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azurescen
04 February 2011, 03:29 PM
I am an extremely avid worshipper of the Hindu Religion and have recently taken a vow in order to become a Priest.

I would like to know, if possible from someone with possible experience in this Profession. What are the requirements in becoming a Priest?

I plan on doing some traveling possibly anywhere to help me on my journey.

Eastern Mind
08 February 2011, 04:12 PM
Vannakkam again: What exactly do you mean by 'avid worshipper'? This can mean a lot of different things for different people.

Aum Namasivaya

Sahasranama
08 February 2011, 04:24 PM
I think for a westerner to be taken serious as a priest you would at least need to go to India to study, preferably at a Hindu university that offers a Masters or PhD in karmakanda. In India there are also gurukuls where young boys can learn traditional priesthood and other Dharmic related knowledge, but I think you are too old for that. Priesthood is generally something that runs in the family, it's often learned from father to son. My grandfathers and great-grandfathers, brothers of my grandmother from my fathers side were all priests. I think they had a teacher from India who taught them. My grandfather didn't work as a priest though, he was business man in Surinam, he did pujas for free though for people. In the west most of the priestly families take normal jobs. In the Netherlands we have several institutes that offer priesthood education, but if you are serious about this you'll have to go to India at one of these universities, where you can study karmakanda (rituals), jyotish (astrology) and other Hindu subjects. If you can afford to go to India to do this, that would be really cool. As a westerner though you will need to take high school level courses in Sanskrit before you will be admitted.
Banaras Hindu Universitity
Banaras


Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi-221 002.

(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)
Uttaranchal Sanskrit University, Hardwar-249 401 (Uttranchal).

(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)
Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Sanskrit University, 2-2 A Jhalana Doongri, Jaipur (Rajasthan).

(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)
Shri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Puri-752 003.

(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)
Kavi Kulguru Kalidas Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Nagpur-441 106
(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)Maharishi Panini Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Ujjain

(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)
Shree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady-683 574.

(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)
Shree Somnath Sanskrit University, Ta: Veraval, District Junagarh-362268 (Gujarat).

(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)
Kameshwar Singh.Darbhanga Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Darbhanga-846 008

(http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html)
Lal Bhadur Shastri Sanskrit University.
New Delhi


Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth
Tirupati


Rashtriya Sanskrt Sansthan
New Delhi

PARAM
09 February 2011, 09:47 AM
I am an extremely avid worshipper of the Hindu Religion and have recently taken a vow in order to become a Priest.

I would like to know, if possible from someone with possible experience in this Profession. What are the requirements in becoming a Priest?

I plan on doing some traveling possibly anywhere to help me on my journey.




In Hinduism normally knowledge of Sanskrit and Dharm Granths is important, you have to learn them. Eastern Mind is a good priest of Hinduism, he could be your teacher on your journey.

Eastern Mind
09 February 2011, 10:58 AM
Eastern Mind is a good priest of Hinduism, he could be your teacher on your journey.

Vannakkam PARAM: I must admit I laughed out loud. Preposterous thought. I was a pandaram (non-Brahmin pujari, for those who don't know) for all of 2 years only because I didn't know any better, and was only slightly better than a fencepost.

Aum Namasivaya

PARAM
10 February 2011, 09:36 AM
I was a pandaram (non-Brahmin pujari, for those who don't know) for all of 2 years only because I didn't know any better, and was only slightly better than a fencepost.
Aum Namasivaya

You must know that, Brahmin is a title of Karma ie Varna and not birth caste. This was transferred to birth because of Buddhist rise, and later Islamic and Christian rule, and now because of vote bank politics.


Vishvamitra was born as Kshatriya, Bhardwaj himself was a disciple of Valmiki, Jabal was Orphan, Matang was born as Chandal, but all were said Brahmins, as their Varna was.

sm78
14 February 2011, 02:08 AM
I have enrolled for the online purohit course conducted by rama sivan (http://www.srimatham.com/ ). Sahasramana first quoted the author on Abhrahamism, before that I had seen a few videos on pancharatra agama from the same person. After a little research I went ahead with the course. They have promised support for next 3-4 years, although most of the material will be through email with skype sessions. With my 9hours job, its not possible for me to get a formal course. Course in Indian universities are also very rigid, and one would waste a lot of time prior to getting to the core stuff. Plus purohitam is a practical affair, and not to be studied in university sanskrit or philosophy course. Since I stay in south india, I am stone throw away from sri vaishanava temples where I can observe the rituals carefully.

Another reason was that the course is the Pancharatra agama content which would be very interesting from Shakta viewpoint as well. Vedic kalpa, srauta and grihya sutras would be more for academic understanding.

But real challange would be my ability to continue this for next 4 years with regular job, professional studies and other family duties. Lets see. Fingers crossed.

BryonMorrigan
14 February 2011, 07:36 AM
I was just thinking that I've noticed a lot more Westerners serving as priests or assistants in Shakta temples in the USA (like the Sri Vidya temple in upstate NY, or the Kali temple outside of Washington DC). Outside of ISKCON, I don't think I've ever seen a Westerner in such a position in a Vaishnava temple, and I'm not that familiar with Saivite temples in the USA outside of the monastery in Hawaii. Based on this observation, I'd have to think that one's sect would probably have a great deal of importance in regards to one's success in such a venture.

Regardless, this is not something to undertake lightly. Unlike with Protestant Christians, one cannot simply take a few weeks to take a course in being a "Minister," then suddenly take over a church or start a new one. Being a Hindu priest requires a lot more training and knowledge than just being familiar with the Vedas.

Sahasranama
14 February 2011, 07:47 AM
With great power comes great responsibility. Hindu priests often do jobs of which few people really know what is going on, so it is easy for a priest to fool people and skip over many mantras and rituals. Also priests often mispronounce mantras, there is nobody to correct them anyway. I have seen this even in a shastri from India while he was doing saptashati path. You also have to be disciplined as a priest, sometimes priests start telling stories and gossip during the puja which shows their lack of focus. It's also good if you can sit for long periods in an asana on the floor.

Ramakrishna
15 February 2011, 01:52 AM
Regardless, this is not something to undertake lightly. Unlike with Protestant Christians, one cannot simply take a few weeks to take a course in being a "Minister," then suddenly take over a church or start a new one. Being a Hindu priest requires a lot more training and knowledge than just being familiar with the Vedas.

Namaste Bryon,

So true. I remember last year when this fundamentalist Christian was trying to convert me and he wanted me to go to his church with him. Of course I didn't go, but he told me about it and who the pastor at the church is. His pastor is a guy who was addicted to alcohol, drugs, and sex for the first 25 years of his life until he "found Jesus" and then he became a pastor just like that. I'm not joking. I laugh when I think of how Hindu pandits have to undergo years of study and discipline while these Christians just pull any random doofus off the street as long as he's "found Jesus" :rolleyes:

Jai Sri Ram

anatman
15 February 2011, 02:24 AM
I have enrolled for the online purohit course conducted by rama sivan (http://www.srimatham.com/ ). although most of the material will be through email with skype sessions. With my 9hours job, its not possible for .........Plus purohitam is a practical affair, and not to be studied in university sanskrit or philosophy course. Since I stay in south india, I am stone throw away from sri vaishanava temples where I can observe the rituals carefully.



Online Purohitya course from an Australian Sri Ramanuja Matham?
What is going ON here?
We Indians need to learn our own culture, Vedas, Upanishads, Sanskrit etc from outsiders?
Next thing we know, we will be going to western universities to study Vedas n Upanishads for an exorbitant fee. This knowledge was given free of cost by our great sages.

sm78
15 February 2011, 03:06 AM
We Indians need to learn our own culture, Vedas, Upanishads, Sanskrit etc from outsiders?

Why don't you learn it, become compitent and teach to others for free?

anatman
15 February 2011, 04:27 AM
Why don't you learn it, become compitent and teach to others for free?

Dude! Listen!!

I am not trying to force anything on you! and clearly you didn't understand the essence of the post.
The vedic knowledge was given out free to us and now what is going on?
The westerners have realized the sublime knowledge and the growing interests in Vedic concepts, the western universities(some) have a dedicated vedic knowledge syllabus and this knowledge is imparted to students for high exorbitant fees.

And you talk about me learning and teach to others for free?
Yes, I will do it. What to talk about me? There are many vedic institutes which gives out free knowledge even to this day in India. (You can search for this info on Google).

What I am sad about is that YOU spending your that many Australian $$ for an online purohita course, which can be learnt by spending ur Rupees for a vedic institute which is in India. This will make our own vedic Indian institutes strong financially.

Yes, there is nothing free, but that is not what I wanted to highlight.

The main thing I wanted to highlight is that we indians should enroll for courses related to vedas which are taught in our very own Motherland, rather than some foreign institute.
The essence of this: Our money will be spent on vedic institutes in India, which makes them strong financially and it will also encourage them to come out with more courses.
When Westerners are dying to come to India to learn Vedas, we try to learn our own Vedas(or purohita, in your case) from a Foreign institute, or land.

Now, do you see the point of me earlier post?

anatman
15 February 2011, 04:36 AM
To add to my earlier post.

You may want to check with the Chinmaya mission, about your online purohita course.

http://www.chinmayamission.com/

There are many such Vedic institutes in India. If you search deeply on Google. You will get the online course of your choice.

Jai Shankara.

Make the Vedic institutes in India stronger financially, Not a foreign one.
This is all, I ask :)

BryonMorrigan
15 February 2011, 07:44 AM
Namaste Bryon,

So true. I remember last year when this fundamentalist Christian was trying to convert me and he wanted me to go to his church with him. Of course I didn't go, but he told me about it and who the pastor at the church is. His pastor is a guy who was addicted to alcohol, drugs, and sex for the first 25 years of his life until he "found Jesus" and then he became a pastor just like that. I'm not joking. I laugh when I think of how Hindu pandits have to undergo years of study and discipline while these Christians just pull any random doofus off the street as long as he's "found Jesus" :rolleyes:

Jai Sri Ram

Indeed, and some even make up elaborate back-stories of filth, addiction, or even alleged participation in "Satanic" ritual in order to make their "redemption" seem more important. It's almost like Protestant Christianity is the "Multi-Level Marketing" of religion. (I make the differentiation between Protestant Christianity and Catholic Christianity, because Catholic priests have to undergo rigorous training and acquire a Doctorate in "Divinity.")