17.44
hadike aniya saba dura karaila
jala-gomaya diya sei sthana lepaila
SYNONYMS
hadike—a sweeper; aniya—calling; saba—all; dura karaila—caused to be thrown far; jala—water; gomaya—cow dung; diya—mixing; sei—that; sthana—place; lepaila—caused to be smeared over.
They called for a sweeper (hadi), who threw all the items of worship far away and cleansed the place by mopping it with a mixture of water and cow dung.
PURPORT
The men in Vedic society who engage in public sanitary activities like picking up stool and sweeping the street are called hadis.
Sometimes they are untouchable, especially when engaged in their profession, yet such hadis also have the right to become devotees.
This is established by Sri Bhagavad-gita (9.32), where the Lord declares:
mam hi partha vyapasritya
ye ’pi syuh papa-yonayah
striyo vaisyas tatha sudras
te ’pi yanti param gatim “O son of Prtha, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth-women, vaisyas (merchants), as well as sudras (workers)-can approach the supreme destination.” There are many untouchables of the lower caste in India, but according to Vaisnava principles everyone is welcome to accept this Krsna consciousness movement on the spiritual platform of life and thus be freed from trouble.
Equality or fraternity on the material platform is impossible.
When Lord Caitanya declares, trnad api su-nicena taror iva sahisnuna, He indicates that one must be above the material conception of life.
When one thoroughly understands that he is not the material body but a spiritual soul, he is even humbler than a man of the lower castes, for he is spiritually elevated.
Such humility, in which one thinks himself lower than the grass, is called su-nicatva, and being more tolerant than a tree is called sahisnutva, forbearance.
Being situated in devotional service, not caring for the material conception of life, is called amanitva, indifference to material respect; yet a devotee thus situated is called mana-da, for he is prepared to give honor to others without hesitation.
Mahatma Gandhi started the hari-jana movement to purify the untouchables, but he was a failure because he thought that one could become a hari-jana, a personal associate of the Lord, through some kind of material adjustment.
That is not possible.
Unless one fully realizes that he is not the body but a spiritual soul, there is no question of his becoming a hari-jana.
Those who do not follow in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His disciplic succession cannot distinguish between matter and spirit, and therefore all their ideas are but a mixed-up hodgepodge of problems.
They are virtually lost in the bewildering network of Mayadevi.