There are stages: śūdra, dvija, vipra and Brahmin. These four steps. One is born a śūdra. Śūdra means the lowest class, almost animal. So anyone who is born of father and mother, he is accepted as śūdra. And janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. By birth, everyone is born a śūdra, the lower class. And saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ: and if that man, the boy, or the child, is reformed by education gradually, then he is, saṁskārad bhaved dvijaḥ, his second birth is there.
So amongst the higher class, the Brahmin, the kṣatriya and the vaiśyas, especially amongst the Brahmins and kṣatriya, the boys were trained very nicely. Very nicely. So, by reformation, when the boy is, I mean to say, mature, at the age of twelve years or thirteen years, he goes automatically to a spiritual master. He automatically goes to a spiritual master for becoming initiated.
Just like sometimes some students come to me also, "Swāmījī, get me . . ." That is the process. When one understands the importance of spiritual life, that is reformation. So automatically he offers to a learned person to accept him as his disciple.
That point is, acceptance of a disciple, is the second birth. He is called dvija. Dvi means second, and ja means janma, or life. So saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Dvija means . . . second life means reformation and acceptance of spiritual master. Then education, spiritual education, begins. And what is that spiritual education? The Vedic literature, just like Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vedānta. There are many. Especially Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.