vrajavasi Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Radhe Krishna I am born a brahmin and am doing my daily chores as ordained by scriptures and there are a lot of other people who are born brahmins like me and doing their daily chores in south india. But, yes, I am also engaged in material world earning and saving money which is undoubtedly a sinful act as per scriptures. As for as the vision of sanathana dharma is concerned - it is broad and it covers the entire humankind with compassion. As far as liberation is concerned it is guaranteed in sanathana dharma to one and all irrespective of race, colour or varna to which one belong. Same with respect to knowledge. As far as the practice of the dharma is concerned - yes a good lot of people - ( its not just brahmins but a lot of people belonging to other varnas - if you so wish you can say caste) - are practicing - albeit with distortions - the system by birth. But yes, with the changing times, people belonging to Europe, Africa and other continents are attracted to sanathana dharma for its clarity in spiritual issues and an ocean of varnaless society of sanathana dharma is under creation. Organisations which are embraced by these people - like Ramakrishna mission, ISKCON, Divine life society provide them with every other knowledge they seek from the dharma. We people who are born as brahmins come under our respective lineages like people belonging to other varnas - since when - god knows. Many of us practicing the dharma as ordained by scriptures - albeit distortions. Yes many lot are completely carried away by the tide of new age. But this is a process. It has been explained in the scriptures that these things would happen thus. In shrimad Bhagawatham, in kali varnanam it is explained that - "viprathve suthra meva hi". That the only identity brahmins would have in kali is the suthra - the yagnyopaveetham. In spite of the fact that this is just the first part of kali yuga there are many people born as brahmins and who are even with out the "suthra". And many brahmins are keeping up the dharma against the tide of age. Its not that easy to simply deviate from the root of a system all of a sudden. It is only after considering all these probable happenings in kali - that god has ordained that only nama sankeerthanam would elevate people from the age old misery of samsaara. However disputable it may be, all other paths like yoga, karma, vedantha would not provide people with the solace as much they provide the knowledge. The history of sanths cutting across sampradaayas in the last one thousand years point to this fact undoubtedly. In nutshell, i feel people following varna system would continue to follow them - albeit with distortions and vast ocean of people would follow sanathana dharma - away from by birth system. But both would coexist peacefully and sanathana dharma would make its presence all over the world. Radhe krishna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 Every day many souls are born on this earth. Some are born into Hindu families, some are not. Who knows what families each soul lived with in their past lives? Some lived on other planets in our Universe, for all we know. While others lived on Planet Earth in a country called in India; and others in America, China, and so on. If you read a lot of reports on people who have past life memories, you will see that there is a diversity in our incarnations. We not only switch bodies; we switch genders; races; religions; and so on. The Hindu religion now has members who were Muslims and Christians in their previous birth; or perhaps even in their present birth. And if these souls do not obtain moksha in this lifetime, in their next lifetime, there is certainly no guarantee they will be Hindus again in their very next lifetime. If they are sensitive and can pick up on what they have learned in this life, they will no doubt be drawn to the teachings of Sanatana Dharma - no matter what race or country they are born in. But it depends on their spiritual development. Because Hinduism is all over the western world now, and there are Hindu Temples and Ashrams all over Europe, Canada, and American big cities, the chance of a person becoming Hindu are greater and greater, no matter what color body they incarnate in. At a Hindu Temple by me I have seen people of all races. What a beautiful sight it is to see people of every color and race, joining together to worship and fellowship, and hold satsang. A reflection of the spiritual world, where we are all one. These bodies are only outer coverings. The soul is the same in everyone. Hinduism is the religion of all mankind: the eternal religion of every soul. Namaste, everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 However disputable it may be, all other paths like yoga, karma, vedantha would not provide people with the solace as much they provide the knowledge. The history of sanths cutting across sampradaayas in the last one thousand years point to this fact undoubtedly. In nutshell, i feel people following varna system would continue to follow them - albeit with distortions and vast ocean of people would follow sanathana dharma - away from by birth system. But both would coexist peacefully and sanathana dharma would make its presence all over the world. Yoga and Vedanta are the paths most popular in the western world. It are these paths that represent Hinduism and have the largest following. Some modern Hindus just believe in following Vedanta and are dropping traditional practices. I don't see the traditional practices surviving. If Hinduism becomes a worldwide religion and most people follow varna system, what of the westerners who adopt varna system? They would believe it it determined by gunas. For example would Indian Brahmins inter-marry with white western brahmins? Or would it be that western Brahmins marry their own and Indian Brahmins marry their own? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrajavasi Posted May 26, 2006 Report Share Posted May 26, 2006 Radhe Krishna, Radhe Krishna, Number2, when I said Yoga, karma and vedantha provide only knowledge of these systems who study them in the current age and not as much solace, my intent was not per se put them at a lower platform. Every other system is per se meant for god realisation. The rigours involved in these systems make it difficult for people to pursue it with vigour and reap the results. And in the same time, whatever results which are supposed to be reaped by vigorouslly following these systems can be very simply reaped by following the path of bhakthi which stands tall above all other systems in the ghora kali for realisation of god. A good lot of people have realised god cutting across varna, gender and even religion through the system of bhakthi. Shri haridas, the sishya of Chaitanya mahaprabhu was from a yavana background. Eknath, thukaram, senanayi, Chokamela, ravidas, kabirdas, Rahim, latif, Thiruppanazhvar are only a few bhakthas in a long list of bhakthas who realised god through bhakthi. Then about the bitter fight going on in this thread. There are marriages taking place between people belonging to different varnas. Varna sangraha is an event which is presupposed in puranaas. As we people believe in a varna by birth system, what we visualise is a mass sanathana dharma in a varnaless form. But as per scriptures, people in the lineage of varna by birth would also continue till the end of kali whether one like it or not. Regarding brahmin bashing. South Indians, basically tamil brahmins are quite used to it. They have got earful of brahmin bashing for the past few decades. But undeterred many tamil brahmins are engaged in preserving and passing on the ages old brahminhood to their next generation. It never mean that people of other varnas are less. The varnashrama dharma system by birth never ever looked down upon people. Even the most orthodox of tamil brahmins never hesitate to pay their obeisances to alwars who are nithyasuris or the nayanmars who are in the abode of lord shiva because they are born in a different varna. Even kabir, latif and raskan are devotedly studied by orthodox tamil brahmins who are normally well versed in many languages. What stands out in the rat race of the current age is the will of an individual to swim against the tide. It is survival of the fittest. As said in Shrimad Bhagawatham, Jeevo jeevasya jeevanam. Radhe krishna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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