[Advaita-l] RE: Vedic Shakhas for kshatriyas and vaishyas?

[S Jayanarayanan]

--- Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com> wrote:

[..]

> > What about the case raised by the
> > original poster where 
> > subject did not even try to be an Acharya or a
> > Purohita simply because this 
> > was not as rewarding as other professions?
> 
> It doesnt take much to recognise that it is impossible
> for anyone as of now to survive solely on those two.
> 

Why not? There are plenty of BrAhmaNas who live on nothing besides
vaidIka dharma. 

But what makes your argument totally void of reason is this:

> While it is true that a Brahmana should not abandon,
> those professions at the very outset, I wonder what
> choice does one have given that many existing
> purohitas just starve(there are wealthy ones too but
> very rare).

This is a complete misunderstanding of the present situation. The
Sringeri Math can easily support several more students than it
currently does. The usual lamentation in the Math is not that they are
unable to support students, but only that they are unable to find
BrAhmaNa students willing to learn the shAstras!

Read the book "Dialogues with the Guru" to learn how hard H.H.
Chandrasekhara Bharati tries to dissuade young BrAhmaNa boys from
pursuing western education and steers them towards Vedic studies. 

In the book "Call of the Jagadguru" (or maybe "Saint of Sringeri"),
H.H. prays, "I see BrAhmaNas abandoning their bounden duty towards the
scriptures and this makes me sad...O Holy Mother, make me happy!" Such
a prayer would be meaningless if there really were a legitimate reason
for Brahmins to forego their duties towards the scriptures.

> Guess how worse it will become if all
> present Brahmanas become purohita-s?
> 

Things become "worse" if BrAhmaNas perform their dharma?!

> Why starve to death when there is a provision?

Who is starving to death and where? The life of a Pandit is hard no
doubt, but there is nothing in the shAstras that says that a Brahmin
ought to be able to afford a Mercedes.

I hereby make the announcement, "I declare life-time financial support
(covering all basic needs of a BrAhmaNa) to at least two BrAhmaNas on
this mailing list who will abandon their professions based upon western
education, and take up Vedic studies and practise vaidIka dharma
full-time."

In case you are wondering, the above announcement was real, not
hypothetical. Do you think anyone will actually take me up on my offer?
I sincerely doubt it! The real problem is not one of finances, but
"letting go" of a cozy and comfortable life.

> IMHO,
> it is appropriate to invoke apad-dharma because there
> is no King anywhere that will support Brahmanas nor
> sufficient number of dvijas who are interested in
> learning vedas.
> 

There is no dearth of money when it comes to Vedic learning in the
traditional Maths such as Sringeri, and they gladly welcome all the
BrAhmaNa students, provided they are sincere, to learn from their
pAThashAlas. Where is your idea that "there is no one that will support
BrAhmaNas" coming from?

> I guess there is no harm as long as the chosen
> profession doesnt prevent performance of nitya karmas.
> 

"No harm" and "ideal situation" are far from being the same.

>  Rgds

-Kartik

PS: I realize that this is my third posting today and is against the
list rule that allows only 2 posts per person per day, but since Satish
Arigela has also posted three times today, I see nothing wrong in
replying to him.


		
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