Manava Dharmashastra 1.98

1.98

vidvattādiguṇasambandhino brāhmaṇasya viśeṣe darśite jātimātraṃ brāhmaṇaṃ kaścidavamanyeta tannivṛttyarthamidamucyate | utpattireva guṇānapahāya janmaiva, brāhmaṇasya jātireva śāśvatī dharmasya mūrtiḥ śarīram | dharmārthamutpanno dvitīyena janmanopanayanena saṃskṛtaḥ | sā hi tasya dharmārthotpattirbrahmatvāya kalpate sampadyate | dharmaśarīramuktiṃktvā parānandabhāgbhavatīti stutiḥ |

The very genesis of the Brāhmaṇa is the eternal incarnation of Virtue; for he is born for the sake of Virtue; and this (birth) leads to the state of Brahman. (98).

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The peculiarity of the Brāhmaṇa endowed with the qualities of learning and the like having been described, some people might be led to ill-treat the mere Brāhmaṇa by birth; hence with a view to prevent this, the author has added this verse.

‘The very genesis’—i.e., irrespective of his qualities, his mere birth, the mere ‘Brāhmaṇa caste’—‘is the eternal incar nation’—body—‘of Virtue.’

‘Born for the sake of virtue,’—when the Brāhmaṇa has been duly initiated with the rites of initiation, this is what constitutes his ‘being horn for the sake of Virtue’; and ‘this birth leads to the state of Brahman’; on abandoning the ‘body of Virtue’, the Brāhmaṇa becomes the partaker of Supreme Bliss.—says the Śruti. (98).