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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00119 Feb 2003

 
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Hi all,
Namasakaram,
I don't know how qualified I am to talk in this forum considering the
fact that I know very little abt scriptures but I thought I shd express
my two cents worth...
The discussion centers around that fact that as Brahmins, the main task
is to give up material benefits and focus on adhering to the shastras
and follow all the rituals/ customs outlined in our vedas, upanishads
etc... Question is are we just Brahmins alone? We have engineers,
administrators, businessman amindst us...basically all kinds of
professions, we all have to follow our profession rules etc.... Not all
those people gave up Brahminical customs, rules because they wanted to
just to focus on money itself, most of us are in our fields because we
also happen to love our profession too....
Lots of people in this forum are born in Brahmin family and by virtue
of it, we feel that we must follow the rules and skirt the so called
material pursuits etc. Also there is an underlying implication that
there is a virtue in following the so called Brahmin duties etc....
My point is we in our professions must follow whatever is the duties of
the profession and it is as much as virtue as following our job duties
as much as we follow the Vedic rituals, 
Srivaishnavas are people inclusive of all professions as long as they
surrender to The Lord in a selfless manner. Azhvars exemplify that....
All our epics embody that character.... Counter argument may be the
fact that Srivaishnavm itself came 

The message from Kanch Acharya applies to people who wants to be
Brahmins but could not do so, the major challenge ahead is how do we
carry the message of Srivaishnavm towards people in non-brahmanical
professions without feeling any regrets about it.... 

Please forgive me if I had offended anybody, I donot want to sound like
an upstart and if I do, please forgive me


Dasan,
Mugundhan
--- "M.K.Sudarshan" <sampathkumar_2000@xxxx> wrote:
> 
> --- RR <rr@xxxx> wrote:
> > Dear Sri Dileepan,
> > vi) we find the many youngsters employed in IT services' companies
> > practically living or imitating the life of Westerners (the current
> > divorce
> > rates in these metros (in the forward communities) are alarming,
> > This is a very very serious situation and i do not claim to know
> > the> answers.
> >> But I do know that ALL of us have to get together and take
> > immediate steps> to revive the traditional Sanskrit education which
> to state the> least is in> utter doldrums and has to be the strongest
> doses of Oxygen.
> 
> 
> Dear friends,
> 
> Adiyane has been following this thread of discussion on the list for
> some days. It keeps coming up again and again in one form or the
> other in all lists. It seems to me it is the eternal schism in the
> brahmin's soul and troubles him to no end like a recurring relapse.
> 
> Re; this subject I have always admired what the Sage of Kanchi, Sri
> Chandrasekharendra Saraswati had to say in his book "deivattin
> kural". He may not be our own 'achArya' but the substance and
> significance of what he said cannot be ignored by us. And it is so
> thought provoking and passionate it is simply marvellous. It is
> reproduced below for your information.
> 
> Regards,
> dAsan,
> Sudarshan
> 
> QUOTE:
> 
> ?People today are caught between two groups holding opposing views.
> On the one side they feel the pull of individuals like (me) who
> maintain that they must take to the path shown by the (vedic)
> sAstrA-s; on the other hand they find themselves drawn in the
> opposite direction by reformers who want these ?sAstrA-s? to be
> changed?.?
> 
> ?Even now there are people who at heart long for a life of peace
> lived according to the old (vedic) tradition. But they do not have
> the courage to give up the either the trammels of modern life or the
> feeling of pride in the changes effected under reformist movements.
> They are in an awkward predicament because they are not fully
> committed to the traditional way of life or to the new. 
> 
> ?Let me tell you how people cannot decide for themselves? of how they
> are neither here nor there. In most of their homes you will see
> Gandhiji?s portrait and mine too. Now Gandhiji advocated widow
> marriage? and I advocate wearing the ?sikhA?. Those who respect
> Gandhiji do not however have the courage to marry widows. Those who
> say they respect me also do not have the courage to wear ?sikhA?.
> Poor people are these! They do not have any moorings and keep
> swinging between one set of beliefs and another. Instead, I tell you,
> we must have courage of our convictions and unflinching faith in the
> ?sAstrA-s?.?
> 
> ?If we start to make small compromises in our adherence to the
> sAstrAs it will eventually mean following only such scriptural
> practices as we find convenient in our everyday life. Some people
> tell me with all good intentions: ?The dharmasAstrAs are the creation
> of r-shis. You are like a r-shi. So you must make (appropriate)
> changes in the sAstrA-s in keeping with the times?. Their view is
> that just as we remove weeds from the fields we must change (vedic)
> customs and duties according to our times. If I take out some rites
> and observances from the sAstrA now, thinking them to be weeds, later
> another man will turn up and remove some more for the same reason. At
> this rate, a time will come when we will not be able to distinguish
> the weed from the crop and the entire (vedic) field will become
> barren.?
> 
> ?It is my duty to see that the sAstrAs are preserved as they are?
> founded as they are in the Vedas which are nothing but what the
> ?parabrahmham? has ordained. I have no authority to change them.?
> 
> ?We must not give up the sAstra-ic way of life thinking it to be
> difficult to follow. If we are not carried away by the glitter of
> modern mundane life, if we reduce our wants and do not run after
> money, there will be no need to abandon the customs and rites laid
> down by our canonical texts. If we are not obsessed with making money
> there will be plenty of time to think of the Lord. And peace and
> contentment and happiness will reign.?
> 
> (unquote)
> ********** ************* *************
> 
> Continuing to quote the same ?AchAryA?, here is another extract from
> his speech:
> 
> (quote)
> ?The brahmin, if he is true to his dharma, HAS to spend all his time
> in learning and chanting the vedas, in performing sacrifices, in
> preserving the sAstrA etc. What will he do for a living? If he goes
> in search of money or material he WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ATTEND TO HIS
> LIFETIME MISSION?. and this mission IS NOT ACCOMPLISHED ON A
> PART-TIME BASIS. And if he takes up some other work for his
> livelihood, he is likely to become lax in the pursuit of his dharma.
> It would be like taking medicine without the necessary diet regimen:
> the benign power gained by the brahmin from his vedic learning will
> be reduced and there will be a corresponding dimunition in the good
> accruing to mankind from his work.?
> 
> ?This is one reason why brahmins alone are permitted by the sAstrA-s
> to beg for a living (?Unchavrtti?). But the sAstra also has it that
> the brahmin must not accept more charity than what is needed for his
> bare sustenance. If he received anything in excess, he would be
> tempted to seek sensual pleasures and thereby an impediment would be
> placed to his inner advancement. There is also the danger that he
> would become submissive to the donor and of his twisting the sastrA
> to the latter?s liking. 
> 
> ?The vedic religion prospered in the past ? because people belonging
> to all varnA-s contributed generously to the brahmin's upkeep and to
> the nurturing of the vedic tradition. In Tamilnadu the nAttukOtta
> nagarattArs, the kommutti chettis and the vEllAlas raised funds for
> Vedic institutions. They felt the vedas were essential for social
> good.
> 
> ?If the brahmin had not been tempted by the European (or American)
> life-style and if he were willing to live austerely according to the
> dictates of the sAstrA, other castes (even today) would come forward
> to help him. It is not that the others deserted the brahmin. He
> himself ran away from his dharma, from his agrahArA, from his village
> and from the vedic school because of his new appetite for the life of
> luxury made possible with the new technology of the West. He forgot
> the high ideals? All told, the argument that the brahmin was
> compelled to abandon his dharma because he was denied his daily bread
> does not hold water. We cannot but admit that the brahmin became
> greedy, that he yearned far more than what he needed for sustenance.?
> 
> ?Let us concede that the brahmin left his village because he could
> not feed himself there and came to a city like Madras. But did he
> find contentment here? What do we see today in actual practice?
> Suppose a brahmin receives a salary of Rs.1000/- in Madras today. If
> he gets a job in Delhi with double the salary he runs off there. When
> he goes to Delhi he would abandon totally the dharma he was able to
> practise at least to a small extent in Madras. Later if he were
> offered US$4000/- a month in America he would leave his motherland
> for that country, lured by the prospect of earning a fortune. There
> in the US he would become totally alienated from his religion, from
> his dharma, from all his traditions. The brahmin is willing to do
> anything, go to any extent, for the sake of money?. The usual excuse
> trotted out for the brahmin deserting his dharma does not wash?. Were
> he true to his dharma the brahmin would tell himself, ?I will
> continue to adhere to my dharma come what may, even at the risk of
> death.?
> 
> ?There is no point in suggesting what people belonging to the past
> generations should have done. I would urge the present generation to
> perform duties that the past generation neglected to perform. To
> repeat, you must not forsake your dharma even on the pain of death.
> Are we going to remain deathless? As things stand today, we
> accumulate money, suffer humiliation and earn the jealousy of others
> and finally we die losing caste by not remaining true to our dharma.
> Is it not better then to starve and yet be attached firmly to our
> dharma so long as there is breath in us? Is not such loyalty to our
> dharma a matter of pride? Why should we care about how others see us,
> whether they honour us or speak ill of us? So long as we do not
> compete with them for jobs they will not have any cause for jealousy
> or resentment against us. Let them call us backward or stupid or
> think we are not capable of keeping abreast of the times. Are we not
> now already their butt of ridicule? Let us be true to our dharma in
> the face of the mockery of others, even in the face of death. Is not
> such a lot preferable to suffering the slings of scorn and criticism
> earned by forsaking our dharma for the sake of filling our belly??
> 
> ?People ask me: ?What is the remedy then today? Do you expect all
> brahmins to leave their new life-style and return to vedic learning??
> 
> ?Whether or not I expect them to do so and whether or not such a step
> seems possible, I must ask them to do so. 
> 
> ?Where is the need for a ?guru-peeTam? or a seat on which an AchAryA
> is installed if I am to keep my mouth shut and watch idly as the
> dharma that is the source of everything is being endangered?
> 
> ?Even if it seems impossible for brahmins to return to their
> varnAshrama-dharma it must be shown to be possible in practice? that
> is the whole purpose of the institution called ?mutta-s?. They must
> harness all their energies towards the attainment of this goal.
> 
> ?It is not for me to say that the return of the brahmins to their
> vedic dharma is not possible. To take such a view would be contrary
> to our very dharma. It is up to you all to make it possible in
> practice or not to make it possible. All I can do is to keep
> reminding you of the message of the dharmasAstrA-s?.
> 
> (unquote)
> 
> ************** **************** *************
> 
> 
> 
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