Brahmana

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 12 Feb 1997, Anshuman Pandey wrote:

> More accurately, the spelling should be braahmaaNa. But that's just a
> transliterary technicality, entirely dependent on convention!

Of course.  But one should at least attempt to be accurate shouldn't they?
As I remarked to Giri, Gujaratis leave off the ending 'a' on words (which
is why I'm Jaldhar not Jaladhara. So Brahman is more accurate for me.
(And this is why I don't complain when the Southerners say Gayathri when
they obviously mean Gayatri :-)

>
> The vajrasuci upaniShad is counted as one of the "official" 112
> upaniShad-s.

112?  You mean 108 right?

>Are you confusing shruti and smR^iti? There is no shruti
> that states that braahmaNa-hood is attainable through birth only. If I am
> mistaken, please correct me by providing the references. In verse 4.13 of
> the bhagavadgiitaa, kR^iShNa states:
>
> "caaturvarNyaM mayaa sR^iShTaM guNakarmavibhaagashaH"
> These four orders were created by me according to quality and work.
>
> Unless you consider the bhagavadgiitaa to be a forgery, the above points
> to the caste system as having been established upon duty rather than by
> birth. It is most likely the case that the caste-by-birth "standard"
> evolved out of this.
>

Bhagavadgita being part of the Mahabharata is a Smriti not Shruti.  And if
the shloka you quote is to be taken literally, why is Arjuna referred to
as a Kshatriya?  Surely no one is more deserving of being called a Brahman
(according to your definition) than one who has learnt from Krishna
Bhagawan himself?

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