Rising Above Eternal Truth

A post doing the rounds of WhatsApp that relates to the caste called as Brahmin is using the recent double murders of Auditor Srikanth and his wife Anuradha to spread condemnable messages to those who consider themselves as belonging to this caste. The writer, mentioned as S. Chandrasekar, Madurai,?takes upon himself the role of a ‘messiah’ ( used intentionally) to caution ‘affluent’ ?Brahmins, ( he defines ‘Affluent Brahmins’ as those who are holding ‘high’ positions or whose children or relatives are in California ( Is that the only place in the US) ?and those who never help anybody!)?to change their ways so that they do not meet with a similar fate.

This Chandrasekar classifies ‘Brahmins’ as affluent ( as mentioned above), middle-class Brahmins who campaign for causes such as Ayodhya Mandapam issue, and perform rituals such as “Amavasai Tharpanam’ ( a ritual performed during new moon day for ancestors) Akshaya Thritiyai, Annadanam , TAMBRAS etc. The third class of people are extremely poor and do not know where they would get their next meals from. So they take up work as cooks, or ‘soundikaranam’ (An abominable ritual during the 13-day mourning period, where a Brahmin is treated as the dead soul and given food and is treated with utmost indignity!)

This messiah advises ‘affluent Brahmins’ to help and support the third class of Brahmins by employing them, instead of employing persons from other castes (or states?) as domestic helpers, etc. By employing poor and distant Brahmin relatives, they can help several poor Brahmin families rise above poverty. Bringing attention to the mysterious death of Jayalalitha, he advises all ‘Brahmins” who have children abroad to employ ‘our own kind’ because ‘outsiders will always be outsiders’. Even if you bring up an outsider like your own son, he will always remain an outsider and the character (he says this negatively) he brings with him by virtue of his birth will always override his loyalty to you. It is like grooming a snake by feeding it milk! After all it is the duty of our relatives to help us!

Seriously?

It has been painful for me to read this post and also translate the essence of it.

As a person who had the opportunity to study anthropology, sociology, psychology and history and spent years reading books and interacting with different kinds of people globally, it is shocking for me to think that even today people are blinded by ignorant faith , ?social prejudices and taboos and beliefs that are detrimental to human rights.

According to me, castes were created centuries ago for the sake of division of labour, to enable smooth administration and development of civilization. Not equipped with knowledge about the universe, nature, environment etc., they lived in fear and created God, who they believed could be appeased so that they would live secure lives. Everything from childbirth to menstruation and unfamiliar natural processes around aroused fear. Hence, a class of people were entrusted with the responsibility of appeasing the pantheon of Gods created by people of those times, in this part of the world, which eventually came to be known as Hinduism. All religions grew out of fear of the unknown and people were guided by leaders who laid down the code of conduct for smooth functioning of the societies back then.

While I do not want to discuss my views on the caste system, I would like to conclude this post by defining Brahmin or Brahman, as defined in the Vedas.

The Vedas conceptualize Brahman as the Cosmic Principle. ?In the Upanishads, it has been variously described as Sat-cit-ānanda (truth-consciousness-bliss and as the unchanging, permanent, highest reality.?In Sanskrit, which I had the fortune to study in school, ????????? ?connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe. ( source: Wikipedia)

I understand Brahman as the most evolved person who is beyond all manmade boundaries and differences and treats mankind and the universe as one and worthy of equal respect, dignity and the right to live peacefully. ?By this definition any person who has adopted ?any religion can be a Brahman. And if some do not want to use this Sanskrit word, I?rephrase the sentence - Any person can be a Prophet or a Saint if they rise about the contours of the human mind.

And people like Chandrasekar are not Brahmins. Simply because they are bigoted and harbour ?thought processes against humanity. They use death, devastation and human suffering to promote and impose their warped views on vulnerable people.

People who use such condemnable words to differentiate ‘others’ from their ‘own’ are the people who must be taught a lesson. Legally.