One man can purchase a two-cent worth this thread and put it on the..., "Oh, I come from a brāhmaṇa family." Without any education, without any acceptance of spiritual master and without anything, simply by showing the thread, that "I have got this thread," he becomes a brāhmaṇa or vipra, or twice-born or... Nonsense. But this will be done in Kali-yuga.
When one has educated himself sufficiently in the Vedic literature, he is called vipra. And at that time the spiritual master... Or before that. Before accepting him as a student for spiritual education, the disciple was given a badge which is called sacred thread. You have seen my sacred thread. So that sacred thread is offered. One who has got the sacred thread, is to be understood that he is twice-born. His second birth is also there. First birth is from the father and mother, and second birth is from the spiritual master and Vedic literature. The spiritual master is the father, and Vedic literature is the mother. Now here, it is said that in the age of Kali, vipratve sūtram eva hi. The sūtra, the thread, is only two-cent worth. So just to place oneself as born of higher class, especially in India that is now being done. One man can purchase a two-cent worth this thread and put it on the..., "Oh, I come from a brāhmaṇa family." Without any education, without any acceptance of spiritual master and without anything, simply by showing the thread, that "I have got this thread," he becomes a brāhmaṇa or vipra, or twice-born or... Nonsense. But this will be done in Kali-yuga. Actually, these things are being done in India especially. Because here, in your country, there is no sacred thread ceremony, but in India there is this division of brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, and still the sacred thread ceremony is there. So in order to pose oneself as born of high family, one can simply purchase two-cent-worth thread and put on the breast and he can introduce himself, "Oh, I am brāhmaṇa." And nobody is going to inquire whether he is actually a brāhmaṇa. As soon as one sees that sacred thread: "Oh, he's a brāhmaṇa." That's all. So this is the, another symptom of Kali-yuga, that simply by two-cent-worth sacred thread one becomes a brāhmaṇa.