A 'True Brahmin' is anyone who is a knower of Brahman

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Here are some favorite quotations from the Upanishads, and my commentaries.


SVETASVATARA

MEDITATION can be learned, and it must be practiced according to accepted rules. By its means it is possible to realize the personal Brahman, who, in union with Maya, creates, preserves and dissolves the universe, and likewise the impersonal Brahman, who transcends all forms of beings, who eternally is, without attributes, and without action.

This reveals that anyone can become a spiritual Brahmin, not just "natural born" Brahmins. Even a warrior can become a spiritual Brahmin, that's why in the Bhagavad Gita, or Song Celestial (from the Mahabharata), Krishna refers to Arjuna, a Kshatriya (warrior), as 'O, best of Brahmins, ...'.



Now, here is one of my all time favorite stories, about the truth of who is a Brahmin, a short story from:

CHANDOGYA

May I never deny Brahman, nor Brahman me.
I with him, and he with me--may we abide always together.
May there be revealed to me,
Who am devoted to Brahman,
The holy truth of the Upanishads.

Aum Tat Sat


One day the boy Satyakama came to his mother and said, "Mother, I want to become a religious student, what is our family name?"

"My son, I do not know. In my youth I was a servant and worked in many places, and I do not know who your father was. I am Jabala, and you are Satyakama, call yourself Satyakama Jabala!"

Thereupon the boy went to Gautama and asked to be accepted as a religious student.

"What is your family name, my son?" inquired the sage.

"Sir, I asked my mother what is my family name, and she replied, "My son, I do not know. In my youth I was a servant and worked in many places, and I do not know who your father was. I am Jabala, and you are Satyakama, call yourself Satyakama Jabala! I am therefore, Satyakama Jabala, sir."

"None but a true Brahmin would have spoken thus! Go and fetch fuel, for I will teach you. You have not swerved from the Truth!"

This also reveals that Brahmins can be both spiritual and/or physical. A Brahmin is anyone who does 'not swerve from the Truth', regardless of accident of birth.

Anyone can become a real Brahmin, quod est demonstrandum; it's not a matter of form, it's a matter of formless Knowledge.

A 'True Brahmin' is anyone who is a knower of Brahman

"Birth is obscure, men are like rivers, their origins unknown" --Duryodhana, The Mahabharata

Why aren't you on some "True Brahmin" Forum instead of wasting your time here?

I'm Glad You asked That Question!

Because I'm a whacked-out Alpha-Aspie who has Delusions of Divinity, who believes that aspies are Brahmins, and I'm on a rescue mission to the Ministry of Magic, to help lead my fellow Brahmins out of the Darkness of the World of Ignorance!

Well it's good to know that you're admitting you have a problem, that's the first step to getting rid of your psychotic LSD induced hallucinations.

The other steps I'm not going to bother introducing to you because I just want to seem overbearingly intelligent and frankly I'm prejudiced towards anyone who shows any kind of weakness at all!

So who's up for some nice Burgers full of nice juicy overprocessed Cow Meat?

I love burgers, especially guru burgers!

Now, young whipper-snapper, let me tell you ...

In the old days, when we wasn't busy chanting Upanishads, we always liked to put a few good Brahma Burgers on the barbie', but them damn fools that come along later, they got this crack-pot idea they shouldn't eat cows because it might be Uncle Albert.

Of course, what they didn't figure out was, that if old Uncle Albert was stupid enough to become a cow, he deserved to get eaten!

I like the essay that Allan Watts wrote called "Murder in the Kitchen." Although he is often classified as a Buddhist, he is a Vedantist. He makes an interesting case that eating meat is OK for Hindus and Buddhists.

Vedantist - that would account for why he was visiting one of our Sunday meetings many, many years ago, in 1972 IIRC, when I had first arrived in SF.

The late Chiranjiva, who spoke at the meetings for $10 a Sunday (for cigarette money!) was a 'Hindu Brahmin', and he once said, "Neither bean sprouts, nor alfalfa sprouts, will give you the performance you seek. YOU MUST EAT BEEF! I FEEL A 'BIG MAC' ATTACK COMING ON!"

And then he led us all out to McDonalds for Big Mac's & fries!

I'm an "Upanishadist", meself!

Cool. Wish I had the opportunity to meet him.

Sprouts and salads and raw foods are too cooling - they are good for people with pitta disturbances, but I am usually vata disturbed. So heavier cooked food is in order to ground me.

I love meat, but it does increase my karmic debt.

I probably am usually vata disturbed too -- I'd like to hear your explanation on that "heavier cooked food is in order"... Is that classical, or just what works for you?

And, what do you mean by "meat increasing your karmic debt?"