Krishna alone is truly Bhagavān—complete in all opulences and perfect in every role He plays.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.3 — May 17, 1973, Los Angeles 730517SB-LOS ANGELES [23:03 Minutes] SB-01.09.03_730517SB-LOS ANGELES Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] bhagavān api viprarṣe rathena sa-dhanañjayaḥ sa tair vyarocata nṛpaḥ kuvera iva guhyakaiḥ [SB 1.9.3] [break] bhagavān—the Personality of Godhead (Śrī Kṛṣṇa); api—also; vipra-ṛṣe—O sage amongst the brāhmaṇas; rathena—on the chariot; sa-dhanañjayaḥ—with Dhanañjaya (Arjuna); saḥ—that; taiḥ—by them; vyarocata—appeared to be highly aristocratic; nṛpaḥ—the King Yudhiṣṭhira; kuvera—Kuvera, the treasurer of the demigods; iva—as; guhyakaiḥ—companions known as Guhyakas. [02:41] Translation: "O sage amongst the brāhmaṇas, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, also followed, seated on a chariot with Arjuna. Thus King Yudhiṣṭhira appeared very aristocratic, like Kuvera surrounded by his companions, the Guhyakas." Prabhupāda: So Sūta Gosvāmī, he is explaining in the assembly of learned brāhmaṇas. The Naimiṣāraṇya meeting took place some five thousand, or more than that, at least five thousand years ago.
But the all the members who assembled there, they were all very learned scholar and brāhmaṇas. Therefore they are addressed as viprarṣe. Not only brāhmaṇa, but they were ṛṣi. Ṛṣi means saintly person. They were rājarṣi, rājarṣi.
Saintly person can become..., anyone, provided he lives like a saintly person. It doesn't matter whether he is a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya. Generally, brāhmaṇa and kṣatriya, the first- and second-class status of the human society, they can live as good as the saintly persons within the forest or Himalaya. At home they can live. So another place these brāhmaṇas were addressed as dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ, "best of the brāhmaṇas." A brāhmaṇa is already the best man, but if he becomes a saintly person, then it becomes still more magnified. So in another place these brāhmaṇas were addressed, ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ [SB 1.2.13]: "You are all brāhmaṇa, the topmost of the human society." There are divisions of the human society: first-class men, second-class men, third-class men, fourth-class men, that, in the Vedic civilization.
Not that all, all one class. No. Why? There must be a division.
That I have already explained. So the qualified brāhmaṇas, they are first-class men, the topmost class. And the second-class men, the kṣatriyas. And the third-class men, vaiśyas, mercantile, simply "Where to get money?" And they are, according to Vedic civilization, third-class men.
But at the present moment, those who are acquiring money somehow or other, they are first-class men. It doesn't matter what is his qualification. If he has acquired some money some way or other, then he is a first-class man. This is Kali-yuga.
In the Kali-yuga there is no honor for qualification. There is honor for money only. That's all. It is stated that without money, you cannot get justice even. In the court of justice, everyone is expected to get proper behavior, but in the Kali-yuga it is stated that even in the court of justice, you cannot get justice without money.