Dear All
Good Morning...
This Question comes to my very often...Don't know How many of you have the same experience.
And If we say Yes... then we cheat ourselves.. If we Say No.. we cheat our Community..
We are hanging in between..
I don't see an absolute Unity among us.. We Just react to the situation and vanish from there scene or forget everything till the next incident comes.
But No concrete steps taken to strengthen our community.
Just helping for education, Medical and Marriage is not going to change the way our community is look at..These are all just a momentary solutions..
We might be a minority...But with unity we can transform our community.
We need to go back to the period where we actually left everything to give a better future to the Next Gen...
Our Culture, Our System, Our Way of Life...Most of us are totally away from it... and caught in the Vicious Cycle..Even if we try to break or come out of it.. we fail and of course its next to impossible.
But we can try again and again and should start some where...
But we can change the future of the Next Gen..
The success of other Communities are because of our failure...
We can Change this...But only when we go back to the period where we left and start from there..
We can Talk... Talk and Talk...
But I hope to get a concrete action Plan for the future...
I'm not a rebellion.. but a warrior Brahmin..Fight for the right..
I'm hoping for a constructive conversation and a first step towards it..
Jai Shri Ram...
Hello Ramesh sir,
I'll add some points and opinions which I can think of from my experience:-
1. Start with yourself. Initiate yourself in the path of Vedas. It can be as simple as chanting as say some small nama japam or even rudram everyday.
2. Be regular with Sandhyavandanam and if bachelor Samidadhanam. As far as the brahmayagnam, its up to oneself and wife.
3. Discuss the puranas, epics, Upanishads at home rather than say speak of Big boss, cinema, exams, targets. They can be done, but when you don't teach kids a basic understanding of these scriptures, its like we are preparing robots for to be employed by the corporate.
4. Help a brahmin family in your neighborhood. Teach their kids about the necessity of staying within the community, its importance and relevance.
5. Teach our kids about the history of persecutions, we have been teaching only school books. We need to unlearn and relearn a lot on our own to realize the truth.
6. Never belittle the priest in front of the kids. Other religions accord a high status to their religious leaders, while we make a laughing stock of them. If there is anything, one can take it up with the priest separately.
These Are some points I can contribute, I'll give reasons also why I believe these could work:-
Point 1-
I and many of the boys here were initiated into learning Vedas once the upanayanam was done. We used to study school, attend tuitions, but on weekends, we study Vedas just for 30 mins. Infact i attended these classes just to play cricket, but now I'm hooked into learning the Veda, most of us still attend it on weekends even though we're in our mid 20's. This makes a huge contribution to the community sense, cause I've seen both boys and girls who have attended these classes have never gone astray and are doing pretty well.
2. The most basic duty as a brahmin is this. I believe, we lose the license to be a brahmin, once we give up doing this. So, earn the license and try to maintain the license.
3. Discuss the itihasas with kids or gullible ones. I've had a fair share of fights in my office and many communists meetings over improper interpretation of the scriptures. Trust me, unless we teach our people the puranas ourselves, there is a sea of misinformation waiting on the other end waiting to hit you like a tsunami. So we need to construct the dam and protect ourselves.
4. Being a brahmin, we must live for world peace. But when people who practice some dharma is at stake, it is our duty to protect and guide them. I would say, help another human, but however, since most of the humans think tribally, other castes have their own support frameworks, in the case of brahmin, if any support is given, it gets reinterpreted with perverted meanings. So, save your community first.
5. We are here, not because of our skill, but because of our ancestors karma. I hope u agree. Cause, I can say, one of my ancestors was brutally decimated along with her family for practicing her dharma. This haunting memory runs in the family. What pains me is the fact that, many people today are completely oblivious to the pains of our ancestors. It is because of their sufferings and resilience, we have survived thus. So, we need to affirm our identity, for that you need to go to the roots.
6. Most of our priests live in penury. I agree, some are greedy and are selfish, but I personally wouldn't blame them, cause as a brahmin, I am supposed to do that, but I choose to be an engineer/doctor/say a CA for the sake of comforts. Many temples are in dilapidated condition in TN. No upkeep by the govts or any Brahman is present to volunteer. Most of the old boomers are busy changing the diapers of their grandkids. I'm sorry, this is a huge colossal mistake happening. At least the corporates outsourced their bpo jobs to India by paying us, but our elders are sitting in posh apartments and making fun of the lower category in the community, yuck!!!...such entiltememt should be condemned. Example, one of my sisters in-laws made a passing comment on the brahmins who attended their sons marriage, saying:- " Oh the beggars have arrived, give them bhiksha" . I confronted him, to which he said " what do you call people who chant mantras and earn money". To avoid creating ruckus, I walked away, but karma happened, the same old fellow now takes pride when his grandson is chanting mantras. Guess who became the beggar in the end!!.
Church fathers or maulvis are accorded respect for dedicating their lives to the religion, unless we do that to the priests here, expect nothing but contempt and ridicule.
These are my suggestions. Opinions are welcome!!.
