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Arnav D's avatar

Hare Krishna Prabhu!

I have a question,

How do you identify if someone is a sudra or a brahmana now?

I am a brahmana by birth but of course I would not be classified as such according to Krishna's rules. How do you identify these traits?

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Caitanya Chandra Dasa's avatar

Hare Krsna Prabhu. I was just writing about it:

"What are the qualifications of a bona fide Brāhmana? This is indicated in text 24. The first is the he should be very well learned in the Vedas, not just in the sense of mundane erudition, but in the sense of understanding the real conclusions of the scriptures. The second is that one should be fixed in the mode of goodness, and thus be fixed in śama, dama and satya (mind control, sense control and truthfulness). They also practice penance (tapasya), tolerance (titikṣā), and they realize the position of the living entity and the Supreme Lord (anubhava). Apart from these six personal qualities, they preach the purpose of the Vedas to the conditioned souls, describing the scriptures in their original sense, without personally motivated changes."

These are qualities no one is born with nowadays (or even in previous eras); they need to be developed by being trained under someone who has these qualities. Therefore, there is the system of parampara, the chain of disciplic succession. It is not to be expected that one who does not take part on this system, being trained by a qualified spiritual master may reach these qualification, regardless of birth.

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Arnav D's avatar

Thank you for the detailed answer, Hare Krishna Prabhu

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Caitanya Chandra Dasa's avatar

My obeisances Prabhu, happy it helped somehow

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