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According to varnasrama-dharma, that not only by birth - before birth, when the father and mother is going to be combined to beget a child, there are cultural samskara, or reformatory measures

Expressions researched:
"according to varṇāśrama-dharma, that not only by birth—before birth, when the father and mother is going to be combined to beget a child, there are cultural saṁskāra, or reformatory measures"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

The system in the . . . according to varṇāśrama-dharma, that not only by birth—before birth, when the father and mother is going to be combined to beget a child, there are cultural saṁskāra, or reformatory measures. How much carefully these things are. They wanted first-class son. Not sons like cats and dogs—first-class son. So there is some saṁskāra.

Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ: "Anyone who takes his birth, by his birth he's a śūdra." Śūdra means the lowest, in the lowest order. Everyone. Even if he is born in the family of a brāhmin, he is to be considered as a śūdra, janmanā, by birth.

And perhaps some of you know that the brāhmins, the kṣatriyas and the vaiśyas, they are called dvija. Dvi means twice, and ja means birth. Twice-born. Twice-born. The bird is also called twice-born. Why? The bird birth is first of all in the egg. The egg is fermented, then the real bird comes out. Therefore bird is called in Sanskrit language also dvija, twice-born.

Similarly, a man, unless he is twice-born, he is a śūdra. Twice-born. How is that twice-born? Because by birth anyone, everyone has got some father and mother, because without father and mother, there is no question of birth. So the beast has also got father and mother, and the bird has also father and mother. Similarly, a human being has also got father and mother. So this birth by father and mother is not sufficient for becoming a dvija. He has to take his birth again.

So janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Birth. Birth is not all, everything. The culture, saṁskāra. Saṁskāra means culture. One has to take his birth, rebirth, by culture, by education, by knowledge. That is called cultural birth. So unless one is in the cultural birth, he is to be considered the lower-grade person, or the śūdra.

So therefore the system in the . . . according to varṇāśrama-dharma, that not only by birth—before birth, when the father and mother is going to be combined to beget a child, there are cultural saṁskāra, or reformatory measures. How much carefully these things are. They wanted first-class son. Not sons like cats and dogs—first-class son. So there is some saṁskāra.

There is some purificatory measures, which is called garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. Garbhādhāna means pregnancy, the cultural ceremony before making the mother pregnant. And it is enjoined, you will find in the Bhāgavata, that any family, the brāhmins, the kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, if they give up this garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, I mean to say, birth-giving ceremony, then that family turns immediately to the classification of the śūdras.

Page Title:According to varnasrama-dharma, that not only by birth - before birth, when the father and mother is going to be combined to beget a child, there are cultural samskara, or reformatory measures
Compiler:Nabakumar
Created:2022-10-06, 06:10:43
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1