The system

[barney]

The system does allow individuals to excel in what they can do well, reach new heights beyond imagination keeping in mind that they could shift in either direction and take on tasks and responsibilities that are the domain of another group if they have the interest and talents to do so. That is their birth right and no force on earth can prevent them. In fact thee system should be thrown out if it does not meet these conditions. It must stand the test of truth and practicality at once. Hindu society examined the basic question long ago and we can revisit the same again. what is a Brahmin? What does it really take to be a Brahmin? In fact that question was put to Yudhishtira by the Yaksha (See my book: Yaksha Prashna, A Hindu Primer, IND-US, 1984). Listen to the Yaksha and Yudhishtira.

 

 

rajan kulena vrttena svadhyayena shrutena va

 

brahmanyam kenabhavati prabruhyetatsu nishcitam

 

 

King, how does one become a Brahmin: by birth?

 

character? study of the Vedas? education? Tell me precisely.

 

 

 

shrnu yaksha kulam tata nasvadhyayo nacashrutam

 

karanam hi dvijatve ca vrttameva na samshayha

 

Listen, Yaksha, it is neither birth nor education, nor even the study

 

of the Vedas. Without doubt, it is character alone that marks a Brahmin.

 

Yudhishthira's answer is crisp, clear and unambiguous when he replies, 'Na samshayaha ... there is no doubt about it: it is not birth, it is not education, it is not the study of the Vedas but it is vritta (character) alone that determines a Brahmin."

 

What is Yudhishthira's definition of character? He has already answered the same question in a previous passage in the Mahabharata, the dialogue with King Nahusha: "He is known as a Brahmin ... in whom truthfulness, liberality, patience, deportment, mildness, self control, and compassion are found. And he may gain knowledge of the Supreme Brahman, beyond happiness and unhappiness ... on reaching which they grieve no more." The long list of attributes may be looked upon as components of character.

 

This inquiry and answer ought to be adequate to clear the great disagreement in regard to caste. Swami Vivekananda in his lecture on "The Mission of the Vedanta" declares that "Our ideal is the Brahmin of the spiritual culture and renunciation ... I mean the Brahmin idealness in which worldliness is altogether absent and true wisdom is abundantly present. That is the ideal of the Hindu race." (The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, Vol. 3, p.197). That is the reason why in ancient India, the greatest princes sought to trace their descent to some ancient sage who dressed in a bit of loin-cloth, lived in a forest, eating roots and studying the Vedas. It is there that the Indian princes went to trace their ancestry. Their satisfaction was immense if they could discover that their ancestor was "devoid of worldliness and possessed true wisdom." So if one desires to be a Brahmin, by all means become one. But it is in one's interest to see if one can satisfy the stringent requirements ("Brahmin idealness in which worldliness is altogether absent and true wisdom is abundantly present" and "in whom truthfulness, liberality, patience, deportment, mildness, self control, and compassion are found") and that has nothing to do with who one is born to and what one's occupation is today. The authority of the epic Mahabharata is there to support this thesis. It makes sense as a philosophy as well as a workable tool.

 

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Dr. Srinivasan is the Founder, Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society. He lives in Glastonbury, CT and serves as vice chairman on its Town Council.