Fourteen Worlds
FOURTEEN WORLDSVedic Cosmology

SB 6.2.26

Devanāgarī

अहो मे परमं कष्टमभूदविजितात्मन: । येन विप्लावितं ब्रह्म वृषल्यां जायतात्मना ॥ २६ ॥

Text

aho me paramaṁ kaṣṭam abhūd avijitātmanaḥ yena viplāvitaṁ brahma vṛṣalyāṁ jāyatātmanā

Synonyms

aho—alas;me—my;paramam—extreme;kaṣṭam—miserable condition;abhūt—became;avijita-ātmanaḥ—because my senses were uncontrolled;yena—by which;viplāvitam—destroyed;brahma—all my brahminical qualifications;vṛṣalyām—through aśūdrāṇī,a maidservant;jāyatā—being born;ātmanā—by me.

Translation

Ajāmila said: Alas, being a servant of my senses, how degraded I became! I fell down from my position as a duly qualified brāhmaṇa and begot children in the womb of a prostitute.

Purport

The men of the higher classes — the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas — do not beget children in the wombs of lower-class women. Therefore the custom in Vedic society is to examine the horoscopes of a girl and boy being considered for marriage to see whether their combination is suitable. Vedic astrology reveals whether one has been born in the vipra-varṇa, kṣatriya-varṇa, vaiśya-varṇa or śūdra-varṇa, according to the three qualities of material nature. This must be examined because a marriage between a boy of the vipra-varṇa and a girl of the śūdra-varṇa is incompatible; married life would be miserable for both husband and wife. Consequently a boy should marry a girl of the same category. Of course, this is trai-guṇya, a material calculation according to the Vedas, but if the boy and girl are devotees there need be no such considerations. A devotee is transcendental, and therefore in a marriage between devotees, the boy and girl form a very happy combination.
← SB 6.2.25Chapter 2SB 6.2.27