Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.3
—
Los Angeles, May 17, 1973
So in another place these brāhmaṇas were addressed, ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ: "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.
So 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. That's a fact. If you have no money, then you cannot appoint a good lawyer. And sometimes you have to bribe the judge also. This is the position now. Now in your country so many big, big men have been arrested or something like that for their dishonesty. So Kali-yuga is so polluted that the minister is dishonest, the judge is dishonest, and what to speak of ordinary men. So only thing is that you get money some way or other. Then you can pass on as a nice gentleman, polished. You keep yourself always polished, and within you may be full with all dirty things, but if you have got your pockets filled up with coins and notes, then you are nice. Formerly it was not like that. One must be qualified. Varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ.
Vibhāgaśaḥ. There must be division. But people are very much anxious to make classless society, no division. And that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness society. We have no such division. Division means under the jurisdiction of the three modes of material nature. That is division. Otherwise, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, these divisions are calculated when one is under the control of the material nature. But if you become devotee, the material nature has no more any control over you. That is the difference between a perfect Kṛṣṇa conscious person and a perfect, I mean to say, mundane person. The difference is that a Kṛṣṇa conscious, a devotee, is no more under the influence of the three modes of material nature. But ordinarily, everyone should be..., is—"he should be" not.(?) He is under the control. Therefore they are called dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ, the best of the brāhmaṇas. Even a brāhmaṇa is also under the control of material nature. But the same brāhmaṇa, when he becomes a Vaiṣṇava, a devotee, he becomes the best of the brāhmaṇas. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ. Or he becomes ṛṣi. Viprarṣe. Rathena. Rathena. They were not walking, all these respectable personalities, brāhmaṇas and bhagavān.