[Advaita-l] the qualification to be an advaita guru

[sriram]

Dear
My view is that a guru can be of any one of the three demarcations.It is for 
the student/aspirant to learn/get his doubt cleared by closely 
moving/observing/interacting with the guru.Sri Ramana Bhagavan`s life as 
portrayed by many scholars -Indian as well as Europians -is a good example I 
think.Some have got their doubts cleared by just sitting before Him,some 
have asked him orally,some have even argued with Him about Self 
Realisation.You are seeking and it is for you to pick up by intensely 
following the Guru.Regarding whether a guru has to be a Brahmin by birth 
again Sri Ramana Maharishi`s life illustrates that it is not a must as he 
cut off His yagnopaveetham before settling down for meditation  and thus 
showed that Dvija status is not a must to become a Brahma 
Nishta.R.Krishnamoorthy.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ravi chandrasekhara" <vadhula at yahoo.com>
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" 
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 11:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] the qualification to be an advaita guru


Dear All,

Regarding:


{" Shankara says - there are three types of gurus.

1. He is shrotriyaH and brahma nishTaH

2. He is shrotiyaH but not Brahma nishTa

3. He is Brahman nishTa and he does not know how to teach."

The first is the best, the second is the next and third one, we can
respect
but we cannot learn.}


1.Do the definitions Shrotriyah and Brahman nishta refer to Braahmanas by 
birth that have attained spiritual accomplishments ?
2.Vedantic study which include upanishads require veda-adhikara and hence 
Dvija birth AND samskara.
3.In Advaita tradition, there are non-Dvija Gurus such as Swami 
Chinmayananda, Vivekananda, etc.
4.In Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya, saints such as alwars are from all varnas but 
acharyas who give deeksha for Samashrayam and their Jeeyar sanyasis are from 
Braahmana varna.
5.In Tatvavada (Madhvacharya) Sampradaya, mutt acharyas are sanyasis from 
Braahmana varna who officially initiate into their sampradaya.
6.Interesting link on who can be a guru:http://www.krsna.org/content/
7.So in conclusion, Can a Guru only be one from Braahmana varna ? If not, 
should a Braahmana only take spiritual initiation/etc from a Braahmana Guru 
?

Ravi Chandrasekhara




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