The three upper castes (all except the Shudras are called twice born in Hinduism. The first birth occurs when the infant burst hollering from its mother's womb. The second birth occurs at initiation, the Hindu version of Christian rite of conformation. At this time, the child is inducted into formal spiritual practice. Shudras do not receive this initiation probably because originally they were not considered focused and serious enough to stick with a spiritual discipline. In real life, of course, many Shudras are highly spiritual. Many great saints have come from the shudra caste.
The four castes are very broad groupings. Most Hindus actually think of themselves in terms of their subcaste
and clan. There are over 3,000 human subcastes in Hinduism. This system represents in the hierarchical nature of souls in the universe, so there are nonhuman subcastes, too. Animals, plants, even insects have their subcaste. So do gods and demons.
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