84
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 2]
पुत्रेति तन्मयतया तरवोऽभिनेदु-
स्तं सर्वभूतहृदयं मुनिमानतोऽस्मि ॥ २ ॥
sūta uvāca
yaṁ pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kṛtyaṁ dvaipāyano viraha-kātara ājuhāva putreti tanmayatayā taravo'bhinedus taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim ānato'smi
sūtaḥ—Sūta Gosvāmī; uvāca—said; yam—whom; pravrajantam—while going away for the renounced order of life; anupetam—without being reformed by the sacred thread; apeta—not undergoing ceremonies; kṛtyam—prescribed duties; dvaipāyanaḥ—Vyāsadeva; viraha—separation; kātaraḥ—being afraid of; ājuhāva—exclaimed; putra iti—O my son; tanmayatayā—being absorbed in that way; taravaḥ—all the trees; abhineduḥ—responded; tam—unto him; sarva—all; bhūta—living entities; hṛdayam—heart; munim—sage; ānataḥ asmi—offer obeisances.
TRANSLATION
Śrīla Śūta Gosvāmī said: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto that great sage [Śukadeva Gosvāmī] who can enter the hearts of all. When he went away to take up the renounced order of life [sannyāsa], leaving home without undergoing the sacred thread ceremony, his father, Vyāsadeva, cried out to him, “Oh, my son!” Indeed, only the trees echoed in response to the begrieved father.
PURPORT
The institution of  varṇa  and  āśrama  prescribes many regulative duties to be observed by its followers. Such duties enjoin that a candidate willing to study the  Vedas  must approach a bona fide spiritual master and request acceptance as his disciple. The sacred thread is the sign of those who are competent to study the  Vedas  from the  ācārya  or the bona fide spiritual master. Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī did not undergo such a purificatory ceremony because he was a liberated soul from his very birth.
Generally, a man is born as an ordinary being, and by the purificatory processes he is born for the second time. When he sees a new light and seeks direction for spiritual progress, he approaches a spiritual master to