Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that you may be very much advanced, you have mitigated all your sufferings, all the problems of life, but these problems of life, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi, birth, death, old age and disease, that you cannot avoid. That is not possible. So, if . . . but everyone has got the tendency to avoid birth, death, old age and disease.
Why? Because the spirit soul, I am, in reality, I am not subjected to birth, death, old age, and disease. Because I have accepted this material body, therefore apparently I am subject to birth, death and old age. Otherwise, I am eternal. Just like God is eternal, similarly I am also eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20)). This living entity, the soul, after the annihilation of this body, he does not die.
So this is . . . these are the subject matter of knowledge in the human form of life. So etad aviditya, without knowing this science, if somebody dies like cats and dog, he is a kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa means miser. And one who dies with the knowledge of this brahma-jñāna, self-realization, he is called Brahmana. Brahmana means brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. One who knows Brahman, the Absolute Truth, he is called Brahmana. Therefore our business is to become a Brahmana. Don't think that Brahmanas are produced only in India. No. Brahmana can be produced any part of the world. Simply by knowing Brahman, he can become Brahmana. Every one of you can become Brahmana, if you understand what is Brahman, because Brahmana means one who knows the Brahman.
Janmanā jāyate śūdra—by birth everyone is a Śūdra, illiterate, without any knowledge. He is called Śūdra, worker class. Illiterate maybe, but without any sufficient knowledge. He is called a Śūdra. So everyone is born Śūdra. By the father and mother, when one is born, he is to be accepted as a Śūdra, uncultured. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ: by education, by reformation, he is become a dvija. Dvija means twice-born.
Just like the bird. Bird is called also dvija, because the bird is once born within the egg, and then fermentation of the egg, he comes out from the egg. Similarly, a person born by the father and mother is a Śūdra, but when he is given education up to the understanding of knowing the Absolute Truth, he becomes dvija, twice-born. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ veda-pathād bhaved vipra.
And after becoming twice-born . . . you know, you have seen sacred thread, that sacred thread is the emblem that he has approached a spiritual master and his birth has . . . second birth has been performed. This is the badge, a sacred thread—perhaps you've seen Indian Brahmana. A sacred thread means that is the mark that this man has now twice born. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. There are ten kinds of reformatory method, and one of them is initiation from the spiritual master. That is called dvija. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ.
Veda pathād bhaved vipra, and when he is allowed to study this Vedic literature . . . without becoming dvija, one cannot understand this Vedic literature. Just like without becoming a graduate, you are not allowed to enter in the law court. Similarly, without becoming a dvija, you are not allowed to study the Vedas, because you will not understand. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ veda-pathād bhaved vipro. And when by studying the Vedic literature he understands Kṛṣṇa, then he becomes a Brahmana. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15).