Yaksha Prashnam Questions 9-12

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html

The Yaksha asked, ‘what is the “divine nature” present in Brahmanas? What is their dharmam? Describe the character present in them which shows them as mere humans. What is their negative quality?

what is the “divine nature” present in Brahmanas?

Yudhishtirar answered that Svadhyaya gives them divine nature. Svadhyaya is the act of learning Vedas. When we worship devas we make offerings to them but we cannot see if they accept our offerings. There are devas on earth who are fit to be worshipped; we can also see them accept our offerings. These devas are the Brahmins well versed in the Vedas. In the Puranas we learn about the powers of the ancient seers. For example Rishi Jamadagni used to practice shooting with a bow and arrow. As soon as he shot the arrow, his wife would help him by fetching the arrow. Once, on a hot summer day his wife couldn’t bear the scorching heat of the Sun; seeing his wife suffer, the rishi was ready to curse the Sun to protect his wife. The Sun immediately appeared before the rishi to apologize. As, the Sun could not stop shining; the Sun offered an umbrella and a pair of sandals to the rishi’s wife. This incident shows us that even the Sun was afraid of the powers possessed by the rishi. The source of the rishis powers was his Vedic training.

What is their dharmam?

During the ancient times the Brahmins had the capacity to learn the entire Vedas. With passage of time the future generation did not possess the same capability. To protect the Vedas and to help the younger generations learn Vedas easily, Sage Veda Vyasa divided the Vedas into four branches called Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana. Each family was given a branch they were responsible for. The Brahmins belonging to a particular branch were obligated to learn the Vedic verses of their branch. If a Brahmin belonged to a family responsible for learning the Rig Veda then he had to learn the Rig Vedic verses. If a Brahmin wished to learn verses from other branches, he had to complete his training in the branch of Vedas assigned to his family first before proceeding to learn verses from the other branches. Failure to do so results in the accumulation of sin. Thus, the Brahmin society through their efforts is responsible for safe guarding the Vedic learning. This gives them their divine nature. The present generation faces many challenges in life due to lack of time to practice even the branch of Vedic studies assigned to their family. The ancients have made it easier for our generation by reducing the syllabus so that it is sufficient to just chant one chapter from the Vedas. Those who are unable to do even this could comply with the rules by chanting the Purusha Suktam Manthram. The Purusha Suktam is present in all four branches of the Vedas and it is sufficient for Brahmins to just chant this when they are faced with time constraints. To retain the “divine qualities” present in them, Brahmins have to chant at least one chapter from the Vedic branch assigned to their family or chant the Purusha Suktam without fail every day.

The above is the law assigned to Brahmin men. Women are not allowed to chant Vedic verses. What is the dharmam assigned to Brahmin women? The women are responsible for taking care of their families and to ensure that the men can chant the Vedas without any obstruction. For helping the men practice their Vedic dharmam regularly, the women obtain 50% of the fruit obtained by their husbands while chanting Vedas. For example if a Brahmin chants the Gayathri Manthram for 108 times, his wife automatically gets the fruit of chanting the manthram for 54 times and the man will be left with the fruit of chanting the manthram for the remaining 54 times alone. The women get good merit easily without putting in rigorous efforts. A wife is asked to nag her husband to make sure he follows the laws prescribed in the Vedas. For nagging her husband to perform his Vedic rites she automatically gets 50% of her husband’s merit for performing the rite.

Women are assigned the task of nurturing their families because they are naturally caring.

The Vedas also say that a husband is forced to share 50% of his wife’s sins. If a wife performs a good deed then she is entitled to enjoy all the merit and her husband has no share in the merit she earned. Similarly the wife does not share her husband’s sins. If a man commits a misdeed then he has to bear all the bad fruits which resulted from committing the sin. Thus women come out on the top as they get to keep 100% of the merits they had earned plus they get 50% of any merit their husbands earned. Fifty percent of a woman’s demerit points are automatically transferred to her husband thus easing her burden. Men have to work harder since they lose half of the merits they earn to their wives and their wives do not share in their demerit points.

Thus a Brahmin man retains his divinity by practicing the Vedas and a Brahmin woman retains her divinity by helping her husband to practice the Vedas.

The following story illustrates how the Vedic manthrams protect a Brahmin.

Once, the Devas decided to perform a sacrifice but the fire would not burn properly as it was afflicted by sin. It is prohibited to perform sacrifices if the fire smolders. The devas went to get ghee to make the fire burn properly but the ghee solidified as it too was affected by sin. It is not allowed to pour solid ghee into the fire. They were then instructed by Lord Brahma to give dakshina (donations) to people to transfer the sin to other people. No one wanted to receive the dakshina as they did not want to get the sins. Lord Brahma then asked the Brahmins to take the dakshina but they too refused. Lord Brahma then asked them to get the dakshina by wearing protective gloves so that the sin will not stick to them. These protective gloves are the recitation of the Vedic mantras.

The Vedic mantras are never affected by sin as it is the nature of the Vedic mantra to repel sin. When we eat greasy food with our hand, the grease sticks to our hand. We scrub our hand to remove the grease but it is not necessary to scrub our tongue. Even though our tongue comes in contact with the greasy food, the grease does not stick to the tongue as it is the nature of the tongue to repel grease.

The ritual performed by the Brahmins on a daily basis is their penance. It is their duty to follow the dharma prescribed to their community.

Describe the character present in them which shows them as mere humans. What makes them human? They too die.

What is their negative quality?

A Brahmin’s negative quality is gossiping. A Brahmin loves to spread rumours and scandals. Once, a Brahmin was chased by a bull. To escape from the bull he ran into the hut of a rowdy called Rangayan. Rowdy Rangayan was drinking alcohol when the Brahmin entered his hut. The rowdy wished to help the Brahmin. He asked the Brahmin to hold his liquor bottle while he went outside to subdue the bull. The Brahmin stood outside the rowdy’s hut with the rowdy’s liquor bottle watching the rowdy control the bull. This Brahmin was noticed bottle in hand by his colleague. The colleague spread rumours in the Brahmin community that the other Brahmin was an alcoholic whose drinking partner was Rowdy Rangayan. Spreading such untruths and rumours are the negative qualities of a Brahmin. A Brahmin must control the urge to gossip.

Esoteric Meaning of Yudhishtira’s Answers:

what is the “divine nature” present in Brahmanas?

A Brahmin is a person who embarks on a spiritual journey to realize God. By chanting the praise of God and singing His holy names (Nama sankeerthanam) divinity is kindled in a Brahmin.

What is their dharmam?

The tapa prescribed for them is to keep meditating upon the Lord.

What makes them human?

They become mortal when they fear death. Only a person who does not realizes that he is the soul and not the body fears death. A person who knows that he/she is the eternal soul will never fear death. Thus fear of death makes a Brahmin mortal. This fear must be overcome by anyone who is trying to realize God.

What is their negative quality?

They must refrain from doing the negative deed of hurting the Lord’s other devotees. They should not even think ill about the Lord’s other devotees. Bagawatha Apacharam is the negative quality which must be controlled by a person trying to realize God.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-question-4.html

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Based on, Yaksha Prashnam - A discourse in Tamil by Sri U.Ve. Karunakaran Swamy
(Any errors or inconsistencies in the following series are due to the mistakes I made while taking notes. ) 

Copies of the CDs can be obtained from Sri Karunakaran Swami’s website http://www.nadadoor.org/ . This series is for the benefit of people who do not understand Tamil. Those of you who understand Tamil very well must definitely obtain a copy of Swami’s Upanyasam. You can do so by contacting Nadadoor.org. Swami also renders discourses in English but I am not sure if Yaksha Prashnam discourse is available in English.  The experience of listening to Swami’s upanyasams could never be obtained by reading the following series. I have done my best to take notes with due diligence. I apologize for any errors that I have made while writing this series.