[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Pūjāri by Birth (Jāti), or by Qualification (Guṇa)?

[Prashant Parikh]

Thank you, Praveen ji. Your explanation definitely sounds reasonable,

A question I do have is with the absconding of the traditional brahmana
duties, and with fewer and fewer takers for the ordained jAti roles, how do
we see this niche being filled unless we (for lack of a better word) induct
those genuinely interested who may be qualified or may attain that
qualification in due course?

I'd also appreciate if you could weigh in on the following thoughts that I
had shared on a different forum. Please see below:





*The determination of one's own Adhikāra, is best left to the Sampradāyavit
Guru in whom one has Śraddhā. I believe when one becomes an activist for or
against this Adhikāra, especially as a general recommendation to the
public, it is predominantly driven by our biases, and this creates a
pressure in us to rebel against the accepted protocol by seeking exceptions
and extrapolating them as rules, which is overstretching one's ability to
provide a social commentary on the subject when that decision is never ours
to take, but an extremely individualized Upadeśa given from one's guru to
'oneself'. Not to 'another self'.Taking a personal example- I am a Jāti
Vaishya (well, technically born to a Vaiśya father and Brāhmin mother, but
my Guru personalized the upadeśa and said I should follow the patrilineal
svadharma). And I have no qualms in being deemed unqualified to perform
yajnas. I can always defer that responsibility to Brāhmanas to do so. In
fact, as a Vaiśya, my constant attempt is to live up to my Jāti dharma by
engaging in wealth creation activities and seeking new opportunities of
investing in businesses. At some point in life when I had no better ideas,
I even considered setting up a small store and hiring a storekeeper just
for the sake of upholding my Vaiśya duties.Also, in answer to my question
on this subject, my Guru did convey that Jati takes Praadhaanya in Karma
Kānḍa and Guna takes Prādhānya in Jñāna Kānḍa. I take the Guru Upadeśa as
Prasādam, even if it means overriding some of our tendencies that may flow
in the opposite direction*

On Fri, May 6, 2022 at 10:59 AM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Praveen ji, to what you said, may be added 'a brahmana male'.  For the
> vocation of purohit is now practiced by women too.
>
> regards
> subbu
>
> On Fri, May 6, 2022 at 7:39 PM Praveen R. Bhat <bhatpraveen at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Apologies; I forgot to add two Gita shlokas to drive home these points:
>> श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्। स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः
>> परधर्मो भयावहः (3.35)
>> यतः प्रवृत्तिर्भूतानां येन सर्वमिदं ततम्। स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं
>> विन्दति मानवः (18.46)
>>
>> On Fri, May 6, 2022 at 7:34 PM Praveen R. Bhat <bhatpraveen at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Namaste Prashant ji,
>>>
>>> This topic has been discussed umpteen times on both of the lists, but
>>> looks like it has been a long while since it resurfaced, thanks to all
>>> sorts of people being forcibly appointed as temple priests in TN and
>>> elsewhere!
>>>
>>> Although I agree with the most part with what you have written, I
>>> disagree with "to deny guNa is to deny AgAmi karma" for the simple reason
>>> that AgAmi karma goes and joins sanchita from which prArabdha is carved out
>>> only after the end of current life. That is to say that varNa (what you
>>> call jAti) can change only in the next janma based on current AgAmi karma.
>>>
>>> Next, if a person does karma across sva-varNa, there may be even
>>> superior laukika phala due to expertise (be it rare or not), but there
>>> won't be any adRShTa phala (and in some cases, pApa may accrue)! For
>>> example, a non-brAhmaNa purohita may gain lot of fame, awards, dakShiNA,
>>> following, etc, but his karma will not yield adRShTa phala for the
>>> yajamAna.A flip example can be of a brAhmaNa soldier who may grow in the
>>> military ranks with great positions, awards, salary, respect, etc, but
>>> dying on the battlefield won't lead him to svarga.
>>>
>>> gurupAdukAbhyAm,
>>> --Praveen R. Bhat
>>> /* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one
>>> know That, owing to which all this is known! [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */
>>>
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