Dear Friends,
I have come across the term week-end/wannabe Brahmins in various threads in this forum. These are names used to indicate/identify the non-orthodox, non-reformist, middle-of-the-path Brahmins. Usually these terms are used more in a derisive, dismissive, taunting and sarcastic tone with a lot of contempt. I thought It would be useful to analyze whatever is there that makes these Brahmins the butt of such criticism.
Orthodox Brahmins are those who are fairly well versed in Vedas and shastras and follow a pious life as required by the shastras and as modified/taught by learned elders. They are steadfast in their belief and convictions and would have nothing to do with the reformists in the other end of the spectrum. They meticulously avoid reformists as they believe any contact with them would lead inevitably to bad influence/corruption/pollution. This group firmly believes with the same intensity and finality that there is God as the atheists believe there is no god. They are afraid of committing and accumulating sins. If you present a choice before them to live happily by committing a sin or to not commit it and live in miserable conditions, they would choose the latter instinctively and deliberately as well. For them the Vedas, shastras, puranas and itihasas are all guiding lights and an Acharya is held in a very venerable position. They live their life strictly as stipulated in scriptures without expecting any thing tangible in return. Even if the whole of the rest of the society criticizes them for their views and way of life, they won’t argue it out or try to prove anything to the critics. They simply leave such critics alone and move ahead to pursue what is dear to their heart. They are usually unassuming, modest, and spend most of their time in silence or in studying scriptures and are generally poor by the economic standard of the society.
In the other end of the spectrum are the reformists. These are people who have acquired western education and have also adopted western ways of living. They do not have the time or inclination to study Vedas or shastras in the traditional way as these have no value for them. If you ask them they would tell you that they have studied these Vedas and shastras and then only have come to the conclusion that there is nothing much in them. This would be true also as these people have studied Vedas and shastras with the help of English and with the help
of books authored by foreigners. They are quite at home with the thought constructions and structure of presentation by the westerners than with the rigorous, archaic presentation of ideas by our ancestors in their numerous Sutras, Bhashyas, Vrittis and Vyaakhyaanams.
These people can be easily identified in a forum from their authoritative and loud voices/views and as they are suave they can be easily noticed from their free flowing language. These are people who may be successful in their fields of specialization. Except those who belong to some political denominations, others in this group are generally economically well off. A very important quality of these people is to challenge the orthodox/wannabe brahmins at every opportunity as if they can not find fulfillment of their life’s mission without converting an orthodox/wannabe Brahmin to their way of thinking. They arrogantly rub their views on all and sundry with missionary zeal and believe passionately that they are doing it out of their concerns for others who are wallowing in ignorance. It is this group which coins the terms like wannabe Brahmin etc. Please note that ‘wannabe’ is American slang. These people, if they are living in USA or any other Western Country, would have adopted western way of life and might have even allowed their children to adopt the western value system. If you tell them that they have failed in their duty to their children or that they have chosen the easy option in bringing them up(due to their own laziness) they will be stung and would strike back viciously at you because it is a raw nerve that you would have touched. The first group (orthodox) has only contempt for these people as these are, in their view, milechchas. With their investment of time in secondary (meaning: through alien languages) sources for knowledge about Vedas etc., the reformists sincerely believe that they have understood every thing that is there in Vedas and other scriptures. Thus they live in their own ivory towers in sweet isolation and supine ignorance.
Now we have this middle-of-the-path group called the week-end/wannabe Brahmins. These are people who struggle to make a decent living.Whether it is an ordinary school teacher, a farmer in the village who knows nothing other than agriculture, an ordinary Government/bank employee, a cook, a small trader, an Engineer in State Electricity Board, a marketing manager in a multinational company, a software engineer in a MNC, or a Doctor who runs a clinic -- these are all people who spend most of their time in making their career successful. They spend most of their time and energy in a day in their office. Many of these people, because they are born to Brahmin parents and have been brought up in an environment which was conducive to pick up the values that go with a Brahmin family, have an innate natural desire to live a pious and satvic life. Being in the midst of a rat race for success they find no time to live the way they want. For sheer survival they have to live the way the majority lives, clawing, fighting and shooting their way to success. Their yearning for the other satvic, quite and pious life, pursuing knowledge about God is real and they are very passionate about it. As the time available to devote to their true passion is little they try to get near it as far as possible in their week-ends (if they are working). In the case of older people in this group they find peace and solace in the company of like minded wannabe Brahmins in Sangeetha Sabhas and Kalakshepa Ghoshtis. It is true that they may not even know how to wear a panchagachcham (one of them did not even know that it is called panchagachcham-he called it pankajagachcham!) or while chanting the Vishnu Sahasranaamam they may be using the plosive where a nasal consonant would be the proper one. But their desire to be a Brahmin (I am using the term here to mean everything good in the Brahmin way of life) is deep and sincere. If you can empathize with his handicaps and drawbacks you would also understand his struggle. But the reformists won’t accept any of this. For them the strict yardstick of ‘perfection’ becomes an AK-47 and with it they keep sniping at the hapless week-end Brahmins. Their vein seems to be “Look at me. I have given up every thing and I have the AK-47. Why don’t you do that and join us? We will make a great Taliban army and can destroy every thing”. So these week-end/wannabe Brahmins are the real heroes who are engaged in a relentless struggle for survival. They are fighting in two fronts simultaneously. If in one front it is their competitors in professional life(where you have to keep running in order to even stay where you are) in the other it is these energetic and enthusiastic maverick reformists. Their struggle to keep their identity in tact is indeed an epic in itself.
I am not claiming that whatever I have mentioned above about the three groups of Brahmins is gospel truth. I am sure there will be different views. I would be glad to know them. Cheers.
I have come across the term week-end/wannabe Brahmins in various threads in this forum. These are names used to indicate/identify the non-orthodox, non-reformist, middle-of-the-path Brahmins. Usually these terms are used more in a derisive, dismissive, taunting and sarcastic tone with a lot of contempt. I thought It would be useful to analyze whatever is there that makes these Brahmins the butt of such criticism.
Orthodox Brahmins are those who are fairly well versed in Vedas and shastras and follow a pious life as required by the shastras and as modified/taught by learned elders. They are steadfast in their belief and convictions and would have nothing to do with the reformists in the other end of the spectrum. They meticulously avoid reformists as they believe any contact with them would lead inevitably to bad influence/corruption/pollution. This group firmly believes with the same intensity and finality that there is God as the atheists believe there is no god. They are afraid of committing and accumulating sins. If you present a choice before them to live happily by committing a sin or to not commit it and live in miserable conditions, they would choose the latter instinctively and deliberately as well. For them the Vedas, shastras, puranas and itihasas are all guiding lights and an Acharya is held in a very venerable position. They live their life strictly as stipulated in scriptures without expecting any thing tangible in return. Even if the whole of the rest of the society criticizes them for their views and way of life, they won’t argue it out or try to prove anything to the critics. They simply leave such critics alone and move ahead to pursue what is dear to their heart. They are usually unassuming, modest, and spend most of their time in silence or in studying scriptures and are generally poor by the economic standard of the society.
In the other end of the spectrum are the reformists. These are people who have acquired western education and have also adopted western ways of living. They do not have the time or inclination to study Vedas or shastras in the traditional way as these have no value for them. If you ask them they would tell you that they have studied these Vedas and shastras and then only have come to the conclusion that there is nothing much in them. This would be true also as these people have studied Vedas and shastras with the help of English and with the help
of books authored by foreigners. They are quite at home with the thought constructions and structure of presentation by the westerners than with the rigorous, archaic presentation of ideas by our ancestors in their numerous Sutras, Bhashyas, Vrittis and Vyaakhyaanams.
These people can be easily identified in a forum from their authoritative and loud voices/views and as they are suave they can be easily noticed from their free flowing language. These are people who may be successful in their fields of specialization. Except those who belong to some political denominations, others in this group are generally economically well off. A very important quality of these people is to challenge the orthodox/wannabe brahmins at every opportunity as if they can not find fulfillment of their life’s mission without converting an orthodox/wannabe Brahmin to their way of thinking. They arrogantly rub their views on all and sundry with missionary zeal and believe passionately that they are doing it out of their concerns for others who are wallowing in ignorance. It is this group which coins the terms like wannabe Brahmin etc. Please note that ‘wannabe’ is American slang. These people, if they are living in USA or any other Western Country, would have adopted western way of life and might have even allowed their children to adopt the western value system. If you tell them that they have failed in their duty to their children or that they have chosen the easy option in bringing them up(due to their own laziness) they will be stung and would strike back viciously at you because it is a raw nerve that you would have touched. The first group (orthodox) has only contempt for these people as these are, in their view, milechchas. With their investment of time in secondary (meaning: through alien languages) sources for knowledge about Vedas etc., the reformists sincerely believe that they have understood every thing that is there in Vedas and other scriptures. Thus they live in their own ivory towers in sweet isolation and supine ignorance.
Now we have this middle-of-the-path group called the week-end/wannabe Brahmins. These are people who struggle to make a decent living.Whether it is an ordinary school teacher, a farmer in the village who knows nothing other than agriculture, an ordinary Government/bank employee, a cook, a small trader, an Engineer in State Electricity Board, a marketing manager in a multinational company, a software engineer in a MNC, or a Doctor who runs a clinic -- these are all people who spend most of their time in making their career successful. They spend most of their time and energy in a day in their office. Many of these people, because they are born to Brahmin parents and have been brought up in an environment which was conducive to pick up the values that go with a Brahmin family, have an innate natural desire to live a pious and satvic life. Being in the midst of a rat race for success they find no time to live the way they want. For sheer survival they have to live the way the majority lives, clawing, fighting and shooting their way to success. Their yearning for the other satvic, quite and pious life, pursuing knowledge about God is real and they are very passionate about it. As the time available to devote to their true passion is little they try to get near it as far as possible in their week-ends (if they are working). In the case of older people in this group they find peace and solace in the company of like minded wannabe Brahmins in Sangeetha Sabhas and Kalakshepa Ghoshtis. It is true that they may not even know how to wear a panchagachcham (one of them did not even know that it is called panchagachcham-he called it pankajagachcham!) or while chanting the Vishnu Sahasranaamam they may be using the plosive where a nasal consonant would be the proper one. But their desire to be a Brahmin (I am using the term here to mean everything good in the Brahmin way of life) is deep and sincere. If you can empathize with his handicaps and drawbacks you would also understand his struggle. But the reformists won’t accept any of this. For them the strict yardstick of ‘perfection’ becomes an AK-47 and with it they keep sniping at the hapless week-end Brahmins. Their vein seems to be “Look at me. I have given up every thing and I have the AK-47. Why don’t you do that and join us? We will make a great Taliban army and can destroy every thing”. So these week-end/wannabe Brahmins are the real heroes who are engaged in a relentless struggle for survival. They are fighting in two fronts simultaneously. If in one front it is their competitors in professional life(where you have to keep running in order to even stay where you are) in the other it is these energetic and enthusiastic maverick reformists. Their struggle to keep their identity in tact is indeed an epic in itself.
I am not claiming that whatever I have mentioned above about the three groups of Brahmins is gospel truth. I am sure there will be different views. I would be glad to know them. Cheers.
