Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 17.60

yāhāń vipra nāhi tāhāń 'śūdra-mahājana'

āsi' sabe bhaṭṭācārye kare nimantraṇa

SYNONYMS

yāhāń — wherever; vipra — brāhmaṇa; nāhi — there is not; tāhāń — there; śūdra-mahā-jana — devotees born in families other than brāhmaṇa; āsi' — coming; sabe — all of them; bhaṭṭācārye — to Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya; kare nimantraṇa — make invitation.

TRANSLATION

In some villages there were no brāhmaṇas; nonetheless, devotees born in non-brāhmaṇa families came and extended invitations to Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya.

PURPORT

Actually a sannyāsī or a brāhmaṇa will not accept an invitation extended by a person born in a lower family. However, there are many devotees who are raised to the platform of brāhmaṇa by their initiation. These people are called śūdra-mahājana. This indicates that one who is born in a non-brāhmaṇa family has accepted the brāhmaṇa status by initiation. Such devotees extended invitations to Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya. A Māyāvādī sannyāsī will accept an invitation only from a brāhmaṇa family, but a Vaiṣṇava does not accept an invitation from a brāhmaṇa if he does not belong to the Vaiṣṇava sect. However, a Vaiṣṇava will accept an invitation from a brāhmaṇa or śūdra-mahājana if that person is an initiated Vaiṣṇava. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself accepted invitations from śūdra-mahājanas, and this confirms the fact that anyone initiated by a Vaiṣṇava mantra can be accepted as a brāhmaṇa. One can accept an invitation from such a person.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness