Duty of a Brahmin

If you are a Brahmin by Varna, then in this article you will learn about the most important duties that you are born to undertake in this life. In the good old days, as per the Vedic contract, the people belonging to the other 3 varnas (Kshatriya, Vaishya & Shudra) offered protection and material wealth to the Brahmins. In return, the Brahmins performed Rituals for the welfare of the world, acted as guides to the Kshatriya ministers and preached the scriptural stories from the Itihasas, Puranas etc and guided the lifestyle of the other 3 varnas. Due to the disruption that took place because of the Anti-Brahmin forces after Independence, the Brahmins had to find alternate sources of income to survive.

Unfortunately this beautiful chain of a firmly inter-related society was broken by the britishers when they invaded and ruled our country for more than 200 years. Even after Independence, the growth of Anti-India forces and Anti-Hindu forces (Abrahamic Religions) began to target the Brahmin community the most. The reason why the Brahmins were targeted is because it is them who learnt and preserved the Vedic Scriptures of our holy land. The Anti-Hindu forces believed the destruction of Brahmins would inevitably lead to the destruction of all our scriptures. Fortunately, their plans and understanding were pretty bad because of their incomplete knowledge about Hindu scriptures.

The Entire contents of our scriptures lives within every person in India who has realized his self. It is these people whom we call the Self-Realized Gurus. The Entire Scriptures are just an outcome of these Self-Realized Masters to whom it appeared in their seats of Meditation. Thus destruction of scriptures in the form of books cannot destroy the Hindu religion. It will keep on taking new forms as long as Self-Realized Masters exist.

Because of the above mentioned historical facts, Today's Young Brahmins are giving more importance to daily rituals than trying to live a lifestyle that is inline with the deeper philosophical meanings mentioned in the scriptures. In this article, I will be discussing about both the pros and cons of today's young Brahmins and how their understanding of their duties must be re-tuned to be inline with the scriptural truths.

1. The Noblest Duty of Spreading Knowledge

             Symbolically, If there exists a well full of water and there are thirsty people queing up to it, then it is the duty of a Brahmin to make efforts to fetch water from the well and distribute it to the thirsty people. The Brahmin is incharge of the well whose duty is to protect and maintain it, but cannot claim ownership of the well or the water. The Duty of a Brahmin is to learn the scriptures, master it and then offer their wisdom as simple lifestyle messages to the common people who has no knowledge of right and wrong.

2. Why as a Brahmin, must I put such an effort today?

            Putting the effort is purely your personal choice. But you need to take a clear stand of your role in this birth. If you are claiming to be a Brahmin by birth, then it is your responsibility by birth to make this effort for the welfare of the world. If you believe that Brahmin is not by birth, but by Guna (Internal Characteristics and Interests), then there is absolutely no compulsion for you to learn scriptures. But you cannot place both legs on both sides. You cannot claim to be a Brahmin by birth and at the same time give excuses for not learning the scriptures.

3. I have to work for my survival, Is it wrong to not learn scriptures for now?

            It is practically impossible for most of the Brahmins in today's world to dedicate full time of their lives for the purpose of scriptural learning unless the society takes care of their welfare and material needs. If you can spend atleast an hour every week or 10 minutes a day, then that itself will give a good boost. If you can wholeheartedly take the initiative of scriptural learning even for 10 minutes a day, then this noble initiative itself will draw tremendous blessings from our God.

Kanchi Mahaperiyavar (The Sage of Kanchi), has mentioned in his book Deivathin Kural (Hindu Dharma - English Translation) that if a Brahmin cannot take scriptural studies due to his work schedule, he must atleast dedicate his post-retirement-life for this purpose. If such a great beloved sage is making a humble request, then why shouldn't we take the studies atleast after retirement?

4. Am into a profession that involves Social Service, I don't have time for scriptural studies.

             Undertaking scriptural studies, performing rituals are all a means to worship the lord in a particular form. As per our Vedas, the Lord exists in 2 forms.

  1. Saguna Brahman - The God with multiple forms (Shiva, Parvathy, Rama, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Ganapathy, Karthikeya etc..)
  2. Nirguna Brahman - The God without any form, who is all pervading including you and me.

Any ritual performed to the Idols and Pictures at our home or temple is worshipping the God in his Saguna form. Any social service that is done with pure and clean mind is worshipping the God in the Nirguna form (Formless), who exists in every living being around us. So whichever duty or profession you are in (Social or Business), please keep doing your duty perfectly. Retirement must not be thought of as a period that is distant in the future. Consider a duty well done for the day as a retirement for that day. When you are back home, forget everything about work, family for 10 minutes and dedicate that time for the Lord.

5. What is the Ultimate Goal of learning Scriptures?

             The Ultimate Goal of learning scriptures is Self-Realization. The scriptures can be divided into 2 categories.

  1. Vedas
  2. Vedanta
The Vedas are classified further into what is known as the Shruthis and the Smrithis. The Shruthis are scriptures that contain a list of Eternal Laws that applies at all times. The Smrithis are scriptures that were written based on the Shruthis at different periods in history, pertaining to different environments and situations. The Manu smrithi is a scriptural text that was written by Manu (Son of Lord Brahma) in the Satya Yuga. When times changed, technology also changes. When Lord Krishna felt that the people living in Dwapara Yuga and who will be living in Kali Yuga, has declined in their capacity to learn the scriptures, he simplified it and gave it to us in the form of The Bhagavad Gita. Hence, Bhagavad Gita will also come under the category of Smrithis.

The Goal of Smrithis (Vedas) rituals etc are to prepare you for the next phase of Spiritual Evolution. When a person has completed his duty with perfection, his mind will be pure and stable. This pure and stable mind is the basis for the journey towards Self-Realization. All the Karma we do, must be done as Karma Yoga inorder to purify and stabilize our mind. There are 2 preliminary goals that needs to be reached before beginning the journey into Self-Realization. They are
  1. Performing our God-Given Duty with perfection.
  2. Gradually getting rid of negative factors like Ego, Anger, Lust, Greed and Jealousiness from our mind.

6. With what attitude should I learn Scriptures?

             The Goal of Scriptures is welfare of the world and the personal Goal of learning scriptures is Self-Realization. When an Individual realizes that he is the all-pervading, indestructible Atman which is beyond the body and mind, he also realizes that every living being is also the very same Atman. Such an Individual doesn't identify himself with his body, family, nation or varna. He has realized that he is the highest self named Atman - The God. He has no hate for anyone as he sees himself in everybeing. Swami Chinmayananda says - It is at this point a man turns from an Animal-man into a God-man.

It is natural fact that when we undertake scriptural studies, we will learn many mind-blowing concepts. When our Intellect is equipped with this new knowledge, our Ego immediately shoots up and tries to compare our Intellect with the Intellect of people around us. At this stage, we mostly tend to argue more just to prove our point is correct. It is at this stage, we might get off-road and begin irrelevant debates with people around us just to showcase them our new knowledge. These are natural happenings and I honestly accept that I underwent all these stages before realizing the actual intention. It is highly important that we learn these scriptures under the guidance of a Guru directly. If a direct learning is not possible, atleast listening to the recorded sessions of Gurus will be of great guidance compared to doing self-study of scriptures.

Self Study of scriptures and Partial reading of different scriptures will only lead to incomplete knowledge and misunderstandings. Partial knowledge is dangerous than No-Knowledge. So during the times when you learn scriptures, please maintain it as a highly confidential task. Communicate with only wise people (Scripture learners) whom you think is soft by character and can explain things without pointing out lower identities like castes.

7. What happens when I learn scriptures for boosting my Intellectual Ego?

             Scriptures belong to the world. Learning it is a noble task and effort. When it is done without any ego, the knowledge acquired blesses us with the vision of God's true nature - The Atman. When it is done with ego, then it leads to several problems in the society. My next article explains this ill-consequences that happens when scripture learning is taken for boosting ego. The next article will contain worrying activities of a few young brahmins who indulge in discussing scriptures only to abuse others who don't agree with them, including the Great Sages.

CONTACT ME - If you have anything to correct or clarify at cbhaskaravignesh@gmail.com.

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