Brahmins and
orthodox religion
A cursory look
By
P.R.Ramachander
The very
small number of Brahmins
in India are further divided
based on
Whether they
follow, Advaitha , Visishtadvaitha or
Dvaitha and further sub sects in each of these
groups
By the Vedas and
suthras and gothras they follow
The language they speak
The state they belong
Based on whether
they are orthodox or modern
The original
Dharma of all
the Brahmins was either learning
of Vedas or learning of Agamas,
with the main aim of preserving them. One of the foremost duty of a Hindu king was to look after the Brahmins
and provide them their needs so that knowledge of Vedas
and Agamas , which are the
foundation of our religion are preserved.
Since all Brahmins had lot of time to spare
and since their profession was
getting knowledge , they contributed
great amount of knowledge to their country in all most all the scientificc subjects . They never ever thought
that the great knowledge that they have
could be sold and that they also
could become rich.
Over time with disappearance of Hindu kings , though few rich people helped them
to study Vedas , slowly all Brahmins became
very poor.
It was at this time due to compulsion of circumstances that
they started selling their knowledge .Once they understood
that by doing so , they can become rich , they
started neglecting the learning
of Vedas and Agamas .A minority
however continued to do that and they were looked after by the rich
among the Brahmins
Modern
education showed the rich Brahmins , the luxuries
they can enjoy , if they could
spare the time and they started neglecting
rituals also , The poor Brahmins thought
that they also should become
rich and started educating their children in modern schools.
The very few
and meagre number of Brahmins
who had studied Vedas had all
moved to big towns where , by practice of what they have learnt , they could also become rich and Instead of
the disciplined simple life
that they used to lead , they
also started leading a life of luxury. The result was , temples in villages are not able find experts in Agamas to worship and the few Brahmin families living in villages are not able to find priests . And the
few Brahmin priests are demanding huge Dakshinas .Possibly
this will contribute further to the destruction of our religion
.
.
Majority of the Brahmins especially in south ,
cannot be considered as poor . Most of them are upper middle class, and few of them are lower middle class .
What is the future? Possibly only God can tell.
2 comments:
Namaskarams Mama, I have seen some of your posts and translations. I admire your work at this age. Being in City Life Brahmins are unable to follow the Acharams mentioned for them. God onl y should save them.
Guruji,
Pranams. You have done wonderful work on documenting, a much needed gap in Indian system. I had few comments and as I am younger to you in age, knowledge and wisdom, I seek to be forgiven for commissions, omissions and wrong interpretations.
1. Brahmins or for that matter any group of homogeneous small groups( in terms of their percentage representation, in overall population) are as similar to any other social groups which need to adapt to changing circumstances. I used to think that, this message is what Lord Krishna tells Beeshma on 10th day in the Mahabharata war where he faces an existential crisis. The pratigya of Beeshma in a relative sense has outlived its importance, as the circumstances of war require new approaches and new solutions. In a similar way, just to survive, the brahmins, from the time of muslim invasion had faced severe persecution and it is a miracle that they survived in some small numbers at least.
2. A few among them aspiring to commercialize, their knowledge, does not affect the majority, which had not only nurtured their word -of mouth passed wisdom, but remained almost true north.
3. The problem comes only when they started comparing themselves with other communities, or even religion, they get clouded and shaken by their impact. At the same time I still doubt whether they should try to live in a Indian way in an alien culture, like Saudi Arabia, where they want to build a public place of worship, which that culture does not permit. One could rather do the practice within the four walls among small groups which the state may tolerate.
4. In India, unlike the British, who were not racial and more of liberal democrats, The British educated Indians wanted to show that they are better than their masters. Best example of this is M.K.Gandhi, etc who followed their own agenda for political reasons. (Quote extensively taken from Maha Periyava's Deivathin Kural). Since Brits were convinced that it was easy to deal with Gandhi than say Gokhale or Tilak, they used him skillfully, to meet their own agenda. This is not to belittle the enormous sacrifice that M.K.Gandhi made and he never used the charisma he had built for personal aggrandizement. Had he given equal weight to say Jinnah, Maulana Azad, Sardar patel and Nehru, and also Aga Khan he could have possibly built a larger and inclusive agenda and the strength of each religion/caste existing then could have been leveraged. India has missed the bus and now nothing short of a major shake can bring all people together.
5. The ancient Indians as a society were thorough even 500 years before and British understood it quickly and used it as foundation. At the same time they introduced English education primarily for communication.Since Brahmins had historical advantage in vocal learning, they quickly picked it up. The others have picked it little later. However what is in their genes cannot be copied or altered, even by google, let alone by laws. Till the decision makers understand it, we will tread the path of darkness, which all other nations in the world want us to follow.
Only Lord Krishna has to make an avatar again to change this is my view.
Hari Om
V.Ramachandran 10 Feb 2018
044-24360807, 9444066195 Email. mts.rama@gmail.com
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