Guest guest Posted September 27, 2006 Report Share Posted September 27, 2006 Dear All, Namaste!!! I was very unhappy to see the latest thread. If a Brahmin quotes nonsense to terrorize the public into giving money... such brahman could go to hell and be reborn as a terrorist. That is my opinion... and I don't need any sloka to figure that out! NO OFFENCE!!! Best wishes Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 Respected Shri. Richardji, Thank you very much for your wonderful posting 'Spiritual Terrorism'. I fully agree with you. As we all know, in India, there was a 'Chaturvarnya Social (?) System'. I am a coastal brahmin by caste. However, I am of the opinion that brahmin community during 'Chaturvarnya System' wanted to keep low caste and other caste people away from doing any 'Sadhana'. Brahmins were acting as 'Middle man' or as 'Agents' for the God. This was simply to protect their social position and to get money. The related 'Shloka', mentioning 'The Rudraksha wearer will go to hell if he wears Rudraksha without performing puja with proper mantra'. is a classic example for it. Similar is the case for diet restrictions. Most of the lower caste people from India are mainly non vegetarian and brahmins are supposed to be strict vegetarians. The exception is of Kashmiri pandits, Bengal brahmins and Saraswat brahmins from Maharashtra, who regularly take non vegetarian food. It is important to note that Kashmiri Pandits who are staunch Shaivaites and adopt 'Kashmiri Shaivism', offer non vegetarian preparation to the Lord Shiva and Parvati on the 'Mahashivaratri Day'. 'Kshatriyas' or warrior caste is also a higher caste like brahmins. Kshatriyas are also mainly non vegetarians. However, 'Sadhaks' who have adopted 'Bhagwat Sampraday' or 'Warkari Sampraday' inspite of any caste (whether higher or lower) are all strictly vegetarians. It is mentioned in the 'Shiva Purana' that 'Rudraksha wearer should be strictly vegetarian' and in addtion should not consume garlic, onion etc. (inspite of its important medicinal properties). I feel, it is another example to keep low caste and other higher caste people like Kshtriyas away from doing Rudraksha sadhana, the wonderful gift by the Lord Shiva. Interestingly, we Hindus, insist to wear 'Silk' clothing for performing any puja or other religious rituals. Silk is made after killing thousands of beautiful silkworm cocoons. If moth is allowed to grow and emerge out of the cocoon, silk fabric gets cut affecting its commercial value. These cocoons are therefore killed by putting them in boiling water. It is horrible. Few people claim that silk has germicidal activities and kills micro-organisms. Scientifically it is not correct. Silk has a property of static electricity and due to this property it attracts more dust particles and therefore microorganisms adhere to it. Silk dhoties are not washed for many years and are used regularly for puja purpose by many people. It is unhygenic. I feel, it is better to wear a clean, nicely washed cotton clothing (preferable white) to perform religious rituals like puja etc. If anybody wants to use fabric with static electricity, there are many synthetic options available like 'terene', gabardene, nylon etc. in the market. 'Manu' in his famous scripture 'Manu Smruti' had denied any social rights to women and low caste communities. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar the great reformer burned 'Manu Smruti' publicly on 25th December 1927 as a part of his movement to protect the rights of Dalits (backward class communities in India). The day is known as 'Manu Smruti Dahan Din'. We worship Sri Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Mother Mary but refuse any rights to women in a patriarchy society adopted worldwide. In a 'Purusha Sookta' from 'Rigveda', it is mentioned that if you ideally consider 'Samaj Purush', then his head is a 'Brahmin', hands are 'Kshtriyas', chest and stomach is 'Vaishya' (business community) and legs are 'Shudras'. However, one should not forget that because of legs one can stand and perform his daily duties. There are many other examples from all religions wordwide where natural rights were denied to essential elements of the society. Today, world is changing very fast and coming closer day by day. It is necessary that one should be more practical to perform our social and religious responsibilities instead of blindly following unnecessary rituals given in the 'Puranas' and other old scriptures. One should concentrate only on 'good' mentioned in such scriptures. Any spiritual person or in simple words 'Sadhak' wants to be more close to the God. The ultimate wish is to attain 'Salvation' or 'Mukti'. It is believed that there are three ways to attain ultimate salvation or 'Mukti'. These are : Karma Marg, Yog Marg and Bhakti Marg. 'Karma Marg' includes all rituals given in the religion and which are mainly to be performed with different mantras, yadnyas (Holy Fire) etc. However, while adopting this marg, a 'Sadhak' should not hurt anybody mentally or physically. Examples who attained salvation by Karma Marg are : Rishies Vashistha, Vamadeva and Jamadagni, Atri, Parashar and Shandilya; Sri Sripad Vallabh and Sri Narasinha Saraswati from Sri Dattatraya Sampradaya. 'Yoga Marg' including 'Hatha Yoga', 'Patanjali Yoga' and 'Kundalini' is difficult to perform for a common man and requires Guru. Examples who attained salvation by adopting Yoga Marga are : Adya Shankaracharya, Sri. Machhindra Nath, Sri. Goraksha Nath and Sri. Jalandar Nath. 'Bhakti Marg' does not require any rituals with mantras etc. In this marg, one has to chant the name of the God and do good deeds for others including human being, animals, and plants. Sadhak should not hurt anybody physically and mentally. It is believed that Bhakti Marg is extremely difficult to adopt though appears simple. Examples who attained salvation by Bhakti Marg are : Sri Hanuman, Maharshi Vyas, Maharshi Narada, Shabri, Akrur, Sudama, Uddhava, Vidur. Many saints in the modern time had adopted Bhakti Marg. Examples are : Saint Namdev, Dnyaneshwar, Srimati Khala Amma (lady muslim saint), Shaikh Mohammed from Sri Gonda, Maharashtra, Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi, Hajarat Tajuddin Baba from Nagpur, Maharashtra, and all other saints from Bhagwat Sampradaya of Maharashtra. The above information is from the Adhyay No. 19 of Pothi (Holy Book) 'Gajanan Vijay' of the Saint 'Sri Gajanan Maharaj', Shegaon, Dist. Akola, Maharashtra. Official Website : www.gajananmaharaj.org This book is also available in Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi and in English from the Sansthan. True 'Sadhak' believes that 'Chanting the name of the God' and doing 'Sat-Karma' (Good deeds) is more than enough to attain salvation or 'Mukti'. It is believed that many of the original texts are not in their original form and are adultred by brahmins at different periods of time by putting threats to others who did not know 'Sanskrit', the language in which most of our earlier religious texts have been written. Most of the rituals are all man made (mainly by brahmins) and are unnecessary in the present day context. Maharashtra is considered as the 'Bhumi or land of Saints'. More than 20 saints gave spiritual guidance to people of Maharashtra in the past 700 years. It is interesting to note that most of these saints were from Non brahmin castes and communities; and to be more specific from todays backward class (BC) and 'other backward class (OBCs). Hardly four or five saints were brahmins. Views expressed in this posting are my personal views based on my spiritual reading and it is likely that few of the members may not like these. Thanking you and with personal regards, Chandrashekhar Phadke Poona, India Richard Shaw-Brown <rsbj66 > wrote: Dear All, Namaste!!! I was very unhappy to see the latest thread. If a Brahmin quotes nonsense to terrorize the public into giving money... such brahman could go to hell and be reborn as a terrorist. That is my opinion... and I don't need any sloka to figure that out! NO OFFENCE!!! Best wishes Richard Find out what India is talking about on - Answers India Send FREE SMS to your friend's mobile from Messenger Version 8. Get it NOW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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