Monday, August 29, 2005
Being an Agnostic, Hindu-Brahmin
I am an agnostic. I also consider myself a Hindu-Brahmin, which is my inheritance by birth. Other then The Ramanashram in Tiruvanamalai I do not visit or pray in temples or to any “God”-I don’t believe in idol worship. And yet I wear my Punal (sacred thread, which also inevitably reveals my father’s community), but I don’t remember ever having done the daily rituals I am supposed to do, having worn it!
The above factors make me one hell of a confused young man right? To me wearing my Punal gives me a feeling of belonging and respecting my heritage. I eat meat, which is prohibited by my community and I honestly don’t see anything wrong in that. In fact I don’t think society or groups in it have any right in policing people’s personal choices. In that case why am I still holding on to the external and most obvious symbol of my community?
I studied in a Hindu college in Mylapore.The administrators of this place are prohibited from having reservation quota for a particular religious group. But colleges run by minority communities take for granted their right to promote particular communities. These blatant double standards were one of the main reasons, which made me wake up, and consider my self a secular, Hindu-Brahmin, along with being an agnostic.
When the pontiff of Kanchi, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi was arrested and subsequently harassed, I felt very angry like most of people from my community. I am not his devotee and nor do I subscribe to the obsolete views of the Kanchi Madam. But I respect him for what he represents to the majority. His judgment before conviction by our media and masses was outrageous. Would a Mullah or a Priest be treated the way the Kanchi pontiff was?
I am glad that I don’t feel ashamed of being what I am and expressing what I feel about this. I have been debating this topic with Vatsan and others for a while. I almost felt guilty and somehow did not muster the courage to write about this until now, though I have been wanting to for some time. But heck, I would rather be a true secular, and admit that this is what I feel, than be a psudo secular. Times have been hard for Hindu Brahmins. And if you are an agnostic added to that, believe me,there are times when you feel confused and frustrated, as your stances are still evolving.
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17 comments:
Hard to comment on this issue..
Over a period of time, several things have changed. Whether it is for a positive or negative effect, it definitely hurts a part of the society. Probably, you think over it out of the box (I mean, the caste), your thoughts may differ... That's how I perceive any issue.
My comments don't mean that I justify certain activities which are going on hurting people's sentiments.
@siddharth
very interesting post.
i am not sure how many would relate to that.
i think i can. i too am more or less an agnost. i dont want to get into the debate of god being there r not. i see god as a quality or deeds. deeds done with noblest of intentions and selflessness done by man himself rather than an external entity.
regarding brahmins - me being a non-brahmin i can say the community has been seen as a soft-target by dravidian parties.
Apart from that, there are some stereotypes existing within the community folks as well - that brahmins are the most intelligent, most straighforward, hyper dignified, super clean etc.
Not necessarily true in my opinion.
reg punal, if u believe it gives u a feeling of belonging, give it the respect it deserves. this is my suggestion.
attributing yr punal to heritage yet not following sandhyavandhanam - its laziness :))
but i leave it to u though..
reg kanchi issue,
as far as the media is concerned its just a scoop news...
the gave him the same treatment they gave to premananda or for that matter trisha...
media is hardly governed by right or wrong.
media will apologize even if it did no wrong for instance...
i remember Indian Express had to apologize unconditionally when an angry muslim mob targeteed the newspaper for TJS George's article the 'millenium is dead...' where he merely quotes dante
http://www.hvk.org/articles/0100/0.html.
In the kanchi case the reasons for arrest are largely political.
and his arrest was not carried out by DMK but by ADMK govt which has always been closer to him...
I may get brickbats for saying this but in general the present
seer is not a man beyond doubt.
nobody cld ever raise a finger against maha periyavar.
i see no reason why anuradha ramanan - herself a brahmin.
it is also pretty interesting to note the reactions of people like S V Shekar.He is an ardent devotee of the Kanchi Mutt. he is a brahmin too. Now when the seer was arrested, what is his reaction? he keeps mum.
He is neither willing to relinquish his party position by backing the mutt nor speak against the Mutt.
i think the brahmins as a community are all well-educated but too entrenched in the doctrine of convenience to take any bold stance.
since they are individually so self-centered they dont have any collective voice and hence hold no bargaining power when it comes to treatment by parties,media etc.
this is different from other communities.
u can nominate a ramajayam in mylapore and can get away with all the brahmin bashing u indulge in other parts of the state.
this is not possible in other communities of such large number...
oops editing mistake
>>i see no reason why anuradha ramanan - herself a brahmin
should make false accusations against the seer...
secularusm is total crap, politically correct but misused term, secluar in what sense do u use that term?
Sidd excuse my ignorance but who is the Kamchi Madam?
I would put my self in the same category as you i guess... The only difference being that I go to the temple and all, as it gives me a sense of security (false or not i do not knw)... also being a female i do not wear a punal... lol... i do not entirely belive tht god is there, but i follow the religion as it is a sense of identity for me and i agree with most of what it says... I see it more as a way of living than something i should blindly worship... to believe in god and all i need 100% proof, so until i find that i will keep with my current ways... nice topic btw... something i think abt a lot as well...
@ram,very neutral comment.
@prabhu,we seem 2 have very similar views abt god!absolutely agree that some brahmin's do have the holier than thou attitude.but ppl seem 2 forget that barathiyar who said "jadigal ilai adi papa" and fought the caste system was a brahmin by birth!!no i dont think the current kanchi Acharya is above censure,but what i am trying 2 say is,with only some vague curcumstantial evidence,with no clear proof would a Priest or Mullah be arrested in india?i doubt it.
@srivatsa,i mean true secularism,and not secular in the way politicans use them.we will discuss this in person!
@paul,the Kanchi Madam is an institution like the Catholic Church and Sri Jayendra Saraswati is one of the Hindu pontiff's like the Pope for Catholics.
@preethi,thanks 4 stopping by and welcome 2 d club of agnostics!
siddharth
>>with no clear proof would a Priest or Mullah be arrested in india?
even with clear proof its impossible in india. such is the strength of the minority and its vote bank.
what i am trying to say is, the sankracharya weekend his case by his deeds.and the govt is in a tussle. right wing parivars dont have popular support in tamil nadu.
And above all, nobody will fight with a united stand especially the brahmin community.
so long as that is the case,we cannot expect anything else in treatment.
adhaan solla vandhen.
india is the only country where the cry of the minority will be heard louder than that of the majority.
The caste system is alive and well eh Sidd?
I´m a protestant christian (baptised and confirmated) who attented a protestant school (a quota made sure that there were only 5% non-protestants). And I don´t believe in a personal god, I was never much engaged in praying, visiting the church or practising rituals.
Am I an Agnostic? I don´t think so, because I think you can feel a spiritual and truely religious experience without all of these rituals, authorities and so on.
It´s not easy to put it in words. Maybe it´s about thinking "God" to be the Whole, the One, the Absolute, the power of the universe.
Somehow you can find it in all religions. But I think in Hindu-Brahminism this experience was expressed for the first time (and in a more rational way than in the following religions): the self being identical with the Absolute - Atman is Brahman. I love this idea! (therefor I´m not an Agnostic..)
Nice bold writeup Siddharth. I will have to go with what Prabhu Karthik said
@prabhu,ur views were well balanced.ur rite the rift between the brahmins in the past was one of the reasons the community is going thru all this now.kalki traces this rift back 2 the days of raja raja in ponniyin selvan where saivites and vaisnavites fight over whether shiva or vishnu is gr8ter!
@paul,unfortunately yes paul the caste system is alive.in fact if u notice any where in the world it exsists in different names..racism,apartheid,class,etc,etc..
@christian,nice way of saying u believe in god.sometimes i wonder, like a pop song goes, 'what if god was one of us?'abt President Kalam i guess i got a little emotional!ur views are rational.
@kanishkaa,thanks da!
Nice and honest article Siddharth. I too don't like sterotyping people acccording to caste/sect.
As long as our practices and beliefs do not hinder others, its ok to be anything.
I too am not a staunch brahmin. I don't do Sandhyavandhanam, yet I wear a poonal. Like u said, it is a symbol of my heritage. I am a vegetarian not because my parens are but because I want to be. I find that killing animals is a crime and I just shudder to think of myself in the position of a chicken in the butchers shop. I feel that we humans have no right to decide who lives and who doesnt. You might feel that non-vegetarian food tastes good, but still you are enjoying yourself at the expense of another living thing.
@tt giant,thanks!like vairamuthu sir wrote "jadi,mada,vedam yelam munavargal seida mosam".
@niyantha,really appreciate ur honest comment man.like u said we should do or not do something based on our personal choice.thanks for stopping by.just saw ur profile.i think ur the youngest person who reads my site!
Only a Hindu-Brahmin Agnostic person can exist. Elsewhere, it is just a XYZian or an Agnoist. :)
About eating non-veg, it is a personal choice.
I donot eat non-veg, neither have consumed a drop of alcohol for pleasure, not having smoked a single puff, doing sandhyavandhanam religiously. That doesnt mean, i am more brahminic than anybody else.!!
Our life style is primarily driven from a family perspective. What your dad and grandad says is the only binding factor and not any acharya's words.[unlike in other religions].
Thus, If I can say that, "for thousands of years, nobody in my ancestors have had non-veg or consumed alcohol for pleasure", It is my bounded duty to make sure that my son/daughter should be able to say that, irrespective of whether i like it or not. After all, the "thatha sothu peranukku" is not just in property, also in values. You are bound to transfer what you inherit. It is a crime to break the lineage.
My life is such a short period to make a decision if this is correct or shud be discarded.
Awesome post...Guess it summarizes the exact state I am in...I dont want to live upto anybody in my lineage but want to be myself..
I dont see that the punal i tossed sometime back serves anything more than my identity which I dont need...
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