Dear Devotees,
Shriman ravi sukhparia wrote:
"Every one is entitled to have a dip in the Ganges. But if I
want to be a doctor and practice medicine professionally, I have got to get MBBS
or other degree first and then I can go for specialization course."
Only the modern Purohit practices the profession of
performing rituals and offering prayers on behalf of others who reward him
with money for 'services rendered'. In his biography of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa,
Swami Vivekananda observed: " The father being dead,
the family was very poor; and this boy had to make his own living. He went to a
place near Calcutta and became a temple priest. To become a temple priest is
thought very degrading to a Brahmin." Further in the
biography, he observed:
"it has been held
from the most ancient times in our country, legislated upon by Manu,
that it is a degenerating
occupation to become a temple priest. Some of the books say it is so degrading
as to make a Brahmin worthy of reproach. Just as with education, but in a far
more intense sense with religion, there is the other idea behind it that the
temple priests who take fees for their work are making merchandise of sacred
things." (
http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_4/lectures_and_discourses/my_master.htm )
The devotees are all seekers, not professionals.
They need only motivation and guidance, not a license or other prescribed
qualification to live their holy life of seeking. Sanatana Dharma advises
all individuals to live their lives for the four Purusharthaas: Dharma,
Artha, Kaama, Moksha. Learning the scriptures, which includes chanting, is
the necessary equipment for one to lead life according to Dharma and proceed
towards the goal of Moksha.
Viewed in this light, men belonging to modern
times should not consider women as not fit/qualified (for any reason) to
chant the Vedas. As to whether the shastras themselves have prescribed a
prohibition, opinion does not appear to be unanimous.
Dasan
M.K. Krishnaswamy
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