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

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

PraNAms to all

First. I want to thank all the discussers who presented their view points and also brought out some of the considerations and issues involved. I thank those who directed my attention providing information to the other websites and articles on this. I learned a lot from these discussions.

One of the overwhelming considerations is which caste the converted should belong to– whom he is going to marry and what caste their children will belong. This of course has become a major consideration not only for newly converts but even for many Hindu parents who are scared about whom their children are going to marry. Unless we make a concrete effort to teach our children the value system, they will be lost. It is also a parental problem not that of children. yadyat aacaratiH sraShTaH… 

There are additional considerations besides the birth to determine the caste – as Bhagavan Krishna’s famous sloka in Gita emphasizes, which YudhiShTara endorses in Mahaabhaarat and which Vajrasuchi Upanishad discusses – that is based on GuNa and Karma.
  
On the basis of GuNa and Karma very few of us qualify ourselves to the vernaas that we claim ourselves to be. I am only stating the facts than making a judgment call. Jaati brahmna has become different from GuNa brahmana and Karma Brahmana. 

We know that non-Hindus cannot have a particular varna based on birth. On the basis of GuNa I would like everybody to become Brahmins if they can –And if they take up Brahmana karma in terms of teaching Vedanta they have two out of three in their favor. 

As Gurudev Swami Chinmayandaji used to say, others who do not have saatvik GuNas drop out in no time if they have no interest in the aadhyatmika knowledge, when others started objecting to his teaching of Vedanta to everybody. How many are really interested in the highest knowledge even among the jaati Brahmaanas? manushyaanaam sahasreshu ....Krishna gives the statistics. 

This is not meant for inviting heated arguments on the pros and cons of these classifications but I am going by what is the best we can do in view of the current situation to address the issues. Mass scale conversion of Hindus by other religions and destruction of Hindu heritage by the converts have to be countered if we need to preserve the knowledge of our great sages of the yore. Let us join together and make a concrete effort in that direction. 

My apologies are to those who think that this is not a topic for discussion in this forum. My sincere thanks to all those who took time to express their opinion. SarvejanaaH sukhino bhavantu.

Hari Om!
Sadananda