[Advaita-l] Becoming Hindu - one possible solution?

[Satish Arigela]

namaste Anand-ji and others,

Not a very long post but made it into two parts for clarity

Part 1: vrAtya-s, stomAdi...

>Please note that I am not commenting on whether  the conversions that
>happened in history or the conversions that are conducted by modern
>organizations are appropriate as per our shAstras or not.

Thank you for clarifying your position on this. Though you do not hold those 
ancient positions I would like to summarize a few things for the sake of 
clarification

Regarding the tANDya brAhmaNa one of my teacher has said that he examined it 
sometime back and found nothing in it that would make it applicable for 
non-Aryans.

The same teacher's comments below in quotes.
On manu:

"manu talks of vrAtya-s on multiple occasions and not the vrAtya-stoma.  In his 
typical style he takes a very dim view of vrAtya-s and define  them as those who 
have fallen due to non-acquisition of sAvitrI. He says  proper dvija-s should 
not observe AvAha-vivAha with vrAtya-s."

on the kAtyAyana shrauta sUtra:

"The KSS talks of similar rituals as the TanB. It also does not mention  
unArya-s being admitted as Arya-s after the rite. It merely states that  those 
who have become vrAtya-s due to the observance of the  vrAtya rite or due to the 
non-performance of dvija saMskAra-s can be  readmitted to the ritual life after 
the vrAtyastoma."

Some interesting aside on vrAtya-s and vrAtyatoma since the occasion came:

"In the Vedic period the vrAtya rite seems to have had a more positive 
connotation that  gradual lost its position as such. In the positive sense young 
men  became vrAtya for some time and roved in the territories of rival  rAjan-s 
perhaps performing sabotage and espionage. Then they returned to  fold with a 
stoma. In that sense one could  see a connection with the kApAlika vrata of the 
shaiva-s, especially  given that the vrAtya kANDa-s of the AV give the mantra-s 
for the  worship of rudra by the above vrAtya."

Part 2: Absorption of non-Hindus:
My teacher also says that "a guru who is a shAstravit should decide(what rite to 
deploy for the non-Hindu aspirant)". 

What went before arriving at this conclusion: Psychological, sociological and 
ritual aspects were considered in arriving at this. Leaving it to the 
discrimination of the teacher is the safest method given the current scenario.
But the initiating or admitting teachers should be cautious. Do not forget the 
example of Sarah Caldwell. She isn't the only one like that.

This is one solution which tries to cover many aspects, There could be more 
which are equally well though out.