Namaste, everyone. First, allow me to explain that I put quotation marks around the word converts because I am aware that many Hindus do not like the words convert and conversion apparently due to the association of those words with religions that include proselytization as a practice. Personally, I like to say that I adopted Hinduism and thus I am an adopter rather than a 'convert.'
So far, it has been six months since I have counted myself a Hindu. By now, I am aware that there is a distinction made between jāti and varṇa. With respect to varṇa, I have heard two explanations of it. The first explanation is that one's varṇa is a matter of one's disposition and past karmas, and Bhagavad Gītā 18.41-44 supposedly supports this view. The other explanation is that one's varṇa is a matter of one's occupation, which means one is a vaiśya if one runs a business, but one becomes a kṣatriya if one sells the business and becomes a soldier.
I suspect that the ancients understood varṇa was by birth rather than personal assessment or mere choice in occupation. Śrī Rāmānujā, for instance, explains in his commentary on Bhagavad Gītā 18.41 that past karma determines whether one is born a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, or śūdra, and that the dominant guṇa of a varṇa is the result of the past karma of the individual and the inherent nature of his or her varṇa. Also, if the Upanayana ceremony was performed for children at very young ages, how would anybody know if a boy was meant to follow the dharma of the brāhmaṇa varṇa, for example, unless he was born into that varṇa? When I was a child, I was not the scholarly type and I had no interest in working in the education industry. As an adult, I am the scholarly type and I am in the education industry. Nobody suspected that I would turn out to be this kind of person.
Something I realize as an adopter of Hinduism is that varṇa is irrelevant in my case. It is irrelevant in my case because I was not born to parents of a varṇa in a civilization where varṇa is important. I am a foreigner in relation to any such civilization. How should this shape my practice as a Hindu? If you are a fellow adopter of Hinduism, did you undergo an upanayana ceremony? Is the concept of varṇa meaningful or relevant to you? If you are an orthodox Hindu born into a particular varṇa, what is your advice?
Thank you.
So far, it has been six months since I have counted myself a Hindu. By now, I am aware that there is a distinction made between jāti and varṇa. With respect to varṇa, I have heard two explanations of it. The first explanation is that one's varṇa is a matter of one's disposition and past karmas, and Bhagavad Gītā 18.41-44 supposedly supports this view. The other explanation is that one's varṇa is a matter of one's occupation, which means one is a vaiśya if one runs a business, but one becomes a kṣatriya if one sells the business and becomes a soldier.
I suspect that the ancients understood varṇa was by birth rather than personal assessment or mere choice in occupation. Śrī Rāmānujā, for instance, explains in his commentary on Bhagavad Gītā 18.41 that past karma determines whether one is born a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, or śūdra, and that the dominant guṇa of a varṇa is the result of the past karma of the individual and the inherent nature of his or her varṇa. Also, if the Upanayana ceremony was performed for children at very young ages, how would anybody know if a boy was meant to follow the dharma of the brāhmaṇa varṇa, for example, unless he was born into that varṇa? When I was a child, I was not the scholarly type and I had no interest in working in the education industry. As an adult, I am the scholarly type and I am in the education industry. Nobody suspected that I would turn out to be this kind of person.
Something I realize as an adopter of Hinduism is that varṇa is irrelevant in my case. It is irrelevant in my case because I was not born to parents of a varṇa in a civilization where varṇa is important. I am a foreigner in relation to any such civilization. How should this shape my practice as a Hindu? If you are a fellow adopter of Hinduism, did you undergo an upanayana ceremony? Is the concept of varṇa meaningful or relevant to you? If you are an orthodox Hindu born into a particular varṇa, what is your advice?
Thank you.
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