Guest guest Posted October 5, 1999 Report Share Posted October 5, 1999 JAYA JAGANNATH Dear Gautam Da, Your post on being a Brahmana is fantastic. I need to clarify my personal views on this as you have mentioned something about my change in faith! In my village in Bira Balabhadrapur Sasan village of Puri (the Earthly abode of Sri Jagannatha), there are two temples. One temple is of Sri Somanath where the Shiva Linga of Someshwara is immersed in water of the adjoining tributary named Bhagavi (Wife of Rishi Bhargava or Brighu) of the Mahanadi river. Lord somanatha is considered the Lata or the highest Jyotirlinga form of Lord Shiva and is representing the Somanath temple of Saurashtra from where my forefathers had migrated many centuries back. He is our Kula Devata and we continue to worship Him everyday. My wife fasts on every Monday and worships Lord Somanath and my son is named Somanath after Him. My father chose the name so that by merely calling him I will also be reciting the Name of the Kula Devata. The second temple is a Vishnu Mandira. Thus the Ista Devata of all the people belonging to Puri is Jagannatha and their Kula Devata will depend on the Village they belong to. Hence, according to my family tradition, I continue to worship both my Kula and Ista Devata. There has been no change what-so-ever in this matter. My mothers family (Lineage) worship Kali Mata and Jagannatha as they also belong to Orissa and follow the tradition of Sri Rama Krishna Paramhamsa. There is bound to be affection out here also. I learnt the Dasa Mahavidya from this and am ever grateful for the knowledge. I learnt to worship Lord Ganapati as a kid and fasted for 4 hours!! during Ganesh Pooja. In keeping with this, every alternate generation is named after the Kula and Ista Devata. My son is Somanath after Shiva, I am Sanjay after Jagannath, my father is Umakant after Shiva, my grandfather is Jagannath after Jagannath, my greatgrandfather is again Somanath after Shiva and my great great grandfather is Ramachandra after Jagannath. The reason for this is, perhaps the principle taught by Kalidasa that Vishnu chants the name of Shiva and Shiva chants the name of Vishnu (Rameshwara..). So, please do not judge me so harshly as having changed my faith or Ista Devata. In fact nobody can change his Ista Devata. This is fixed in the 12th house from the Karakamsa in the D-9 Chart and sooner or later the native will arrive at His door. Best Regards, Sanjay Rath - Gautam Sarkar <gsarkar <Das; <gjlist Tuesday, October 05, 1999 7:31 AM Re: Brahmin by Birth? > OM GAM > Dear Dasbabu, > I must differ. The three classes (Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaishya) can wear the > thread or the yagyopavita (or commonly Janeu in Hindi or Poite in Bengali), > after proper ceremonies, at this time they become Dwija or born again. I do not > have it in hand, but I can give you scriptural basis of this if you insist. In > traditional paintings of Rama or Krishna you will clearly see the thread, and > both as you know came from the warrior class. Mahatma Gandhi was born in a > vaishya family, so you can not generalize about contacting a Kshatriya or > Vaishya or Shudra. The famous Nalanda University during the Buddhist period had > a Shudra principal. I would be glad to come in contact with such a person. > Also, changing Sampradaya has no effect on being a Brahman (or any other > class). Sanatana Dharma allows you to believe in practically anything. You can > be daitva, adaitva, vishitadaitva, vaishnav, shaiva, shakta or you can even be > materialist (charvakas) and still keep your caste and be accepted by that > society. But it puts limit on social behavior (eating, drinking, social rituals > such as marriage death etc.). There are many famous people who have been shakta > and have changed into vaishnavism or vice versa. It is very common to have > different forms of worship in the same family, and great freedom is given to the > choice of Ista. In our own list we have Shri Sanjay Rath, who became a > Vaishnava. Changing did not make him lose his caste. > Lastly, what has all this to do with Vedic Astrology? Could we go back to it? > there are so many things to learn and the days are flying by, death is knocking > at the door. > Gautam Sarkar > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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