[Advaita-l] Advaita-Geetha Vedantham.

[Srikanta Narayanaswami]

In the above posting by Viji Sridhar, from the "Ramanathan Think foundation" there is a paragraph  titled,"simply Vedantha"which says":
 
"Even Adi Shankara was dogged by the caste feeling until he met the Chandala who opened his eyes.The problem persists today even after generations of poets and philosophers decrying and denouncing discrimination.A saint whom we missed seeing and being with by less than a century--Ramalinga Swamigal-underscores a basic human equation in utter simplicity".
 
The above statement has been brought out of context.It is not the Brahmins who are responsible for this chaos.it is the persons themselves who are perpetrating the caste system.The plight of the country is due to the myopic view of the people who has taken into their hands the "Caste bogey"which to them is by the Brahmins.Infacts,brahmins are more suffering by this misconception that Brahmins are responsible for this mess.Apart from Brahmins,there are Kshatriyas,Vaishyas and shudras who are more responsible for the otigination of the caste system,perpetration of it and exploitation.The other varnas have more subcastes which exploit others for keeping the caste system alive,and to be continued in future.This is being exploited and used as a tool by the politicians for the "Vote banl"Year by year new castes are included into the "Scheduled caste/schedule tribe"list for reservation to various posts in various jobs.Brahmins have been regated to the least
 position in this exploitation,though they have been called "superior caste"!There  is only lessthan 10% of the Brahmins in Tamil nadu and rest of the country,where as the rest have migrated and settled in Western countries.Instead of solving the country's neverending problems the politicians of all shades are vieing with each other in perpetrating and keeping alive this problem of caste,lest they will lose ther power and money if it is solves,and they are enating
legislation so that this problem is never solved.
The story of Adi Shankara has been quoted umpteen times by some people to emphasise the point that this caste system is kept alive by Brahmins.Here,the most important point has ben overlooked or remains hidden.Here,Adi Shankara,the Jnani that he is encounters a so called "Chandala by the later people faces a scholastic question,"which should move far,whether it is the body or the Atma.If it is the body it is made of the five elements just like yours which is jada,or Atma,which is pure Chaitanya?"For this answer Adi shankara knows that the person he has come across is a "Jnani"who has given this "Advaitic answer"and composed the "Manisha Pancakam"which details what is the characteristic of a "Jnani".He didnot encountered an ordinay person without knowledge,and will it be right to categorise an ordinary person with an "awakened"Jnani.We have to see this point without forming preposterous views.These days,only Brahmins are taking a "generous view"and are
 silently suffering.
N.Srikanta.