[Advaita-l] shudra

[Shrinivas Gadkari]

Namaste,
 
Let us assume that the current feeling, that in near future we will have
a more or less mature understanding of Vedas materializes. Let us further
assume that there will AcArya-s capable understanding previously revealed 
vidyA-s and mantra-s and also discovering new veda vidyA-s and veda mantras. 
 
Who should these AcArya-s teach these "siddha" vidyA-s and 
"siddha mantra-s" to?
Class A. Obviously there will be a section of people who would be evaluated 
to be worthy of most of this knowledge. 
Class B. There will be sections who would be considered worthy of only some 
of this knowledge. 
Class C. There will also be a section of society who would be found to 
be not worthy of teaching a siddha vidyA or a siddha mantra (some people 
will be intellectually lacking to grasp them, while others may be morally 
lacking and might misuse the knowledge). 
 
(May be some kind hearted AcArya-s may create a watered down version of
these vidyA-s and mantra-s for class C.)
 
In the initial period when illustrious AcArya-s are present in society
"birth" certainly will not be a criterion for evaluation of worthiness.
However, with time, as the caliber of the AcArya-s themselves goes down
it is not unlikely that "birth based class system" may eventually
find itself dominating the society - until a fresh batch of AcArya-s 
again takes charge of the society.
 
Hope these projections of future, can shed some light on how and why the concept 
of  non-dvija class might have been evolved in the past.
 
Regards,
Shrinivas
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If Shudra means anything at all it is they are not dvija or twice-born.
That means they are not entitled to initiation into the study of the
Vedas.  
--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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