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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00101 Oct 2003

 
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Dear srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer, 
 this was furnished to me by a friend. since it was quite relevant to the 
present day life of a vaishnavan i thought of sharing with you. not to create 
any types of controversies .
MGvasudevan

The Brahmin must keep his body chaste so that its impurities do not detract 
from the power of the mantras he chants. "Deho devalaya prokto jivah prokto 
sanatanah. " (The body is a temple. The life enshrined in it is the eternal 
Lord. ) You do not enter the precincts of a temple if you are unclean. Nothing 
impure should be taken in there. To carry meat, tobacco, etc, to a temple is to 
defile it. According to the Agama sastras you must not go to a temple if you 
are not physically and spiritually clean. 
The temple called the body - it enshrines the power of mantras - must not be 
defiled by an impurity. There is a difference between the home and the temple. 
In the home it is not necessary to observe such strict rules of cleansiness as 
in the temple. Some corner, some place, in the house is meant for the 
evacuation of bodily impurities, to wash the mouth, to segregate during their 
periods. (In the flat system it its not possible to live according to the 
sastras). In the temple there is no such arrangement as in a house. 
Wherever we live we require houses as well as temples. In the same way our body 
must serve as a house and as a temple for Atmic work. The Brahmin's body is to 
be cared for like a temple since it is meant to preserve the Vedic mantras and 
no impure material is to be taken in. It is the duty of the Brahmin to protect 
the power of the mantras, the mantras that create universal well-being. That is 
why there are more restrictions in his life than in that of others. The Brahmin 
must refrain from all such acts and practices as make him unclean. Nor should 
he be tempted by the sort of pleasures that others enjoy with the body. 
The Brahmin's body is not meant to experience sensual enjoyment but to preserve 
the Vedas for the good of mankind. It is for this purpose that he has to 
perform rites like upanayana. He has to care for his body only with the object 
of preserving the Vedic mantras and through them of protecting all creatures. 
Others may have comfortable occupations that bring in much money but that 
should be no cause for the Brahmin to feel tempted. He ought to think of his 
livelihood only after he has carried out his duties. In the past when he was 
loyal to his Brahminic dharma the ruler as well as society gave him land and 
money to sustain himself. Now conditions have changed and Brahmin today has to 
make some effort to earn his money. But he must on no account try to amass 
wealth nor must he adopt unsastric means to earn money. Indeed he must live in 
poverty. It is only when he does not seek pleasure and practices self-denial 
that the light of Atmic knowledge will shrine in him. This light will make the 
world live. The Brahmin must not go abroad in search of fortune, giving up the 
customs and practices he is heir to. His fundamental duty is to preserve the 
Vedic mantras and follow his own dharma. Earning money is secondary to him. 
If the Brahmin keeps always burning the fire of mantras always burning in him, 
there will be universal welfare. He must be able to help people in trouble with 
his mantric power and he is in vain indeed if he turns away a man who seeks his 
help, excusing himself thus: "I do the same things that you do. I possess only 
such power as you have. "
Today the fire of mantric power has been put out (or it is perhaps like dying 
embers). The body of Brahmin has been subjected to undesirable changes and 
impure substances have found a place in it. But may be a spark of the old fire 
still gives off a dim light. It must be made to burn brighter. One day it may 
become a blaze. This spark is Gayatri. It has been handed down to us through 
the ages. 



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