The Upanishad on Caste

[Guest guest]

Dear fellow prapannas,

 

for those of you who are still fascinated by caste issues, there is a short

Upanishad dedicated to the matter which makes interesting reading. In order

not to overload the forum I shall serialise it in three episodes. For those

of you who would like the Sanskrit text please contact me and I shall send

it in the PDF format.

 

Adiyen

 

Sri Rama

 

Vajra-sucika Upanishad (of the Sama Veda)

 

The Doctrine of the Diamond Needle

 

I shall teach the Vajrasuci ‹ the diamond needle doctrine which destroys

ignorance, condemns those who are devoid of the knowledge (of Brahman) and

exalts those endowed with enlightenment.

 

The Brahmin the Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Sudra are the four classes

(castes). That the Brahmin is the chief among these classes is in accord

with the Vedic texts and is affirmed by the Smrtis.

 

In this connection there is a point worthy of investigation. Who is, verily,

a Brahmin? Is he the individual soul? Is he the body? Is he the class based

on birth ? Is he the [possessor of] knowledge ? Is he the [performer of]

deeds (previous, present or prospective) ? Is he the performer of the rites

?

 

Of these, is the Jiva or the individual soul the Brahmin? No, it is not so;

for the Jiva is one and the same in the innumerable previous and future

bodies. Since the Jiva (the individual soul) is the same in all the various

bodies obtained through (past) karma, and in all these bodies the form of

the Jiva is one and the same. Therefore the Jiva is not the Brahmin. ‹ to be

continued

[Guest guest]

Srimathe RAmanujaya Namaha

 

There is a website that gives the explanation of this upanishad:

http://www.gosai.com/chaitanya/saranagati/html/vedic-

upanisads/vajrasucika-upanisad.html

 

To my knowledge this upanishad was never considered as the one that

talks about the varnashrama. Vedic Scriptures are categorised into

two: a) Vedas that deal with the religion and rituals i.e Karma

Kandam - that deals with the varnashrama dharamam etc b) Veda-antham

i.e the upanishads that discuss ONLY about the ultimate reality. If

this scripture is categorized under the 108 Upanishads(apart from the

first 10 that are used as references in the Shri Bhashyam/Brahmasutra

Vyakyanams), then it means that this scripture does not talk about

the varnashrama dharmam, but talks about the nature of the BRAHMAM

and hence this scripture has to be RIGHTLY interpreted from that

perspective! While shruthi is subject to umpteen interpretations, it

would be more appropriate if the interpretations of our purvacharyas

are considered and referred to. Learned scholars kindly correct me.

 

Yatheendra Pravanam Vandhe RAMYA Jamataram Munim

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,

Lakshmi Narasimhan

 

ramanuja, excogitator@b... wrote:

> Dear fellow prapannas,

>

> for those of you who are still fascinated by caste issues, there is

a short

> Upanishad dedicated to the matter which makes interesting reading.

In order

> not to overload the forum I shall serialise it in three episodes.

For those

> of you who would like the Sanskrit text please contact me and I

shall send

> it in the PDF format.

>

> Adiyen

>

> Sri Rama

>

> Vajra-sucika Upanishad (of the Sama Veda)

>

> The Doctrine of the Diamond Needle

>

> I shall teach the Vajrasuci ‹ the diamond needle doctrine which

destroys

> ignorance, condemns those who are devoid of the knowledge (of

Brahman) and

> exalts those endowed with enlightenment.

>

> The Brahmin the Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Sudra are the four

classes

> (castes). That the Brahmin is the chief among these classes is in

accord

> with the Vedic texts and is affirmed by the Smrtis.

>

> In this connection there is a point worthy of investigation. Who

is, verily,

> a Brahmin? Is he the individual soul? Is he the body? Is he the

class based

> on birth ? Is he the [possessor of] knowledge ? Is he the

[performer of]

> deeds (previous, present or prospective) ? Is he the performer of

the rites

> ?

>

> Of these, is the Jiva or the individual soul the Brahmin? No, it is

not so;

> for the Jiva is one and the same in the innumerable previous and

future

> bodies. Since the Jiva (the individual soul) is the same in all the

various

> bodies obtained through (past) karma, and in all these bodies the

form of

> the Jiva is one and the same. Therefore the Jiva is not the

Brahmin. ‹ to be

> continued