BRAHMINISM vS HINDUISM!!!
sir - all brahmin males in the world, whereever you are , pls. make it a point to perform Sandha Vandhana altleast twice a day- one in morning & one in evening,atleast upto level of Sankalpam. Gayathiri manthiram is common for all sects of brahmins and even non brahmins. it was sage vishwamithra, a kshtariya who wrote this holy verse, though it became popular because of brahmins only. brahmacharyam is important starting point in life of a brahman. Grihastham & vanaprashtham come only after that. a brahmin should be wearing a sacred thread before 8 yrs. i.e.before sexual feelings even remotely enter his mind. but nowadays it is not that easy to perform sacred thread wearing function because of the high costs involved. you have to invite many persons and also have to purchase clothes to your relatives a your own cost for this function. Poonool function is very important and sacred beause it comes only once in a lifetime for a brahmin. so brahmins want to do it grandly like a marriage. but because of lack of funds, many brahmins postpone the function and do it fairly later.
another important event , though not on a grand scale is Samaashnam. this is for vaishanava bramins alone. this is inscribing the Holy Sri chakra on both your shoulders. Tamil brahmins generally do it only one in their life time. but i understand Madhwas do it many times during their life.
SIR - many persons confuse brahminsim with other religions, and try to impose practices of other religions in brahminism. brahminism is the only faith in the world which allows many forms of idolatory. non brahminst hinduism is an animist faith, worshipping trees, animals, sun, fire, moon etc.,since brahminism also worships trees, animals, sun, fire & moon, both these faiths found many similarities between them, though they differ in idol worship.
REMEMBER IT IS ALWAYS EASY TO FIND OUT NONRELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VARIOUS RELIGIONS. BUT THERE ARE MORE RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES , THAN RELIGIOUS SIMILARITIES BETWEEN VARIOUS RELIGIONS!
in orthodox hinduism, re birth is also an important belief. so all persons will be born in four different varnas during each and every birth by turn. so the supremacy advocated for brahmins is only temporary, only for the period during which he is a brahmin. in previous and next births, the same fellow would be born as a non brahmin and he will not enjoy any supremacy!!!
the constitution bans untouchability without specifying what untouchability means. untouchability is a religious term. untouchability is banned in public life in all spheres. but can any constitution or govt. ban untouchability in private life? if so all caste associations have to be banned, becase no caste association allows persons of other castes to become even members of their association! like that no women association, college allow men as even members into their association or college! should then all women's associations be banned under the pretext that they are practicising a form of untouchability? most of the persons inthe world marry only within their faith and do not like to marry a person from other faith. is this untouchability? then what does untouchability mean? if inspite of having a common god, there is discrimination between members of same faith, like black christians were tortuted in south africa, europe and usa, that is untouchability. muslims of various sects killing each other is also untouchability because they are violently attacking each other inspite of having a common god. but brahmin-non brahmin differences do not come under untouchability. right from the days of parasurama, when kashatryas tortured brahmins, brahmins & non brahmins have clashed with each other. whereas these clashes are a penal offence today, they certainly do not attract provisions of untouchability. afterall very few cases have been filed in police stations or courts accusing bramins of indulging in untouchability.
during earlier centuries, many brahmin temples were attacked and converted into non brahmin places of worship and vice versa. at one stage it was not even clear how many places of worship were original, and how many were 'converted'.it was thus decided by both brahmins & non brahmins to allow each other to visit and worship any temple. but the control of administration was not to be changed.
generally i think thereare two things which everybody should renounce.1. hatred or violence against any relgion. 2. advocating of general supremacy of one religion over another. but at the same time individuality of each relgion should be respected and persons of one religion should not try to occupy or convert or impose into places of worship of other religions.
actually even if lord shiva were to come to a vaishava temple,he cannot become priest there! similarly even lord vishnu cannot become adminstrator of a saiva temple! like that even brahmins of one sect cannot become priests or administrators of temples of other brahmin sect. when there are so many restrictions on gods and brahmins, what is wrong in restricting people of other faiths. there is no untouchability in this
