brahmanas and Vaisnavas

[Guest guest]

In the Gaudiya Vedanta English edition of Jaiva-Dharma (which appears to have

been very nicely translated), the passage cited in earlier postings appears to

come from chapter 6: Nitya-dharma, race and caste. The discussion is fairly

elaborate and cannot be summarized by one quote. The citation given in the

earlier postings is translated as follows:

 

Cudamani: Then why is it that a candala who chants hari-nama is barred from

performing yajnas and other brahminical activities?

 

Vaisnava dasa: One must take birth in a brahmana family to perform yajnas and

other such activities, and even one born in a brahmana family must be purified

by the ceremony of investiture with the sacred thread before he is eligible to

perform the duties of a brahmana. Similarly, a candala may have become purified

by taking up hari-nama, but he is still not eligible to perform yajnas until he

acquires seminal birth in a brahmana family. However, he can perform the angas

(limbs) of bhakti, which are infinitely greater than yajnas.

 

Cudamani: What kind of conclusion is that? How can a person who is disqualified

for an ordinary privilege be qualified for something that is much higher? Is

there any conclusive evidence for this?

 

Vaisnava dasa: There are two types of human activity: material activities that

relate to practical existence (vyavaharika); and spiritual activities that

relate to the ultimate truth (paramarthika). A person may have attained

spiritual qualification, but that does not necessarily qualify him for

particular material activities. For example, one who is a Muslim by birth may

have acquired the nature and all the qualities of a brahmana, so that he is a

brahmana from the spiritual point of view, but he still remains ineligible for

certain material activities, such as marrying the daughter of a brahmana.

 

Cudamani: Why is that? What is wrong if he does so?

 

Vaisnava dasa: If one violates social customs, one is guilty of secular

impropriety, and members of society who take pride in their social

respectability do not condone such acitivities. That is why one should not

perform them, even if he is spiritually qualified.

 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura hereby indicates that although one may be qualified with

all brahminical symptoms, still he does not transgress the social etiquette so

as not to create a disturbance in human society. Even though he may be more

qualified from the spiritual point of view as a brahmana and Vaisnava--he does

not create a transgression which may create agitation and upheaval in the

social order.

 

As a principle of course, this has more relevance in India where such things are

considered important. In western countries, such considerations would seem to be

more or less irrelevant and therefore more (if not all) stress is given to

spiritual qualifications, and caste and racial distinctions are thus correctly

viewed as nullified by the spiritual process.

 

Rupa-vilasa dasa