A smritis, or code of conduct composed by Sage Atri defines Brahminhood very clearly.+

A smritis, or code of conduct composed by Sage Atri defines Brahminhood very clearly.

"By birth, every man is a Shudra (an ignorant person). Through various types of disciplines (samskaras), he becomes a dwija (twice-born). Through the studies of scriptures, he becomes a vipra (or a scholar). Through the realization of supreme spirit (Brahmajnana), he becomes a Brahmin."

The belief that people born in the Brahmin caste, automatically become Brahmins, is a much later concept in the very ancient India. Thus, Brahmin means not caste, but one who has attained Atma Jnana or Brahma Jnana.

A Brahmin is a person who has realized the ultimate truth or Brahman in other words a person is a Brahmin only if he is a Gnani. Self-knowledge is not gained by birth but by realizing the ultimate truth or Brahman.

Valmiki who wrote Ramayana was not a Brahmin by birth. Sage Ved Vyasa who wrote Mahabharata was not a Brahmin by birth. Sage Vishwamitra was not a Brahmin by birth and yet he became a Maharishi. Lord Krishna himself was not a Brahmin by birth either! The evil character Ravana in Ramayana was a Brahmin by birth i.e. he was born to a knowledgeable Brahmin father, yet he is said to have been evil.

If ancient Vedic religion had been discriminating against people based on their birth, then would this have been allowed?

Note that a Brahmin is also called a Dvija in the Vedas. Dvija means twice-born. The first birth is his natural birth and the second birth is the new birth he gains after acquiring the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

To become a Brahmin one has to become a Dvija. To become a Dvija one has to acquire Self- knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

If Vedas had said that a person is Brahmin by birth, then they would have never called him a Dvija. Even if a person is born to a Brahmin, if he doesn’t get a second birth by gaining Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma then he is not a Brahmin.

Remember:~

A Brahmin by birth, a Yogi, a Sanyasi, a Swami, A Sadhu, a monk a wandering ascetic, are not Gnanis. These are all categories that belong to the religious landscape of different ideologies.

Manduka Upanishads:~ It is very difficult to find out who is a Gnani because he bears no external mark. Neither nudity nor the yellow robe has anything to do with him.

A Gnani cannot have the idea of renouncing the world or giving up something of the practical world because that would connote the idea of duality. Duality is merely an illusion from the ultimate standpoint. Knowing no second thing at all there remains nothing to be given up.

If a seeker after truth receives the words of wisdom from some source, that seeker must pay the source due respect and gratitude to get the grace of the Soul.

One does not become a Gnani by one’s matted hair. Nor does one become a Gnani by one’s clan.

Even one’s birth in the priest caste will not make a Gnani. One has to realize the Truth by acquiring Self-knowledge or Braham Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The matted hair and religious robes belong to religion. The religion is based on the false self (ego) within the false experience (world).

The one who has realized the Self is not the ‘I’ but the ‘Self’ is the Soul knows the religious robes and matted coiled hair has nothing to do with the Soul, the Self.

The seeker who has realized the Soul alone is the real world in which he exists is an illusion worthy of the Advaitic Gnana.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana frees the Soul, the Self from experiencing the illusory experience of birth, life, death, and the world as a reality.

Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana makes the Soul, the Self unburdened and puts down the illusory load of form, time, and space.

Through Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana the Soul, the Self gets disengaged from the bonds of the illusory form, time, and space in which was imprisoned.

A Gnani's attention is fixed on the Soul and he sees the illusion as the consciousness, the one without the second. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar