Reg the discussions about Bhaghavathaapacharam

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhakthas,

 

Please let us not forget the time period of the incident in

question. It is best imho that we leave it as it is without passing

value judgements on a bygone era. What would be much more fruitful is

to realize the ramifications of such behaviour in the context of the

current living patterns and whether such attitudes should be continued

at this point in time (regardless of whether the person in question is

a glorified Bhaktha or not), and if this attitude towards segments of

people continue even today (I am sure it does in many places), where

would SriVaishnavism be in perhaps another couple of decades.

If one sincerely believes that incident had to be condemned, let us

try to absorb that thought in our lives and spread it around as well as

we can. How many of you (Brahmins on this list) can honestly say that

you will fight your grandma or grandpa if they treat non-brahmins as

untouchables and make them sit side by side with a non brahmin and have

a pleasant meal? I can vividly remember a day in my early adulthood

when me and two of my sisters ate a meal at the function of our very

friendly everyday friend and neighbour the milkman's daughter's

engagement I think (His wife pleaded with my mom," Amma pl atleast let

the children come and eat; we are preparing the food with brahmin

cooks") and upon return to our home, learning this my maternal

grandfather had a fit and gave us such a tongue lashing. I must mention

here we sneaked out to go their function and my mom was ok with it. (We

lived for some years in a predominantly brahmin habitat!) Maybe it was

that incident that harshly brought the reality to me and combined with

youthful anger and the hope and eagerness to set the world straight on

all matters that you believe to be right and true helped me develop

very positive attitudes towards all segments of people. However even I

don't know how I will react if presented with a strange set of

circumstances of caste. I only hope the Lord sustains and grows my

horizon.

Did I judge my grandfather? Yes. But did he do anything wrong in

his opinion? No; because he had grown in such atmosphere it was second

nature to him. God knows how many generations of people Brahmins have

hurt in the pretext of being a so called "superior" breed, and what is

even more surprising is why the majority of them took it at all. We

certainly cannot take pride in such actions and what is more people and

politicians could not have exploited the issue of caste as much as they

do today. Those of us who are Brahmins by birth are no longer

completely falling into that category the moment we left the career of

Bhaghavatha Kainkaryam for a different career or living. Not

withstanding that, we should strive to learn a lesson or form an

opinion for the betterment of society rather than indulging in judging

people of a bygone era.

The issue of caste and how it played out in our SriVaishnava

culture has long intrigued me. In one of my discussions with Dr.

Narayanan, I remember her mentioning that caste is relatively of recent

origin than we think. Perhaps if she has the time she can enlighten us

on this issue. Also if it entirely not out of context for this group I

would appreciate a discussion on this subject, beginning first with

authenticated postings on when and how the caste system came into

being; stories and historic accounts of Aazhwaars and our religious

heads fighting this, what they and are doing to eliminate it and so on,

before adding each persons experiences and opinions about this subject.

Please let us not indulge in personal accusations for whatever

reason it maybe. That was clearly one of the many distinctions of this

group to begin with. Everyone appreciates the efforts of Mani and other

learned members of this group enormously, especially people like me who

have read very little of our rich scriptures. We look forward to many

more lofty discussions in this group.

 

p.s.1: It was a pleasant surprise for Shri Kannabiran, Shri Sunder

Kidambe and myself to meet each other a week ago in the temple!

p.s. 2: I would like to respond to the recipe request, but a little

vary of starting such discussions in this group as we might digress

quite a bit from the goal. But if majority feels its ok, then I will

send the recipes.

 

 

Vaidehi V. Raja