Moksha Question

[JasonMoss]

Hi there:

 

I'm taking a course called "The World's Religions", and the teacher was talking about achieving moksha. He said that in order to achieve moksha, you needed to realize that the atman and the brahman were one and the same thing. He then went on to say that only males of the brahimin class could achieve moksha.

 

Is this correct? If I'm a kshatriya, I can only live a good life and hope to come back as a brahimin next life?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Jason

 

[Guest guest]

brahmins are not preists per say. although society today regards brahmins are preists, brahmnins are actually people of sattvic characther. sattvic meaning pure, righteous, good charachter.

 

so in that sense, anyone who is good hearted and pure is brahmin, regardless of race or upbringing or heredity. thinking along these lines, the scriptures say that brahmins achieve moksha. the good hearted will achieve moksha.

 

a kshatriya is someone full of passion in their heart. only when that personal desire and passion is rooted out and replaced by sattvic goodness will that kshatriya acheive moksha. if it happens in one lifetime, then it happens. if not, then he will have to reincarnate for moksha.

 

there is no set system of determination of who will recincarnate as what in our next lives or who will acheieve moksha. we as flawed humans can make assumptions. but they are just that - flawed assumptions based on our limited understanding. only god knows who will be granted moksha and who will come back for another round of jiva-atman.

 

that means that just because you are kshatriya doesnt automatically mean that you cant get moksha, because if you become sattvic (in a sense brahmin) in one lifetime, you have a very real opporunity to achieve moksha. there is no real way to say for sure. only live you life the best you can. your karma will take you where you need to go.

[maadhav]

Your teacher has not learned about hinduism from any authorized source.

 

<< He said that in order to achieve moksha, you needed to realize that the atman and the brahman were one and the same thing. >>

 

atma is a soul within each living being.

brahman is impersonal aspect og god in person.

both are qualitatively same, but quantitatively different.

god is all powerful, and youteh soul have only limited power.

 

 

<< He then went on to say that only males of the brahimin class could achieve moksha. >>

 

moksha means freedom from the cycles of birth and death.

any person is eligible to sttrive to get it,

and hnduism provides ways how.

 

 

<< Is this correct? If I'm a kshatriya, I can only live a good life and hope to come back as a brahimin next life? >>

 

no. one's next life depends on what one does in this life and especialy what he wishes at the time of death.

 

please read gita, and tell your teacher to read it too.

 

[JasonMoss]

Thank you all for replying so quickly. Your answers to my questions make more sense than the ones I heard in class.

 

I doubt that he learned about Hinduism from anyone that is a practicing Hindu.

 

I don't think he was trying to be deceptive. It's an 8 week class, and in 8 weeks, we are discussing 7 different religions. I'm sure that he'll say stuff that the Buddhists won't like this coming Saturday as well.

 

Thanks again,

 

Jason

 

[Guest guest]

only brahmin males getting salvation, he is also wrong that only a brahmin of the caste, Brahmin, can achieve salvation.

 

Yoga is open to everyone, meditation, prayer. It doesn't matter what caste or what gender you are. You can attain salvation.

 

Also, the soul is genderless. Hinduism has never said that only males can get salvation as far as I can tell. The soul has no gender, and Hinduism is science of the SOUL. It does not matter whether you are male or female, because that is merely identification with the EGO. The soul has no such characteristics, and so it's the SOUL that can achieve salvation. Not your male or female ego.

[maadhav]

you welcome.

 

[Guest guest]

good of you to have the desire to research properly for yourself. but i wonder how many other errors your teacher has spread?..