[Advaita-l] the qualification to be an advaita guru

[ravi chandrasekhara]

Dear All,

Regarding:


{" Shankara says - there are three types of gurus.

1. He is shrotriyaH and brahma nishTaH

2. He is shrotiyaH but not Brahma nishTa

3. He is Brahman nishTa and he does not know how to teach."

The first is the best, the second is the next and third one, we can 
respect
but we cannot learn.}


1.Do the definitions Shrotriyah and Brahman nishta refer to Braahmanas by birth that have attained spiritual accomplishments ?
2.Vedantic study which include upanishads require veda-adhikara and hence Dvija birth AND samskara.
3.In Advaita tradition, there are non-Dvija Gurus such as Swami Chinmayananda, Vivekananda, etc.
4.In Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya, saints such as alwars are from all varnas but acharyas who give deeksha for Samashrayam and their Jeeyar sanyasis are from Braahmana varna.
5.In Tatvavada (Madhvacharya) Sampradaya, mutt acharyas are sanyasis from Braahmana varna who officially initiate into their sampradaya.
6.Interesting link on who can be a guru:http://www.krsna.org/content/
7.So in conclusion, Can a Guru only be one from Braahmana varna ? If not,  should a Braahmana only take spiritual initiation/etc from a Braahmana Guru ?

Ravi Chandrasekhara




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