[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Re: Fwd: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} The meaning of the word 'araṇyam'

[Bhaskar YR]

The brahmanas alone are entitled to the fourth Ashrama and not the kshatriyas.

praNAms
Hare Krishna

After reading the above sentence, I remember an interesting conflicting observation from the bhAshyakAra in his bruhadAraNyaka bhAshya.  Here bhAshyakAra categorically says saNyAsa is an exclusive adhikAra of the brAhmaNa by clearly mentioning that na hi Kshatriya vaishyayOH pArivrAjya pratipattirasti, brahmanAnAmeva adhikArO vyuttAne atO braHmaNa grahaNaM etc.  Whereas same bhAshyakAra indicates that kings like janaka etc. though eligible for karma saNyAsa continued their karma for the sake of lOka saMgraha.  Here geeta bhAshyakAra implying that since karmAdhikAra belongs to all the three varNa-s, karma saNyAsa too can be taken by the purusha-s who belong to  all the three varNa-s.  And Sri SSS somewhere observes that even in bruhad vArtika, vArtikakAra too says Kshatriya-s too have the adhikAra to take saNyAsa.  But why this conflicting views in two different bhAshya-s from the same bhAshyakAra??  Any clarification in any of the later works??  Anyway, barring the exceptional cases (is there any??  I doubt!!) orthodox Amnaya shankara mutts strictly adhere to the rule that ONLY brAhmaNa purusha has an exclusive  adhikAra to take the formal saNyAsa and if I am right they never ever entertain other two varNa-s to take the formal saNyAsa from the guru-shishya paraMpara order.  OTOH, modern religious institutions like Arsha Vidya, ramakrishna mission, chinmaya mission etc. deviated from this rule and giving saNyAsa initiation to all  vairAgi mumukshu-s irrespective of their caste and gender.  Is it a healthy development or dharma bAhira / nishedha ??  Only official flag bearers of sanAtana dharma should decide.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar

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