Ploughing, the breaking of the soil; the keeping of cattle, the herdsman's calling; and trade, the work of a merchant marked by buying and selling, this is the action of the vaishya class, born of their nature. And service in its very nature, work that consists in attendance, is born of nature for the shudra too. The fruit of these caste-enjoined actions, when rightly performed, is by nature the gaining of heaven; for remembered scripture says that the castes and orders, each devoted to its own action, after death enjoy the fruit of their action and then, with the residue, take a birth in a fitting land, caste, family, with the right way of life, length of days, learning, conduct, wealth, happiness, and wits; and the Puranas record the differences in the worlds gained by the castes and the orders. But for another reason there is the further fruit now to be stated.

Ploughing is the breaking of the soil for the raising of crops. Cattle-keeping means the herding of beasts. Trade is the action, of the form of buying and selling, that is the cause of the heaping-up of wealth. This is the vaishya's nature-born action. The action, of the form of service to the three former classes, is the shudra's nature-born action. This is told by way of indicating the scripturally enjoined actions, sacrifice and the rest, that the four classes must do together with their ways of life. For sacrifice and the rest are common to the three classes; and tranquillity, self-restraint, and the rest are common too to the seekers of liberation among the three classes. But, since for the brahmin the preponderance of sattva is natural, tranquillity, self-restraint, and the rest are happily taken up by him, and so it is said that tranquillity, self-restraint, and the rest are the brahmin's nature-born action. But for the kshatriya and the vaishya, since rajas and tamas predominate in them by nature, tranquillity, self-restraint, and the rest would be painfully taken up, and so it is said that they are not their action. The brahmin's way of life is the conducting of sacrifices for others, teaching, and the receiving of gifts. The kshatriya's is the protecting of the realm. The vaishya's is ploughing and the rest, as told. And the shudra's duty and way of life are just the service of the three former classes.

This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.

Madhvacharya does not comment on this verse.