[Advaita-l] How to become a Hindu?

[ravi chandrasekhara]

Dear All,

While one may become a Hindu, if this individual is a Brahmachaari or Gruhastha; what will the person's varna be ?  Technically speaking, he/she would not be in the chaturvarna fold and would be of a mlechcha jaathi.  Shastrically speaking: no veda-adhikara; albiet vedic essnce, yoga, puraana, ithihaasa are available and initiation into sampradayas and mantra-deeksha also.

>From a practical dharmic standpoint, he/she or their progeny can "only" marry other Hindus of mlechcha jaathi.  I use the term mlechcha to represent one outside the chaturvarna, panchama, and tribal jaathis currentl present as part of Hinduism.  However, nowadays one can marry anybody; legally and socially speaking.

Also "Hindu" religion goes in general with "Hindu" culture and ethnicity, so that individual must give some serious thought before conversion.  It is possible this person may become isolated from his native religion/culture and may not blend into the Hindu one. Hence one may become disappointed and disillusioned.

Jaldhar Vyas answered this question on another list. Perhaps he could opine on this provide his thoughts on my comments.

Dhanyavaad,
Ravi Chandrasekhara

--- On Tue, 8/24/10, Kuntimaddi Sadananda <ksadananda108 at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Kuntimaddi Sadananda <ksadananda108 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] How to become a Hindu?
> To: anandhudli at hotmail.com, "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 12:21 PM
> Sri Anandji - PraNAms
> 
> Thanks for all the info. and taking time to write. I will
> discuss with
> local temple pourohit here and see what can be done with
> all the
> constraints we have.
> The information you have provided is useful.Thanks again.
> 
> Hari Om!
> Sadananda
> 
> On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 11:49 AM, Anand Hudli <ahudli at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> >
> > In modern times, some "innovations" to accomplish
> conversions or
> > re-conversions have been used. I found one such ritual
> in a Marathi book
> > titled "शास्त्र असे
> सांगते" (the shAstra says thus), which discusses
> how a
> > person from another religion can become a Hindu. Some
> steps in this ritual
> > are Panchagavya prAshana, Achamana, sankalpa,
> discarding the old name and
> > taking up a new (Hindu) name, Ganesha-VaruNa pUjA,
> karNa vedha (piercing the
> > ears), puNyAhavAchana, mangala nIrAjana, panchAyatana
> pUjA, gItA paThana,
> > abhiSheka of the person with water from the Ganga and
> other rivers and the
> > water from the Kalasha, dakShiNA dAna to the purohita,
> (dvir)Achamana,
> > AshIrvAda-grahaNa from elders, and sahabhojana, eating
> with all the
> > attendees.
> >
> > Anand
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