[Advaita-l] Religion that I am born into

[vishwanthan Krishnamoorthy]

this is a very difficult topic and I have been
involved in innumerable discussions.

The problem can be summed up as 

1. do we need preconditions (birth, lineage, upakarma)
to learn the vedic precepts?

2. Can there be a precedence for conversion found in
the vedas/vedanta/smriti/puranas/itihasapuranas etc?

Answers to the above questions will define whether
there are any conversion rituals for the smarta sect.

There are very able and distinguished proponents for
both sides of the issue. we have swami ChinmayAnanda
and swami Prabhupada on the one hand who believe that
there are no preconditions in learning the vedic
precepts other than an open and inquisitive nature and
the Paramacharya of kanchi, Sringeri on the other
(just to name a few) who believe that birth is a
precondition.

the later day conversion rituals found in certain
hindu sects have a socio-political basis. 

The lack of rituals for conversion does not imply a
sense of superiority but rather (IMHO) indicates that
there was no need for one.

any such ritual will always be inadequate. For
example,
Being a non-hindu, I declare 'from today I am a
hindu'.
in a conversion ritual,
An official (priest, pujari etc...) of the religion
declares 'from today you are a hindu'
I see no difference in both the scenarios.

As regards the statement
"Tamil Nadu will be a country practising jainism and
buddhism today. If someone says it does not matter, I
can only say they are clueless."

I still say it does not matter, the TRUTH does not
need proponents. it is the TRUTH and that is its
justification. We have to realise it on our own
merits. (I have been paraphrasing Ramana Maharshi
shamelessly :)). 

In fact the biggest publicists of the vedic precepts
are non-Indians (and hence non-brahimins) like Max
Muller and Griffith etc... :)

regards
Vishwanathan 

--- Srikrishna Ghadiyaram
<srikrishna_ghadiyaram at yahoo.com> wrote:
> hariH OM !!
> 
> --- "M. S. Ravisankar" <ravi at ambaa.org> wrote:
> > 
> > 4. If I am not mistaken, there are formal and
> > informal mechanisms in both



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