214
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 4]
strī-śūdra-dvijabandhūnām trayī na śruti-gocarā karma-śreyasi mūdhānām śreya evam bhaved iha iti bhāratam ākhyānam kṛpayā muninā kṛtam
strī—the woman class; śūdra—the laboring class; dvija-bandhūnām—of the friends of the twice-born; trayī—three; na—not; śruti-gocarā—for understanding; karma—in activities; śreyasi—in welfare; mūdhānām—of the fools; śreyaḥ—supreme benefit; evam—thus; bhavet—achieved; iha—by this; iti—thus thinking; bhāratam—the great Mahābhārata; ākhyānam—historical facts; kṛpayā—out of great mercy; muninā—by the muni; kṛtam—is completed.
TRANSLATION
Out of compassion, the great sage thought it wise that this would enable men to achieve the ultimate goal of life. Thus he compiled the great historical narration called the Mahābhārata for women, laborers and friends of the twice-born.
PURPORT
The friends of the twice-born families are those who are born in the families of  brāhmaṇas ,  kṣatriyas  and  vaiśyas , or the spiritually cultured families, but they themselves are not equal to their forefathers. Such descendants are not recognized as such for want of purificatory achievements. The purificatory activities begin even before the birth of a child, and the seed-giving reformatory process is called  Garbhādhāna-saṁskāra . One who has not undergone such  Garbhādhāna-saṁskāra , or spiritual family planning, is not accepted as being of an actual twice-born family. The  Garbhādhāna-saṁskāra  is followed by other purificatory processes out of which the sacred thread ceremony is one. This is performed at the time of spiritual initiation. After this particular  saṁskāra , one is rightly called twice-born. One birth is calculated during the  seed-giving saṁskāra , and the second birth is calculated at the time of spiritual initiation. One who has been able to undergo such important  saṁskāras  can be called a bona fide twice-born.
If the father and the mother do not undertake the process of spiritual family planning and simply beget children out of passion only, their children are called  dvija-bandhus . These  dvija-bandhus  are certainly not as