Who-Is-A-Brahmana?

With a scarcity of Brahmanas, we wonder who a Brahmana is. Brahmins are ubiquitous, but Brahmanas are not. The reality is Brahmanas come from all castes, races, colors, nations...  There is no one race, religion or caste that claims exclusivity with Brahmanas. The attributes of a person make a Brahmana. With these criteria in place, Jesus Christ was a Brahmana.  There are or were more Brahmanas coming from Brahmin caste because of their long tradition of immersion in spiritual milieu. Let us look at the impossible attributes of a Brahmana. Brahmins by and large wear the sacred threads and the sectarian marks. The Brahmanas by choice and attributes do not wear the external symbols because they transcended the castes and other markers.  Ramana Maharishi and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa dropped these symbols.

If someone wears the thread, and his sectarian marks all over the body, he is an exhibitionist, not yet ready for Brahmanahood.

Brahmin here means Brahmana.

Dhammapada by The Buddha defines Brahmana as follows (Verses 383 to 423):

383. He who gives up sensuality and stills the mind is a Brahmana.

384. He who transcends duality (pleasure and pain) is a Brahmana.

385. He who is free from anxiety is a Brahmana.

386. He who meditates, tranquil in mind, free from taint and intrusive thoughts, and accomplished in yoga is a Brahmana.

387.  Day shines in sunlight; night shines in moon light; warrior shines in his armor; a Brahmana shines in meditation; at all times Buddha shines in his glory.

388. He who breaks with evil deeds is a Brahmana.

389. He who does not lose his temper is a Brahmana.

390. He whose mind recoils from pleasurable experiences is a Brahmana, who does not harm anyone.

391. He who does not inflict pain by body, mind and speech is a Brahmana.

392. He who tends the sacrificial fire is a Brahmana. Pay homage to him who teaches the Truth, like Buddha does.

393. Matted hair, caste, and lineage do not make a Brahmana. Purity and truth make a Brahmana.

394. Matted hair and antelope skin do not make a Brahmana; they make him look good; but he is a tangled knot inside.

395. A man may wear rags from refuse and look haggard; his strength glows in every fiber of body as he meditates alone in the forest; that man is a true Brahmana.

396. A Brahmana he is not, just because he is born of a Brahmana mother.  He is contemptible if he owns anything at all. A true Brahmana owns nothing to call his, having no attachment.

397.  He who  severs his bonds (with the world); shows equanimity, and transcends all worldly ties, is a liberated Brahmana.

398.  He who severs his harness (straps, bands, and bridle) and breaks out of the barrier is a Brahmana; he is Buddha himself.

399. He who stays calm under severe censure, brooks maltreatment, remains patient, and shows inner strength is worthy of his appellation, Brahmana.

400. He who is free from anger and desire, has enduring discipline, and lives in his last body (with no possibility of rebirth) is a Brahmana.

401. He is like water on a lotus leaf; he is like a mustard seed on the point of a pin; thus, he is not attached to the senses; he is a Brahmana.

402.  His experience of suffering in this life has come to an end, having put aside his burden; he is a Brahmana.

403.  He is wise; he knows right from wrong; he attained the supreme purpose; him I call a Brahmana.

404.  He shies away from monks and men, has no place to call home, and entertains few needs; him I call a Brahmana.

405.  He refrains from injury to mobile and immobile living things; he neither kills nor causes death; him I call a Brahmana.

406. He is placid among the tumultuous; he glows with peace among the violent; he is unclinging among the clingers; him I call a Brahmana.

407.  He transcends love and hate; ego and pretense have fallen by the wayside like the mustard seed on the point of a pin; him I call a Brahmana.

408.  He is gentle in speech and revealing in his words; he utters only Truth, criticizing no one; him I call a Brahmana.

409.  He takes nothing that is not given to him; him I call a Brahmana.

410. He has no desire in this or the next world; he is free from craving; him I call a Brahmana.

411.  He is a realized soul, having dived into deathless bliss; him I call a Brahmana.

412.  He transcends good and evil; he is faultless and pure with no sorrow; him I call a Brahmana.

413.  He is pure and stainless like the rays of the moon; he has drowned his desires; him I call a Brahmana.

414.  He crossed the ocean of Samsara and ignorance and reached the other shore, by meditation, tranquility of mind and paucity of desires; him I call a Brahmin.

415. He, having renounced contact with senses and expunged desires, wanders homeless; him I call a Brahmin.

416.  He, having renounced craving, gave up worldly life and home; him I call a Brahmin.

417. He, having broken the human bonds and transcended the desires of heaven, is free from all bonds; him I call a Brahmin.

418.  He, having transcended pleasure and pain and withdrawing the fuel, extinguished his desires and won over all worlds; him I call a Brahmin.

419.  He, having seen death and rebirth of all beings, frees himself from clinging desires, attains realization and enters a world of bliss; him I call a Brahmin.

420.  Devas, Ghandarvas, and men do not know his path; his mind is empty of mundane thoughts and passions; him I call a Brahmin.

421.  He had no possessions of his own at any time and remains unattached; him I call a Brahmin.

422.  He has no fear; he is noble; he is a great sage, a vanquisher of desires and a realized soul, having washed off all stains; him I call a Brahmin.

423.   He knows his former lives, heaven and hell; this life marks the end of birth for him who attained transcendent knowledge; him I call a Brahmin.

 

Avadhuta = One who has shaken off from himself worldly feeling and obligation--Monier Williams.

An Avadhuta is so called on account of his being possessed of undecaying greatness, having washed off the bonds of Samsara and learnt the meaning of (the great saying "Thou Art That."

Avadhūta = Literally, shaken off, cast aside, washed off, one who has separated from the world. An Avadhūta has been thus defined: "A man who is above both caste and stage of life (āśrama), and ever contemplating the Supreme Soul only, he is called Avadhūta." The Brāhmaṇa must  study, teach, give and take alms, worship and perform worship for others. The Avadhūta, if a Brāhmaṇa, however, does not follow these injunctions, or, if he is a Kṣatriya or Vaiśya, the duties laid down for these castes (see Sakti and Sākta). -Sir John Woodroffe The Great Liberation,  Page 209

Avadhuta is he who has divorced this world. Avadhuta takes what he needs to sustain life. He loves the Self in one and all and yet he neither hates nor loves any being or object. He drinks like a cloud and pours like the rain; he never hoards anything.  He is like an ocean which does not swell when the rivers flow into it and does not dry when they stop.

These attributes do not do justice to his role in this world. Find out for yourself.

Here below you see the involution of an Avadhuta from a teenager to a ripe age. Involution: Centripetal movement of the soul back into its source, The Great Soul, Atman, Siva.

 

Bible NIV
The Cost of Following Jesus  9.57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." L9:57
   Luke 9.58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." L9:58
9.59 He said to another man, "Follow me."  But he replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." L9:59
9.60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." L9:60
9.61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." L9:61
9.62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." L9:62

Saying 549. A kite with a fish in its beak was chased by a large number of crows and screaming kites, pecking at it and trying to snatch away the fish. In whichever direction it went the flock of kites and crows also followed it. Tired of this annoyance, the kite threw away the fish which was instantly caught by another kite. At once the flock of kites and crows turned to the new possessor of the fish. The first kite was left unmolested; it calmly perched upon the branch of a tree. Seeing it in this quiet and tranquil state, the Avadhuta saluted it and said, ‘‘You are my Guru, O kite; you have taught me that so long as man does not throw off the burden of worldly desires, he cannot escape from worldly distractions and be at peace with himself." ---Ramakrishna Paaramahamsa. Saying 549.