[Advaita-l] Who is shrotriya brAhmaNa ??

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste Ravi Ji,

uttamO brAhmaNaH prOktO madhyamaH kshatriyaH tathA
adhamO vaishya ityuktaH sarvashastrArtha vEdibhiH

Says sUta samhita (3-5-3, 4)

brAhmaNa guru is uttama; kshatriya is madhyama; vaishya is adhama pakSa.

Elsewhere, it is written "vaishyasya shUdrasyApi gururbhavEt" 

This order is "Apath-dharma" owing to the "maryAda" associated with 
shAstra-adhyApana as per the dharma sutra:

"Apadi brAhmaNEna rAjanyai vaishyE va adhyayanam" 

"brAhmaNasyAdhyApayituH alabhE - Apath"

Under such circumstances ie., when a brAhmaNa is learning shAstra from kSatriya / vaiSya, he 
should not perform the "abhivAdana" to his kSatriya / vaiSya AchArya

Shri Vidyaranya Muni in His parAshara-mAdhavIya says:

"na abhivAdyAstu viprENa kSatriyAdyAH kathaM cha na"

So, these are some of the shAstra-maryAda that needs to be followed while learning from
brAhmaNEtarAs.

However, a brAhmaNa should never take "vaidika-mantra-diksha" from kSatriya, vaiSya & shUdra. This is the mantra shAstra rahasya one need to observe. There are certain relaxations in tAntrika diksha but there too, praNava mantra adhikAra is given only to dwijAs. For rest, tAntrika praNava or prAsAda mantra bIja.

regs,
Sriram