Vṛtta
Vṛtta, “conduct”
Grammar: neuter noun, from the root vṛt (to turn, to move, to live): “the way one lives”, conduct. Asad-vṛtta is bad conduct.
Meaning: conduct, the way a person lives and acts; in the teaching on varṇa, the conduct that makes one a dvija (twice-born).
In the scriptures: in the Brahma Purāṇa, Vyāsa tells the munis how Devī Pārvatī, on a peak of the Himālaya, asked Bhagavān Śiva by what karma a varṇa falls or rises and how a śūdra attains brāhmaṇa-hood, and gives Śiva’s answer. Even a brāhmaṇa, by bad conduct (asad-vṛtta) and by eating from all mixed sources, loses brāhmaṇya and becomes a śūdra; a śūdra who has purified his mind by pure deeds and mastered his senses is to be honoured like a dvija. “Not the womb, not saṃskāra, not śruti, not lineage: the only cause of dvija-hood is conduct (vṛtta). This whole jāti called brāhmaṇa is determined in the world according to conduct. Even a śūdra established in conduct gains brāhmaṇa-hood.” The nature of Brahma, Śiva says, is evenness everywhere, and the one in whom the nirguṇa, stainless Brahma dwells is a dvija; Brahmā, who creates the beings, himself said this (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 223).
Related terms: Ācāra · Śīla · Varṇa · Dvija · Brāhmaṇa
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 223