Shloka 22
Varṇāśrama-dharma as a Path to Bhakti
Yuga-dharma Origins, Universal Virtues, Brahmacarya and Gṛhastha Duties
द्वितीयं प्राप्यानुपूर्व्याज्जन्मोपनयनं द्विज: । वसन् गुरुकुले दान्तो ब्रह्माधीयीत चाहूत: ॥ २२ ॥
dvitīyaṁ prāpyānupūrvyāj janmopanayanaṁ dvijaḥ vasan gurukule dānto brahmādhīyīta cāhūtaḥ
ဒွိဇသည် သန့်စင်ရေးသင်္ကာရများ၏ အစဉ်အလာအတိုင်း ဂါယတ္ရီ‑ဥပနယနဖြင့် ‘ဒုတိယမွေးဖွားခြင်း’ ကို ရရှိသည်။ ဂုရုခေါ်လျှင် ဂုရုကူလ၌ နေထိုင်၍ စိတ်နှိမ့်ချကာ ဝေဒများကို သေချာလေ့လာရမည်။
The term dvija, or “twice-born,” here indicates the three superior classes, namely brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, who all receive the Gāyatrī mantra, which signifies their second birth through spiritual initiation. One’s first birth is biological, or seminal, and does not necessarily indicate that one is intelligent or enlightened. A young brāhmaṇa boy, if qualified, may be initiated with Gāyatrī mantra at the age of twelve, and kṣatriyas and vaiśyas a few years later. In order to become enlightened with spiritual knowledge, the boy resides within the gurukula, or āśrama of the spiritual master. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness has established similar gurukulas all over the world and is issuing a great call to civilized human beings to arrange for the proper education of their children. Every young boy and girl should learn to be self-controlled and should become enlightened through study of authorized Vedic literatures. In this way, unlike ordinary animals, insects, fish and birds, etc., an enlightened human being may take birth twice and thus become perfect in the knowledge that leads to ultimate liberation. The word ānupūrvyāt in this verse indicates the system of saṁskāras, or purificatory rites, beginning with garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, or the purification of the sexual act. Generally, śūdras and those who do not follow the Vedic system are not attracted to such purificatory ceremonies; therefore they remain ignorant of spiritual life and envious of the bona fide spiritual master. Those whose character has been civilized by a systematic cleansing process give up the tendency to be argumentative and whimsical and instead become submissive and eager to learn in the presence of a bona fide spiritual master.
FAQs
This verse says the twice-born should live in the guru’s home, remain self-controlled, and study sacred knowledge under the teacher’s direction—learning and reciting when called upon.
In the Uddhava-gītā section, Kṛṣṇa summarizes varṇāśrama-dharma to preserve dharma and spiritual culture, explaining how proper training (like upanayana and gurukula life) supports purification and God-realization.
Adopt guided learning from qualified teachers, practice self-control, follow a structured spiritual routine, and approach sacred study with humility and service-mindedness rather than independence and pride.