaḥ krodhas tathā lobhas
tasmād etat trayaṁ tyajet

“There are three gates leading to this hell — lust, anger, and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.”

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (7.5.30) states:

adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ

“Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions through engagement in sinful activities.”

Gobhiḥ is the plural of the Sanskrit word go. Go also means senses. Devotional service to Kṛṣṇa protects (trāyate) the senses (go) from degradation and can, therefore, be called gotra. Kṛṣṇa is therefore known as Govinda, the giver of unlimited pleasure to His devotees who constantly engage their senses in His service. On the strength of such devotional service, the devotee can completely control his senses and thus achieves the status of a gosvāmī, master of his senses.

Lord Govinda descends to the material world to rejuvenate devotional service, gotra-dharma. When such able devotees assume rulership, they protect the cows (gotra) and the brāhminical culture, which can also be called gotra because brāhminical culture is all about controlling one’s senses. Bhagavad-gītā (18.42) confirms this thus:

śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ
kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ
brahma-karma svabhāva-jam

“Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness — these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṇas work.”

When each and every person or even at least 1% of the population thus becomes Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the whole earth will be protected (gotra) and become peaceful.

THE VEDIC EPISTEMOLOGY

This sanātana-dharma or bhakti-yoga, or the knowledge and practice of one’s eternal relationship with the eternal Lord, is transmitted through an unbroken chain of self-realized spiritual masters and their disciples. Therefore, such a lineage, or disciplic succession, is known as a gotra. It is also known as paramparā, sampradāya, etc.

Lord Kṛṣṇa explains this perfect Vedic system of epistemology in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.1-3):

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha
manur ikṣvākave ‘bravīt

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
sa kāleneha mahatā
yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa

sa evāyaṁ mayā te ‘dya
yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ
bhakto ‘si me sakhā ceti
rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam

Translation: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: “I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku. This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost. That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.”

When the gotra-dharma becomes distorted due to the influence of time, Lord Kṛṣṇa comes to personally revive it by speaking the science again to a suitable devotee like Arjuna. A sincere devotee should then learn the method of devotional service either from Arjuna directly or from a bona fide spiritual master in his disciplic succession, and follow in the footsteps of predecessor ācāryas to achieve complete perfection, as Kṛṣṇa Himself declares in Bhagavad-gītā (4.34 & 4.15):

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.”

evaṁ jñātvā kṛtaṁ karma
pūrvair api mumukṣubhiḥ
kuru karmaiva tasmāt tvaṁ
pūrvaiḥ pūrvataraṁ kṛtam

“All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding of My transcendental nature and attained liberation. Therefore you should perform your duty, following in their footsteps.”

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.2.31) also states:

svayaṁ samuttīrya sudustaraṁ dyuman
bhavārṇavaṁ bhīmam adabhra-sauhṛdāḥ
bhavat-padāmbhoruha-nāvam atra te
nidhāya yātāḥ sad-anugraho bhavān

“O Lord, when ācāryas completely take shelter under Your lotus feet in order to cross the fierce ocean of nescience, they leave behind on earth the method by which they cross, and because You are very merciful to Your other devotees, You accept this method to help them.”

Save and except this method, there is no other method that will assure success in reviving one’s Kṛṣṇa consciousness, as confirmed in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.22.10):

anādy-avidyā-yuktasya
puruṣasyātma-vedanam
svato na sambhavād anyas
tattva-jño jñāna-do bhavet

“Because a person who has been covered by ignorance since time immemorial is not capable of effecting his own self-realization, there must be some other personality who is in factual knowledge of the Absolute Truth and can impart this knowledge to him.”

QUALIFIED FAMILIES

Since the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness (gotra) can be received only through disciplic succession of bonafide spiritual masters, such a paramparā is referred to as gotra. It is also known by other names such as vaṁśa, kula, jāti, santāna, parivāra, etc. Although these words have a strong seminal dynastic connotation to them, the purest meaning of these words stems from the actual culture that is passed down, or at least, expected to be passed down in a family or dynasty, and not just the birth.

It is for this reason that Lord Kṛṣṇa, when addressing Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā, called him by such names as Bhārata, Kaunteya, Pāṇḍava, Pārtha, and Kuru-nandana — not to remind him of his material attachment to his family and dynasty but to remind him of the stalwart personalities like King Bharata, Kuntī devī, Pāṇḍu, etc. that comprise his ancestors. Indirectly, Kṛṣṇa was persistently asking Arjuna to follow the footsteps of his predecessors in the matter of executing religious principles in the service of Kṛṣṇa, and not bringing disrepute to the dynasty by falling from that standard.

We find another excellent example of a qualified family in Bhagavad-gītā (4.1). Kṛṣṇa spoke to the sun-god, the sun-god spoke to his son Manu, and he, in turn, to his son, Ikṣvāku. Although these personalities belong to the same family, such dynastic descent is not the criterion for the lineage. In the verse, there are three references to the transmission of transcendental knowledge by the words proktavān, prāha, and abravīt. That these personalities happen to hail from the same family is only incidental. The real connection is the transmission of transcendental knowledge.

In a perfect Vedic society wherein the varṇāśrama system prevailed, the family was the natural social unit in which religious principles and culture were handed down. For example, a brāhmaṇa would perform the garbhādhāna ceremony and later on train his children in the brāhminical way of life, and therefore, the system was so reliable that the child was almost always expected to become a qualified brāhmaṇa.

DEMONIAC GOTRA SYSTEM

With the drastic decline in religious principles, especially in Kali-yuga, people have forgotten the culture and have started considering only birth as the criterion to the exclusion of qualification. Instead of sticking to the criterion of qualification and discarding the indication of birth, the exact opposite was done. Thus the whole system became perverted and led to a massive disruption of the social and spiritual fabric of society. Such opposite conclusions manifest in a society influenced heavily by tamo-guṇa, the mode of ignorance, as confirmed by Bhagavad-gītā (18.32):

adharmaṁ dharmam iti yā
manyate tamasāvṛtā
sarvārthān viparītāṁś ca
buddhiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī

“That understanding which considers irreligion to be religion and religion to be irreligion, under the spell of illusion and darkness, and strives always in the wrong direction, O Pārtha, is in the mode of ignorance.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda comments on this verse as follows:

“Intelligence in the mode of ignorance is always working the opposite of the way it should. It accepts religions which are not actually religions and rejects actual religion. Men in ignorance understand a great soul to be a common man and accept a common man as a great soul. They think truth to be untruth and accept untruth as truth. In all activities they simply take the wrong path; therefore their intelligence is in the mode of ignorance.”

Thus, the understanding of all such words as gotra, varṇa, jāti, kula, parivāra, vaṁśa, santāna, etc. became distorted among the common people.

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda defines such a birth-based understanding as āsura varṇāśrama, or demoniac varṇāśrama (purport to Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 3.6) or a demoniac, perverted version of the divine varṇāśrama system:

“The ācāryas who advocate the daiva-varṇāśrama (the social order of cātur-varṇyam mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, based on qualification and work of a person instead of birth) do not accept the proposition of āsura-varṇāśrama, which maintains that the social order of varṇa is indicated by birth.”

Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.13):

cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ
guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ

“According to their qualities and work, the four divisions of human society were created by Me.”

Śrīla Nārada Muni declares this even more decisively in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (7.11.35):

yasya yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ
puṁso varṇābhivyañjakam
yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta
tat tenaiva vinirdiśet

“If one shows the symptoms of being a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification.”

Similarly, the title of Gosvāmī is reserved for a person who has actually controlled his senses. It is not a family title. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī defines a gosvāmī thus in his book Upadeśāmṛta (1):

vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ
jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ
sarvām apīmāṁ pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt

“A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind’s demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world.”

The same principle applies to the gotra of a person. Therefore, when a person mentions his gotra as such-and-such sage’s name, he is expected to know the teachings of that sage and his disciplic succession. Otherwise, if he simply thinks that his gotra is due to his birth in a particular family and nothing else, then that is āsura-gotra, or demoniac gotra system.

In India, many people have family titles like Gosvāmī, Trivedī, Caturvedī, Śāstrī, Ghanāpāṭhī, etc. But such titles mean that the person is supposed to have studied the Vedic scriptures. But without learning anything, what is the value of such titles? They exist in name only without any spiritual or practical significance or relevance. This is a demoniac system because it is cheating. If I call myself a doctor without any qualification, is that not cheating? If someone produces a fake university certificate, it is punishable by law. Why then not punish those who falsely claim exalted titles without qualification? They may escape the law of the state but not the law of God. Therefore, to avoid all these anomalies, everyone must take shelter of a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa to save himself and cross the ocean of material existence.

DEFINING VARṆA-SAṄKARA

How the families and societies of actually qualified people become degraded and how their sanctity and relevance are restored is demonstrated in the conversation between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the beginning, Arjuna was reluctant to fight his elders in the battle of Kurukṣetra. In Bhagavad-gītā (1.37-43), Arjuna argued that the battle at Kurukṣetra would cause many men, who were heads of their families, to die. Thus there would be degradation of womanhood leading to adultery giving rise to an unwanted, demoniac population technically called varṇa-saṅkara. Such descendants would then destroy the kula-dharma and the jāti-dharma of the families, which ultimately aim at attaining Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, his argument was that without the presence of men to lead the families, adharma, or irreligiosity, would ensue, leading to disastrous consequences brought about by a low-class population uninterested in the upkeep of religious principles.

But what if the men in the families are themselves irreligious? The result will be not very different. That was indeed the case in the Mahābhārata. Family elders such as Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Śakuni, Droṇācārya, Kṛpācārya, and even Bhīṣmadeva, along with the younger generation headed by Duryodhana and Karṇa and others, became either active or passive advocates of adharma. How can the society be trained to become religious and Kṛṣṇa conscious under the leadership of such men?

Therefore, Kṛṣṇa’s analysis of varṇa-saṅkara is far superior. He affirmed that if the leader does not act as he should, according to Vedic religious principles, he creates varṇa-saṅkara, or unwanted population. Therefore, He demonstrated religious principles by His personal behavior and wanted to enthrone the Pāṇḍavas, His devotees, as leaders of the world so they could lead the population towards God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He focused on the actual character and conduct of the leaders; reviving them to the highest standard by setting example and reorganizing society. Nothing other than this is the sacred duty of an ācārya, a bona fide teacher of religion. He therefore declares in the Bhagavad-gītā (3.21 & 3.24):

yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas
tat tad evetaro janaḥ
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute
lokas tad anuvartate

“Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.”

utsīdeyur ime lokā
na kuryāṁ karma ced aham
saṅkarasya ca kartā syām
upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ

“If I should cease to work, then all these worlds would be put to ruination. I would also be the cause of creating unwanted population, and I would thereby destroy the peace of all sentient beings.”

Here, Kṛṣṇa emphasizes that it is the bad example of influential people, whether in one’s family or in the society at large, that will lead to varṇa-saṅkara, unwanted population, not the mere absence of men.

Such a misled society can be revived by an ācārya who shows the proper path of work for the human society to emulate. If people heed his instructions and follow in his footsteps, the world will be saved from peril. This indeed is the meaning of gotra.

CATEGORIZATION OF SOCIETY

In fact, not only spiritual knowledge but every aspect of the Vedic civilization is handed down through family and jāti traditions, be it farming, cow protection, carpentry, weaving, transportation, banking, medicine, and thousands of such professions. Although these are of much lesser importance than the spiritual aspect, they are nonetheless necessary aspects of material life. If these professions are conducted according to the scriptural rules, depending on natural products, all prosperity shall ensue for such a society, enabling them a comfortable life even within this material world.

Therefore, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (7.14.7) declares:

divyaṁ bhaumaṁ cāntarīkṣaṁ
vittam acyuta-nirmitam
tat sarvam upayuñjāna
etat kuryāt svato budhaḥ

“The natural products created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead should be utilized to maintain the bodies and souls of all living entities. The necessities of life are of three types: those produced from the sky [from rainfall], from the earth [from the mines, the seas or the fields], and from the atmosphere [that which is obtained suddenly and unexpectedly].”

In the West, such jātis may be called niches, specializations, interest groups, tribes, clubs, associations, societies, organizations, movements, etc. But it is the same concept. People naturally group themselves by their qualities and work irrespective of their birth, although their birth in a particular family might have a bearing on what qualities and work one may get attracted to.

This proves that Kṛṣṇa’s system of guṇa-karma vibhāgaśaḥ (categorization by quality and work) always prevails even if the nomenclature such as brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, etc. is removed. Therefore, abolishing the caste system is a myth because Kṛṣṇa’s system cannot be undone simply by changing the names. This is essentially the varṇa system or the gotra system.

A DESTRUCTIVE COMBINATION

But if the results of such guṇa (quality), and karma (work) are not offered to Kṛṣṇa, such jāti-dharma or kula-dharma or varṇāśrama-dharma systems lose their spiritual relevance and degenerate into mundane, lifeless, sinful activities, based on inordinate emphasis on sense enjoyment and excessive labor to achieve such enjoyment, thus sapping the life out of human society. Śrīla Nārada Muni therefore says (Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya 3.11):

bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya
jātiḥ śāstraṁ japas tapaḥ
aprāṇasyaiva dehasya
maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam

“One’s birth, occupation, status, knowledge, austerity, religious performances, and the entire range of human activity, if not employed in the service of Lord Hari, are just like costly decorations on a dead body.”

Name-sake, birth-based classification is even worse because it does not carry even material relevance. It is just ceremonial at best and has no practical use either spiritually or materially.

Today’s society is the worst combination of labels and qualities. The name-sake classification of society based on birth is irrelevant for any practical purpose and the actual classification of society is employed in irreligious work not aimed at God-realization. The end result is destructive at all levels.

REVIVING GOTRA-DHARMA

But there is hope. All is not lost. Even if the society is not in proper order, devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so powerful that it can rectify everything. If we start offering the results of our activities to Kṛṣṇa, all the imperfections involved in such activities will not harm those engaged in such activities. 

Therefore, all divisions of qualities and work should be employed in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa in order to fulfill the mission of human life, which is to attain emancipation from the perennial, cyclical miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.2.36) states:

kāyena vācā manasendriyair vā
buddhyātmanā vānusṛta-svabhāvāt
karoti yad yat sakalaṁ parasmai
nārāyaṇāyeti samarpayet tat

“In accordance with the particular nature one has acquired in conditioned life, whatever one does with body, words, mind, senses, intelligence or purified consciousness one should offer to the Supreme, thinking, “This is for the pleasure of Lord Nārāyaṇa.”

Lord Kṛṣṇa, therefore, advises everyone thus (Bhagavad-gītā 9.27):

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

“Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform – do that, O son of Kuntī, as an offering to Me.”

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī describes the ‘whatever’ in the above verse thus (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.200):

laukikī vaidikī vāpi
yā kriyā kriyate mune
hari-sevānukūlaiva
sā kāryā bhaktim icchatā

“Whether one performs work sanctioned in the Vedas (vaidikī-kriyā) such as the duties of varṇāśrama-dharma, or he performs ordinary worldly activities (laukikī-kriyā), if the results of such work are offered to Kṛṣṇa, then it is bhakti, or devotional service.”

Such inclination to offer one’s activities to Kṛṣṇa is easily aroused by submissive aural reception about topics of Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-kathā or hari-kathā) and chanting His name in the association of devotees. This is the sum and substance of the Saṅkīrtana movement inaugurated by Lord Caitanya. The entire reorganization of society can thus be achieved. Therefore, in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.14.3), Lord Brahmā states:

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo ’jita jito ’py asi tais tri-lokyām

“Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.” 

ACYUTA-GOTRA

Those who take seriously the revival their lost relationship with Kṛṣṇa and thus engage wholeheartedly in His loving service are considered to be of acyuta-gotra, or the lineage of Lord Acyuta, who never falls. The devotees, who have taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa also never fall back into material existence. Lord Kṛṣṇa therefore states in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.14):

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te

“This divine material energy of Mine (Māyā), consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”

Everyone is invited to join the acyuta-gotra. There is no bar whatsoever. Anyone, no matter how sinful, who agrees to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa under the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master coming in an authorized disciplic succession can join the acyuta-gotra, the original gotra or lineage of all living entities. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (2.4.18) states:

ye ’nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ
śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

“All kinds of people addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power.”

SUMMARY OVERVIEW

To summarize, firstly Kṛṣṇa appears in the lineage of devotees (gotra) to protect the bull of religious principles (gotra) — dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi (Bhagavad-gītā 4.8). He performs wonderful activities and speaks His supreme instructions to His devotees. Those pastimes and teachings are then recorded either by His own incarnation or by His devotees in scriptural writings. Those scriptures along with the practical program of devotional service are handed down in the disciplic lineage of ācāryas (gotra). Such program enables everyone to engage all of their senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Thus everyone’s senses can be controlled (gotra). When everyone acts with controlled senses in the mode of goodness, there will be no lust and greed which are effected by the modes of passion and ignorance. In such a civilization, cows will be protected (gotra) and her products will be offered to Kṛṣṇa, who is very fond of cows and dairy products such as milk, butter, yogurt, ghee, and all the food that can be prepared by combining these ingredients, which can then be distributed as prasādam to people in general for their purification. Thus, the people in general will develop brains conducive to spiritual advancement. In such a civilization, brāminical culture, which is based on sense-control (gotra), will be protected. In such a civilization, people will utilize and be satisfied with only as much natural resources as required to maintain body and soul together and not take to large scale industrial enterprises propelled by greed, leading to all kinds of problems at all levels. When such population is constantly engaged in the saṅkīrtana-yajña, the congregational chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s names and glories, the demigods,who are devotees of Kṛṣṇa, are satisfied and thus supply all necessities in profusion so everyone can live in prosperity and advance towards liberation. Thus the planet earth can be protected (gotra) from all kinds of calamities. In fact, the entire universe can be protected.

THE ULTIMATE RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE

Thus, it is clear that gotra ultimately means the lineage of devotees. All the great sages, whose names are the names of gotras of people today, are great devotees of the Lord. Therefore, devotees of Kṛṣṇa (Vaiṣṇavas) are the ultimate source of protection for everyone in the universe. Lord Kṛṣṇa emphatically states (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.26.33): santo ‘rvāk bibhyato ‘raṇam — “My devotees are the only refuge of persons fearful of falling into a miserable condition of life.”

Therefore, to worship the devotees of Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate religious principle, gotra-dharma. Kṛṣṇa demonstrated this by His personal example. He always worships His devotees but the most iconic image of Him worshiping devotees and the brāminical culture is Him washing the feet of the famous brāhmaṇa devotee Sudāmā Vipra.

Kṛṣṇa therefore declares to Uddhava: mad-bhakta-pūjābhyadhikā (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.19.21) — “The worship of My devotees is better than worship of Me.” Lord Śiva also declares in the Padma-Purāṇa:

ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ
viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param
tasmāt parataraṁ devi
tadīyānāṁ samarcanam

“Of all types of worship, worship of Lord Viṣṇu is best, but better than the worship of Lord Viṣṇu is the worship of His devotee, the Vaiṣṇava, because Lord Viṣṇu is most pleased when His devotees are worshiped.”

Thus the association of devotees is the most cherished treasure in this world. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.2.30) declares:

saṁsāre ’smin kṣaṇārdho ’pi
sat-saṅgaḥ śevadhir nṛṇām

“Even half a moment’s association with pure devotees within this world of birth and death is a priceless treasure for any man.”

Everyone is fearful in this material existence. Everyone yearns for protection. Let us all, therefore, take shelter of sat-saṅga, or sādhu-saṅga, association of devotees, and tread the path of universal protection, which is devotional service as established by Lord Kṛṣṇa (yat kṛto gotra-dharmaḥ).

[End]