Varna and one more

[Ravishankar Venkatraman]

Ken said:

>been some impulse that took 'me', a child born of a
>handicapped father who could only earn a living by
>sweeping factory floors, to sit at the feet of Sufi
>masters and  one of India's greatest saints of the
>Twentieth Century. This is not said as a claim for 'my
>ego' but to illustrate that some forces (qualities)
>act to fulfil some underlying desire in the flow of
>Maya.

I do not know whether people get offended when they are told that they are
not eligible to do certain things. Smritis have been written that way for
several reasons, insisting that each of the castes do their swadharma to
gain detachment. Basically, if it is practised by all folks the same way,
others would be able to appreciate the importance of everyone in the
soceity. The whole system gets distorted, when people accumulate money and
power and use them for selfish gains. I have been following the discussions
here, and I hope that the discussions here are not mistook to prove anyone's
superiority by birth.

I had written this earlier some time ago, and I am going to repeat myself.
The late Sankaracharya of Kanchi, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamiji,
is well known for his strict adherance to the Hindu Dharma, apart from the
other great qualities He had like austerity, compassion and erudition in
various subjects.  His Holiness directed Mr. Paul Brunton to Ramana
Maharishi to learn the knowledge of the Self. The dialogue between both of
them has been written very well by Paul Brunton in his book ' A search in
secret India'. His Holiness did not treat Paul Brunton as someone not fit to
learn the knowledge of the Self. His Holiness told Paul Brunton that he
would achieve his goal if he were humble and sincere.

As Jaldhar said, you can get the required knowledge from books like Bhagavad
Gita and Yoga Vaasishtam. But, still you need a guru like Ramana Maharishi
or Paramahansa Yogananda(who were realized souls themselves), who accept
anyone sincere in pursuits.

Good Luck to you.

My 2c worth. Please do not mistake for any negative overtures.

Thanks,
Ravi



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