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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00091 Apr 2003

 
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Srimathe RAmanujaya Namaha

There is a website that gives the explanation of this upanishad:
http://www.gosai.com/chaitanya/saranagati/html/vedic-
upanisads/vajrasucika-upanisad.html

To my knowledge this upanishad was never considered as the one that 
talks about the varnashrama. Vedic Scriptures are categorised into 
two: a) Vedas that deal with the religion and rituals i.e Karma 
Kandam - that deals with the varnashrama dharamam etc b) Veda-antham 
i.e the upanishads that discuss ONLY about the ultimate reality. If 
this scripture is categorized under the 108 Upanishads(apart from the 
first 10 that are used as references in the Shri Bhashyam/Brahmasutra 
Vyakyanams), then it means that this scripture does not talk about 
the varnashrama dharmam, but talks about the nature of the BRAHMAM 
and hence this scripture has to be RIGHTLY interpreted from that 
perspective! While shruthi is subject to umpteen interpretations, it 
would be more appropriate if the interpretations of our purvacharyas 
are considered and referred to. Learned scholars kindly correct me.

Yatheendra Pravanam Vandhe RAMYA Jamataram Munim

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,
Lakshmi Narasimhan

--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, excogitator@xxxx wrote:
> Dear fellow prapannas,
> 
> for those of you who are still fascinated by caste issues, there is 
a short
> Upanishad dedicated to the matter which makes interesting reading. 
In order
> not to overload the forum I shall serialise it in three episodes. 
For those
> of you who would like the Sanskrit text please contact me and I 
shall send
> it in the PDF format.
> 
> Adiyen
> 
> Sri Rama
> 
> Vajra-sucika Upanishad (of the Sama Veda)
> 
> The Doctrine of the Diamond Needle
> 
> I shall teach the Vajrasuci ? the diamond needle doctrine which 
destroys
> ignorance, condemns those who are devoid of the knowledge (of 
Brahman) and
> exalts those endowed with enlightenment.
> 
> The Brahmin the Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Sudra are the four 
classes
> (castes). That the Brahmin is the chief among these classes is in 
accord
> with the Vedic texts and is affirmed by the Smrtis.
> 
> In this connection there is a point worthy of investigation. Who 
is, verily,
> a Brahmin? Is he the individual soul? Is he the body? Is he the 
class based
> on birth ? Is he the [possessor of] knowledge ? Is he the 
[performer of]
> deeds (previous, present or prospective) ? Is he the performer of 
the rites
> ? 
> 
> Of these, is the Jiva or the individual soul the Brahmin? No, it is 
not so;
> for the Jiva is one and the same in the innumerable previous and 
future
> bodies. Since the Jiva (the individual soul) is the same in all the 
various
> bodies obtained through (past) karma, and in all these bodies the 
form of
> the Jiva is one and the same. Therefore the Jiva is not the 
Brahmin. ? to be
> continued




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