shUdras Not Qualified For Vedic Meditation

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Hari bol

pranams

 

According To Quality, Each Varna Is Known. A Sudra May Not Utter Vedic Mantras. (Vs. 1.3.36)

 

The explanation is that to chant Vedic mantras and to perform Vedic rituals one must receive a sacred thread and the sastric injunction is for brahmana at the age 8; the ksatriya at the age eleven and the vaisya at the age twelve. Generally in Vaidica dharma (what is here described) sudras don't receive upanayana. Thus sudras don't perform yajnas, don't go through different samskaras and don't keep vows and so they are disqualified persons for studying the Vedas.

 

Now, if the sudra shows a brahmanical inclination he is treated differently. E.g. Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhasya commentary 1.3.37 relates from the Candogya upanisad the famous story of Jabala, a sudra boy who wanted a brahmana education from Gautama and on the question "which varna do you belong" when he answered "I don't know - he was immediately accepted as brahmana by nature, given an upanayana and thus also a proper Vedic education.

 

The comment of Baladeva Vidyabhusana on this story is that a purificatory process is necessary before one can study the Vedas. The word brahmana used by Gautama includes the ksatriya and the vaisya too.

 

Sudras if not liars and possessing high moral qualities are entitled to be classified as brahmanas. Thus brahmanhood depends on one's qualities.

 

Without any purification (in Kali yuga by pancaratrika system), the Vedic mantra says: "a sudra immediately becomes degraded if he studies the Vedic words." According to my understanding the sudra because of his impure intelligence will misinterpret and even blaspheme the Vedas what is an immediate cause of his degradation often seen nowadays Good examples are some useless

Gita interpreters and its readers.

 

Baladeva ends his commentary on this section of the Govinda Bhasya by explaining that although the sudras are prohibited to study the Vedas and perform Vedic sacrifices still they can attain liberation by knowledge obtained through hearing the reciting of the Puranas the Bhagavad-gita etc. A mukta-sudra is as holy as other mukta-jiva, but the difference is only in the degree if their happiness.

 

To understand the teaching of Baladeva Vidyabhusana here are few important slokas mentioned in his commentaries:

 

To say nothing of the spiritual advancement of persons who see the Supreme Person face to face, even a person born in a family of dog-eaters immediately becomes eligible to perform Vedic sacrifices if he once utters the holy name of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead or chants about Him, hears about His pastimes, offers Him obeisances or even remembers Him. (SB. 3.33.6)

 

Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Aryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required. (SB. 3.33.7)

 

Another quotation states:

 

"A person who chants the two syllables Ha-ri has already studied the four Vedas: Sama, Rk, Yajuh and Atharva."

 

 

Hare Krishna

ard

 

PS: Sorry that I did not give you a perfect answer. Somebody else will do it better. Hari bol.

 

 

 

 

 

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