brāhmaṇaḥ kṣatriyo vaiśyas trayo varṇā dvijātayaḥ |
caturtha eka-jātis tu śūdro nāsti tu pañcamaḥ ||
(Manu Smṛti: 10.4)
“Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, and vaiśya—these three varṇas become the twice-born (dvijas). The fourth, the śūdra [-varṇa] is a caste (jāti), and there is no fifth [varṇa].”
brahma-kṣatriya-viṭ-śūdrā varṇās tv ādyās trayo dvijāḥ |
(Yājñavalkya Smṛti: 1.10)
“Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, and śūdra are the varṇas. The first three, however, [i.e., but not the fourth, the śūdras] become twice-born (dvija).”
brahmahā madyapaḥ stenas tathaiva guru-talpagaḥ |
ete mahāpātakino yaś ca taiḥ saha saṁvaset ||
(Yājñavalkya Smṛti: 3.227)
“A brāhmaṇa-killer, a wine-drinker, a thief, and a goer to the guru’s bed—they are great sinners, as is one who shall associate with them.”
mātur yad agre jāyante dvitīyaṁ mauñji-bandhanāt |
brāhmaṇa-kṣatriya-viśas tasmād ete dvijāḥ smṛtāḥ ||
(Yājñavalkya Smṛti: 1.39)
“Since they are born first from a mother [i.e., by way of seminal birth] and second by the tying of mauñji [i.e., the upanayana-saṁskāra, which involves a ritual in which mauñji, a type of cane grass, is tied as a girdle around the initiate’s waist], these brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas are known as the twice-born (dvijas).”
mātur agre’dhi-jananaṁ dvitīyaṁ mauñji-bandhane |
tṛtīyaṁ yajña-dīkṣāyāṁ dvijasya śruti-codanāt ||
(Manu Smṛti: 2.169)
“As per the precept of the Śruti, a twice-born’s birth is first from a mother, second by the tying of mauñji [i.e., the upanayana-saṁskāra, which involves a ritual in which mauñji, a type of cane grass, is tied as a girdle around the initiate’s waist], and the third by yajña-dīkṣā [i.e., initiation into performance of Vedic sacrifice].”
janmanā brāhmaṇo jñeyaḥ saṁskārair dvija ucyate |
vidyayā yāti vipratvaṁ tribhiḥ śrotriya-lakṣaṇam ||
(Yājñavalkya; cited in Laghu Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī-ṭīkā and Vaiṣṇavānandinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.16.2)
“One is to be known as a brāhmaṇa by birth. One is called a twice-born by saṁskāras. One attains vipratva [i.e., the status of being a vipra, a learned person] by learning. The characteristic of a śrotriya [i.e., one who is conversant in the Veda] is by these three [i.e., one who is born in a brāhmaṇa family, receives the necessary saṁskāras, and attains the necessary learning is accepted as being śrotriya, that is, conversant in the Vedas].”
na tena vṛddho bhavati yenāsya palitaṁ śiraḥ |
yo vai yuvāpy adhīyānaḥ taṁ devās sthaviram viduḥ ||
(Manu-smṛti: 2.156)
“One does not become wise [i.e., venerable, lit., ‘an elder’] just because one has grey hair on one’s head. The devas recognize as an elder one who, although young, remains engaged in studying.”
na hāyanair na palitair na vittena na bandhubhiḥ |
ṛṣayaś cakrire dharmaṁ yo’nūcānaḥ sa no mahān ||
(Mahābhārata: 9.50.47; Manu-smṛti: 2.154)
“[The youthful Sārasvata Muni says to an assembly of elder ṛṣis who had requested him to teach them the Vedas after they had neglected to study them for many years during a prolonged famine and thus forgotten how to recite the Vedas in full and proper completion:] Neither by years, nor by grey hairs, nor by wealth, nor by relations have ṛṣis performed dharma. One who is devoted to learning [i.e., one who is well-versed in the śāstra so as to be able to read, repeat, and teach it to others] is the great one amongst us [i.e., a ṛṣi’s performance of dharma is constituted principally of learning, understanding, and teaching the śāstra].”
brahmacaryaṁ sadā rakṣed aṣṭadhā maithunaṁ pṛthak |
smaraṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ keliḥ prekṣaṇaṁ guhya-bhāṣaṇam ||
saṅkalpo’dhyavasāyaś ca kriyā-niṣpattir eva ca |
etan maithunam aṣṭāṅgaṁ pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ ||
(Dakṣa Smṛti: 7.31–33)
“One should always observe brahmacarya to the exclusion of eightfold intercourse. Remembering, mentioning, playing [alt., joking], looking, conversing privately, fancying, pursuing, and completing the act [itself]—the wise say these are the eight aspects of intercourse. The opposite of these are the eight characteristics of brahmacarya.”
karmārpaṇaṁ dvividham—bhagavat-prīṇana-rūpaṁ, tasmiṁs tat-tyāga-rūpaṁ ceti | … atra nimittāni ca trīṇi—kāmanā, naiṣkarmyaṁ, bhakti-mātraṁ ceti | niṣkāmatvaṁ tu kevalaṁ na sambhavati, yad yad dhi kurute jantus tat tat kāmasya ceṣṭitam ity ukteḥ | atra kāmanā-naiṣkarmyayoḥ prāyaḥ karma-tyāgaḥ | prīṇanaṁ tu tad-ābhāsa eva, svārtha-paratvāt | bhaktau punaḥ prīṇanam eva, bhaktes tu tad-eka-jīvanatvāt | … parama-bhaktās tu bhagavat-paritoṣaṇaṁ prīṇanam eva prārthayante … |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 224)
“Offering karma [to Bhagavān] is of two types: that in the form of pleasing Bhagavān (Bhagavat-prīṇana) [i.e., making an offering of one’s karma to please Bhagavān], and in the form of giving that [i.e., karma] to him [i.e., offering karma to him without any intention to please him]. … There are three causes in this regard [i.e., the desired object of those who offer their karma to Bhagavān is one of three types]: a desire (kāmanā) [i.e., the fulfillment of a particular worldly desire], freedom from karma (naiṣkarmya) [i.e., attaining mukti], and bhakti alone [i.e., attaining bhakti for its own sake]. Pure desirelessness (niṣkāmatva) is not at all possible, as per the statement [in Manu-smṛti 2.4], ‘Indeed whatever a person does is an action of [i.e., motivated by] desire for that [i.e., for whatever object the action is related to].’ Herein [i.e., in regard to these three causes], in the case of [the causes of] desire (kāmanā) and naiṣkarmya, for the most part giving up of karma occurs [i.e., these two causes mostly fall into the second of the two aforementioned categories of offering karma to Bhagavān, that is, simply giving over one’s karma to Bhagavān without any specific intent to please him]. Pleasing [Bhagavān] is present only in appearance in them [i.e., it is not really there] because their [i.e., these actions] being self-interested. In the case of bhakti [i.e., in the case of offering karma to Bhagavān with the desire only of attaining bhakti], on the contrary, pleasing [Bhagavān] alone is present [in such an offering of karma] because of that [i.e., pleasing Bhagavān] being the very life of bhakti. … Great bhaktas pray only for the complete satisfaction of Bhāgavan, that is, pleasing [Bhagavān].”
