SB 1.4.25 (1962)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 25
Stri sudra dwijubandhunam trayee na shrutigochara Karma shreyasi mudhanam shreya eba bhabet iha Iti bharatam akhyanam kripaya munina kritam.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Stri—the woman class, Sudra—the labourer class of men, Dwijabandhnam—of the friend of the twice born, Shreya—supreme benefit, Ebam—thus, Iti—thus thinking, Bhabet—achieved, Iha—by this, Iti—thus thinking, Bharata—the great Mahabharata, Akhyanam—historical facts, Kripaya—out of great mercy, munina—by the Muni, Kritam—is completed.
TRANSLATION
The great sage out of compassion for them thought it wise that this will cause to achieve the ultimate goal of life by them, and thus he compiled the great historical narration of Mahabharat for the woman class, the labourer class and the friends of the twiceborn.
PURPORT
The friends of the twice born families are those who are born in the families of Brahmins, kshatriyas and Vaishyas or the spiritually cultured families,—but themselves they are not at par with their forefathers. Such descendants of the cultured families like Brahmin, kshatriyas and Vaishyas, are not recognised as such for want of the purificatory achievements. The purificatory activities began even before the birth of a child and the seed giving reformatory procees is called Garbhadhan Samaskata. And one, who has had not the chance of such Garbhadhana Samaskara or the spiritual way of family planning,—is not accepted as actual twice born family. The Garbhadhan Samaskara is followed by another purificatory process out of which the sacred thread ceremony is one which is performed at the time of spiritual initiation. After this particular Samaskara one is rightly called the twice born. One birth is calculated during the seed giving Samaskara and the second birth is calculated at the time of spiritual initiation. One who has been able to undergo such important Samaskaras can only be called as bonafide twiceborn.
If the father and the mother do not undertake the process of spiritual family planning and simply beget children out of passion only such children are called the Dwijabandhus. These Dwijabandhus are certainly not as intelligent as the real children of the regular twice born families. The Dwijabandhus are classified on the level of Sudras and woman class, who are by nature less intelligent. The Sudras and the woman class do not require to under go any Samaskara save and except the ceremony of marriage.
This less intelligent class of men namely the woman the Sudras and the unqualified sons of the higher castes, are devoid of the necessary qualifications for understanding the purpose of transcendental Vedas. For them the Mahabharata was prepared. The purpose of the Mahabharata is to administer the purpose of the Vedas and therefore within this Mahabharata the summary Veda or Bhagawat Geeta is set in. The less intelligent class of men are more interested in stories than in philosophy and therefore the philosophy of the Vedas in the form of the Bhagwat Geeta spoken by the Lord Sri Krishna is set in. Vyasdeva and Lord Krishna both of them are on the same transcendental plane and therefore both of them collaborated on the plan of doing good to the fallen souls of this age. The Bhagwat Geeta is the essence of all Vedic knowledge. It is the first book of spiritual values and same as the Upanisadas are. The Vedanta philosophy is the subject matter for study of the spiritual graduates and only the post graduate spiritual student can enter into the spiritual or devotional service of the Lord. It is a great science and the great professor is the Lord Himself in the Form Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and persons who are empowered by Him can initiate other persons in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.