- viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutād aravinda-nābha-
- pādāravinda-vimukhāt śvapacaṁ variṣṭham
- manye tad-arpita-mano-vacanehitārtha-
- prāṇaṁ punāti sa-kulaṁ na tu bhūrimānaḥ
- (SB 7.9.10)
This verse we have been discussing.
(aside) You can open.
So vipra, vipra means one who is fully conversant with Vedic knowledge. He is called vipra. For spiritual elevation there are gradual evolutionary stages. So vipra stage is just before becoming a qualified Brahmana. That is called vipra. The first stage, by birth, everyone is Śūdra. Śūdra means affected by the miseries of this world. He is Śūdra. Śocati.
The material condition is full of anxiety, so anyone who is full of anxiety, he is Śūdra. This is the . . . so if you analyze the present society, that who is not anxiety, full of anxiety, oh, nobody will say that "I am not full of anxiety." "I have got so many anxieties." So that means he is a Śūdra. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ (Skanda Purāṇa): "In this age, everyone is Śūdra." That is concluded.
A Brāhmin is not afraid. He is not anxious, because he is dependent on God. He knows that, "I have surrendered unto God completely, and He is all-powerful. Therefore I have no anxiety." Just like a small child, he has no anxiety. Why? Because he is completely dependent on the parents. He knows confidently that in any danger, "Oh, my mother is there." As soon as he feels there is some danger, "Mother!" That's all. Finished.
Similarly, one who is completely confident that "The supreme father is there. He will protect me, give me protection," so he has no anxiety. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati (SB 6.17.28). When one is fully confident about God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is not afraid, not even afraid of death, because he knows that he has no death; he is eternal.
So to come to this platform of confidence, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is training. That training is called viddhi-mārga, regulative principles, following the regulative principles. So this whole varṇāśrama system, Vedic system, the different caste—Brāhmiṇ, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, Śūdra, a brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa—they are very scientifically designed to elevate one gradually to the standard of no fear, fearfulness-less, no more fear—confident. So vipra means just the previous stage of becoming completely a Brāhmiṇ.
Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ: "By birth everyone is born a Śūdra." Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ: "When he goes to the spiritual master and the spiritual master initiates him, at that time his second birth is there, dvija." Dvija. The birds are called also dvija, because they get twice birth. Once they come as egg, the form of birth in the egg, and then, when they come out from the egg and the shell, break the shell and come out, that is real life.
Similarly, we are in the egg, within the shell of ignorance. So when we come out from the shell of ignorance, that is our second birth. The first birth is by father and mother, and the second birth is by the spiritual master and Vedic knowledge. There is also mother. The Vedic knowledge is mother, and the spiritual master is the father.