Who is a Brahmin?

Few days ago, friends and I got into a discussion – a discussion that I just try to avoid at all costs – the Varna system. I try to evade the topic as much I can, because it has been blown up out of proportions already. It has become such a political hot potato that not only everyone wants to get it off their plate, but also want to add spices to be able to eat it. Hence, in a nutshell, everyone hates this topic, but would like to keep the debate to make whatever gains they can. Who am I to fight the world? Here we go again!

Varna or caste system started with the Hinduism, but has been exploited by many. The earliest examples of the caste system may be many but the few notable ones are – Kevata and Shabri in Ramayan, Karna and Eklavya in Mahabharata. Not only the Shudra’s or Brahmins talk about it, but even Arjuna and Krishna spoke of the caste system at length in Geeta.

चातुर्वर्णयं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः ।

तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यर्कतारमव्ययम् ।। ४\-१३

Sri Krishna tells Arjun that he is the creator of the four “varna” or groups divided through the qualities or the “gunas”. Krishna explains to Arjun that he created the four classifiers to classify the humans based on the actions they perform. And guess what, the actions they perform define the degree of presence of the “guna” in them. He also explains to Arjun, that any action performed with the expectation of the fruits, lowers the value of the action itself. Thereby reducing the action and moving away from the path of salvation – the ultimate truth!

Viewing this whole idea in a 2*2 matrix, it would look like -

In the Mahabharata, rishi Bharadwaja asks rishi Bhrigu about the classification of the humans, and is told that there was only one class of humans as created by Brahma the creator. However, the actions and the intentions of the humans got them distinguished into the classes of their own.

एकवर्णम इदम पूर्व विश्वम आसिद युधिश्ठिर

कर्मक्रियाविशेसेन चतुर्वर्ण्यम प्रतिश्ठितम

It is even said that whether it’s the Brahmins or the shudra, all of them are blood brothers and it is very difficult to determine the caste of a person by birth as men can get offsprings from all sort of women.

अन्त्यजो विप्रजातिश च एक एव सहोदरः

एकयोनिप्रसूतस् च एकसाखेन जायते

So what’s the definition of a Brahmin?

Per rishi Bharadwaj, all humans were created by Brahma as Brahmans. Those who took the path of Passion, Indulgence, Pleasures, Desires, Courage and attributes of severity and wrath were known as Kshatriyas. Those who still had passion and goodness but chose to professions of agriculture and cattle rearing became Vaisyas. And those who chose to completely ignore their duties of Brahmin and adopt the path of Darkness under the influence of untruth, cupidity, injuring others and ready to do any kind of jobs were known as Shudra.

But the question remains – Who is a Brahmin?

In my understanding (Thanks to Dr Devdutta Pattnaik), Brahmin comes from two sanskrit words – Brah and Manas. While Manas means mind, Brah means expansion. Therefore anyone capable of expanding their mind to understand the acts of God and impact of their own actions is a Brahmin. This is the reason, Brahmins were chosen to be the learned and be the teachers.