Devanagari
ब्राह्मणो जन्मना श्रेयान् सर्वेषां प्राणिनामिह ।
तपसा विद्यया तुष्ट्या किमु मत्कलया युत: ॥ ५३ ॥
Verse text
brāhmaṇo janmanā śreyān
sarveṣām prāṇinām iha
tapasā vidyayā tuṣṭyā
kim u mat-kalayā yutaḥ
Synonyms
brāhmaṇaḥ
—
a brāhmaṇa
;
janmanā
—
by his birth
;
śreyān
—
the best
;
sarveṣām
—
of all
;
prāṇinām
—
living beings
;
iha
—
in this world
;
tapasā
—
by his austerity
;
vidyayā
—
by his learning
;
tuṣṭyā
—
by his satisfaction
;
kim u
—
what more, then
;
mat
—
upon Me
;
kalayā
—
with loving meditation
;
yutaḥ
—
endowed .
Translation
By his very birth, a brāhmaṇa is the best of all living beings in this world, and he becomes even more exalted when he is endowed with austerity, learning and self-satisfaction, what to speak of devotion to Me.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
By his very birth, a brāhmaṇa is the best of all living beings in this world, and he becomes even more exalted when he is endowed with austerity, learning and self-satisfaction, what to speak of devotion to Me.
KB 10.86.53
“My dear Śrutadeva, when a person is born as a brāhmaṇa, he immediately becomes the best of all human beings. And if such a brāhmaṇa, remaining self-satisfied, practices austerities, studies the Vedas and engages in My devotional service, as is the duty of the brāhmaṇa—or in other words, if a brāhmaṇa becomes a Vaiṣṇava—how wonderful is his greatness!
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The brahmana is best of all living entities by birth, austerity, knowledge, peace and even more because he directly see me through worship (mat kalaya).
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He establishes their qualities using kaimutya. The brāhmaṇa is the best simply by his birth caste. He is better by following his dharma (tapas). But he who has realized my sphūrti (kalā) is the best. What more can be said? Better than following his dharma (tapasā) is to have knowledge of scripture (vidyayā). Better than that is to be an ātmārāma (tuṣṭyā). Better than that is to realize my sphūrti (kalayā). The sequence is in order of increasing excellence.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
By his very birth, a brāhmaṇa is the best of all living beings in this world, or in the three worlds. But he is better with svadharma (tapasā), study of scriptures (vidyayā) and being satisfied or being peaceful without attaining objects. But the person who has bhakti is the best (mat-kalayā). A person endowed with all of these elements is the best mahā-bhāgavata. This mahā-bhāgavata is described in Padma Purāṇa:
tāpādi-pañca-saṁskāro navejyā-karma-kārakaḥ |
artha-pañcaka-vid vipro mahā-bhāgavataḥ smṛtaḥ ||
The mahā-bhāgavata is a person who has undergone the five saṁskāras such as branding, performing the rituals like navejyā and knows the artha-pañcaka. Padma Purāṇa 6.253.27
The meaning is in Bhāgavatāmṛta.