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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00053 Feb 2005

 
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--- Begin Message ---
--- In KrishnaBhagavan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Rajeev <rx_rajeev@xxxx> wrote:



 Hare Krishna. Pranam to all Vaishnavas, 

Vedic Dharma

Sanatana Dharma (Righteousness for ever `of' that which has no 
beginning or
end), is a truthful way of life. It basically started with 
Sruti "that which is heard". The master of vedic age called Rishis, 
heard eternal truths in their heart and they taught their disciples 
orally, by transfer of thoughts which were later compiled  as 
Scriptures. Saint Chadrasekhara Saraswati (former Sankaracharya of 
Kanchi Mutt) had cured the chronic ailment of a rich devotee, just by 
making him distribute free of cost several copies of scriptures like 
Bhagavatam and Ramayanam  to poor devotees. 

Vedic rituals

For performing vedic rituals (with a high fidelity to scriptural 
injection and tradition, and  with deep devotion , earnestness and 
application), `satwic' persons with vast knowledge and deep devotion 
are required. The Scriptures have entrusted Brahmanas, with this duty.

Bhagavan Krishna says in Gita, chapter 17,  sloka 23 & 24 : 

" It is said that om, tat and sat are the three words used to 
indicate brahma, the
Supreme Absolute Reality. Brahmanas, the Vedas and Yajnas were 
originally
created from these three words. Therefore, dedicated followers of the 
Vedas
always commence the performance of sacrifices, charities, austerities 
and
activities prescribed in scriptures by uttering the sacred syllable 
om. "       

Sri  Krishna  defines `Brahmanas' in Gita, chapter 18, sloka 42 :

" Control of the mind and senses, penance, purity, tolerance, 
simplicity, knowledge of the self and of bhajana and firm faith and 
realization in sastra, are the characteristic qualities and duties 
(karma) of the brahmanas born of their own natures " .

The fact that Brahmanas have helped immensely the task of protecting 
the vedic dharma as the upholders and preachers of it has to be 
admitted by all .

Unfortunately in this difficult age 'Kali Yuga', even virtuous 
persons are tempted by materialism to deviate from their `prescribed 
duties'. The widespread disrespect of Brahmanas has  forced many of 
them to give up vedic path and look for other avenues. This 
phenomenon has gradually deteriorated vedic faith thereby 
depriving  `divine grace ` to it's followers. Saint Chandrasekharara 
Sarasvathi strongly advised the believers of `Santana Dharma' to 
fulfil their obligations towards `Devtas' by offering the required 
vedic  rituals (to be performed by Brahmanas) without fail . He 
confirmed that a devotee who makes such an offering gets it's benefit 
regardless of correctness on the part of the Priest.

Bhagavan Krishna says in Gita , Chapter 3, Slokas 11,12 &13 :

"May you please the devatas by this yajna, and may they please you in 
turn by granting your desired fruits. Satisfying one another in this 
way you will attain the supreme auspicious goal. Being pleased by 
your yajna, the devatas will award you your desired goals. Therefore 
a person who enjoys the ingredients given by the devatas, without 
first offering them to the devatas, is certainly a thief. Saintly 
persons who accept the remnants of yajna become free from sin, but 
those who cook grains and other foodstuffs for their own sake are 
sinful, and certainly partake of sin."

The above logic is also applicable to religious practices like 
marriages. Such functions strengthen human relations and help 
distribution of  wealth in the society, by way of  direct and 
indirect assistance to several needy people.

Spiritual Enlightenment

At the time of death, the body dies but the soul never dies. The soul 
passes from one body to another after the death, like a body changes 
clothes, the soul goes on taking endless number of bodies; until it 
pays off all the karmas attached to the soul. The path the soul takes 
is decided by the past actions, popularly known as "Karmas". After 
death the soul seeks an ideal body to be born again. So if one is  
born rich or poor - it is because of his actions in  previous life. 
Thus  a man  continues the journey of life and death with karmas 
attached to it from one life to another by undergoing pain or 
pleasure. The different methods of god realization provide an easy 
way to put an end to the drama. Then the individual soul, which is 
called "Jeeva" (a finite form of the supreme), will realize the 
Supreme Godhead. This `self realization' is called  Enlightenment. 

Bhagavan Krishna confirms in Gita , Chapter 18, Slokas 65 & 66 :

"Offer your mind to Me ; become My bhakta by hearing and chanting, 
etc, about My names, forms, qualities and pastimes ; worship Me and 
offer obeisances to Me. In this way, you will certainly come to Me. I 
promise you this truthfully because you are very dear to Me. 
Completely abandoning all bodily and mental dharma, such as varna and 
asrama, fully surrender to Me alone. I shall liberate you from all 
reactions to your sins. Do not grieve."

In order to reach enlightenment, a human being could adopt different 
methods of God realization which are as follows - 

Karma Yoga ? It is a system of attaining freedom through selfless 
actions. The word "Karma" means "to do", thus Karma means work. The 
Karmas which we do dictate our past, present and future. An 
individual should engage himself in good karmas. 
Jnana Yoga ? It is a system of reaching enlightenment by adopting the 
path of knowledge. Bhakti Yoga ? Bhakti Yoga comes from the 
word "Bhaj" which means "to be attached to". Through this the devotee 
goes for total surrender to the supreme God and in this process a 
total dissolution of "I" or "Ego" takes place. 

Conclusion

`Eternal truths' of `Sanatana Dharma' can not be compromised to 
accommodate those hypocritical "liberal views" of modern, `man-made' 
religions. All vedic followers must be aware of the following decree 
of Lord Krishna , ( Gita, Chapter 4, Sloka 40) :

ajnas casraddadhanas ca / samsayatma vinasyati
nayam loko 'sti na paro / na sukham samsayatmanah

( Those who are ignorant, faithless and of a doubting nature are 
ruined. For the doubting person, there is happiness neither in this 
world nor in the next. )



OM NAMO BHAGAVATE VASUDEVAYA!!! 

SriKrishnaDasa Rajeev

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------- 

Original  Message : 
Kalpana Subramanian <kalpana_arvind1@xxxx> wrote:

Has anyone in the group done any research on the origin of the sect - 

brahmins? Obviously in the beginning of the world, people were not 

born brahmins.. The scholars were considered the brahmins, the 

kings/warriors kshatriyas, the merchants vaishyas and the other 

menial workers who really did the majority of the hard physical work 

were considered (unfairly) as the 'low-caste'.. So how did this 

become so deep-rooted that all these sub-sects have to become their 

own factions, and keep up all the millions of rituals and try to be 

different in some way from every other sub-group?? How is this kind 

of partitioned system going to promote unity among the people..??

 

One of my colleagues at work in the US asked me- if the caste system 

were really based on trade/skill, does a learned low-caste man get 

promoted to 'brahminism'?? Logical question, and I felt ridiculous to 

say that was no reason enough to 'become' a brahmin and actually 

there was no way anyone could really be converted into brahminism.. 

which really boils down to the fact that there is really nothing that 

dilineates a brahmin from the rest of the world..one has to lead a 

good life and follow good values and principles irrespective of which 

club one belongs to.. I suppose in the old ages, brahmins were noted 

for their knowledge of the scriptures/sanskrit, wisdom, soft-nature 

and orthodoxy/vegetarianism.. Today there is really no such quality 

that truly sets a brahmin apart from the rest.. many modern brahmins 

are non-vegetarians (bengali brahmins have always been non-

vegetarians, so I wonder what the big deal is with the rest of the 

brahmins not eating meat.. anyways..) Today brahmins

 do business, and are in the army, there are good ones and corrupt 

ones like in any other religion.... so should we not re-visit the 

very basis of our existence or rather, the existence of the group 

called 'brahmins'.. exactly who are we??

 

Any further thoughts on this would be helpful.. 

Also, I personally feel there is no need to form groups specially for 

iyers/iyengars/nadars or whatever.. the kinds of messages in such 
grps 

that I read seem to be very generic and mostly applicable to anyone.. 

What's the purpose - to become more narrow-minded and know only what 
brahims do?? 

Why not learn abt how other people across the world do things very 

well?? Think outside the box..I personally think we should get away 

from such factions and clannish thinking and be more open to other 

races/cultures/'so-called religions.. we need to remember that in the 

beginning there was only one man and one woman on the earth who 

produced all the generations that came later.. and no-one knows if 

that person was hindu/muslim/iyer or whatever..

 

Down the ages, we have conveniently kept some traditions and 

forgotten some other basic ones.. if we want to celebrate a wedding 

as if we lived abt 300 years ago (jaanavasam on the road/kaasi 

yathrai, and invite the whole town to the wedding, etc.) we need to 

go back and ride in bullock carts instead and forget about air-

conditioning, etc... why get modern only for some conveniences??

 

anyways, there is no end to this line of thought, so I will stop 

here. But the thought really irks me that we constantly complain 

about the lack of unity in our country and yet we promote our own 

rules and dogmas so staunchly and rigidly within each and every sub-

sect as if it were the only one that ever existed!!

 

My argument is on a different plane and I am questioning the 

fact that the peoples of the world are so divided and narrowly 

focused on their own little worlds that they have lost focus of the 

whole picture.. If you think about it, the attititude should be that 

the whole world is one family.. 

 

/Kalpana



                
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