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Thread: Giving to Brahmins

  1. #1
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    Giving to Brahmins

    Many of the scriptures mention giving to Brahmins during festivals and other things. So does that mean giving to any Brahmins or Brahmins who are performing the roles of priests?

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    Re: Giving to Brahmins

    Quote Originally Posted by Divine Kala View Post
    Many of the scriptures mention giving to Brahmins during festivals and other things. So does that mean giving to any Brahmins or Brahmins who are performing the roles of priests?
    It comes from the concept of anna dana or dana. Brahmins traditionally were mean to live on teaching and help perform ritual obligations (and thus receiving dana or gift in return). From the donors point of view, when one donates its better to donate to the wise & and the needy.

    However, in the present world, I believe there is no special obligation to feed or gift the brahmin, unless one knowns non-greedy, practicing (i.e involved in study of vedas and daily brahminical duties to the fire) brahmin. The greater idea is to feed and give - best done to wise, honest and needy persons.

    There are also esoteric angles to feeding wise people after rituals and puja. After doing puja, purascharana etc it will be good to feed a few known wise & honest friends as part of anna danam. Practicing and dedicated brahmins will be good choice also.
    What is Here, is Elsewhere. What is not Here, is Nowhere.

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    Re: Giving to Brahmins

    Quote Originally Posted by Divine Kala View Post
    Many of the scriptures mention giving to Brahmins during festivals and other things. So does that mean giving to any Brahmins or Brahmins who are performing the roles of priests?
    Vannakkam DK: I'm sure it varies from country to country, temple to temple, these days outside of India. But since you're in Australia, I assume you're asking about priests there.

    It is not customary to give to Brahmins who are no longer priests. In a sesnse they have given up their Brahmin status.

    One definite problem is exploitation. Some temples hire Brahmins from India or Sri Lanka on short term contracts that may require a single visa or single visa plus extension. Then they pay them the lowest possible contract wage, and expect them to do a ton of work. Its very much a confusing situation. On one hand, they get a lot of respect for being a Brahmin, but on the other hand, because of the sense that they're supposed to be humble servants, they aren't given no respect money wise.

    Being a Brahmin priest in a temple is a tough tough job. It takes a ton of concentration to be that 'up' all the time to perform priestly duties in an uplifting manner. (I'm speaking from personal experience a bit too.) During festival times, priests may work as much as 18 hours a day.

    Here it is somewhat like that, and I know it, so I always am very generous with the dakshina. I am personally guided by 2 ideas:

    What do other religions pay their pastors, or priests? Hindu priests should be treated better than that.

    and ... "What are the labour laws of the country? Priest deserve holidays, overtime pay, a pension plan, and all the perks that others get.

    Its really hard to pry information out of temple management (secrecy, ego, etc.) or the priests themselves (humility, embarrassment etc.) so you have to make some sort of educated guess from temple to temple. Look at the living conditions, etc. If the temple has provided a bachelor apartment with 2 small rooms hidden somewhere down in the basement, that's a hint.

    In practical terms, If I sponsor a puja at the temple, I give the equivalent amount of more in dakshina. So if the abhishekham is $35, I give the priest that much as well. A great way to do this is in an envelope with 'dakshina' written on the outside, so its anonymous. You can also give in other ways like cleaning in the temple, moving supplies around, giving food or car rides, etc.

    Best wishes figuring it out in your situation there.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Giving to Brahmins

    Namaste,

    Excellent advice EM for all of us to learn from.

    Conditions are so different for the priests in India Vs. the priests overseas. As EM has said, over here, many priests are overworked and under-compensated/appreciated. If one is affiliated with a certain temple for any length of time, it becomes evident from the dress code, living conditions and the glow, or lack thereof on the priest's face as to what kind of conditions they are being subjected to. By going for the noontime aarti when there are few or no other people around, and associating with the priests, there have been times when they felt comfortable enough to talk to me about their frustrations, monetary or otherwise. It has been a mix of lack of respect shown to them by the managing committee members and lack of funding for various rituals that they would like to perform properly. Having some money of their own might enable them to buy the things that they need to provide better service to the deities. So a little donation to the priest at the festival times, or otherwise would not hurt, provided enough is also given for the proper running of the temple.

    To paraphrase Kahlil Gibran, what is giving a few coins to someone, when the Lord lets him drink from the ocean of life.

    Pranam.

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    Re: Giving to Brahmins

    namaste everyone.

    Among the traditional brahmins, there are different groups in India, specially in the South.

    • The veda brAhmaNas: these brahmins have had a systematic study of the Vedas and other shAstras, either in the veda-pAThashAlas--Vedic schools, or in the family tradition.

    • The second group of brahmins include who can be called the prayoga brAhmaNas, who learn from Sanskrit schools, the mantras and methods of performing religious ceremonies, both auspicious and inauspicious. Many of these brahmins gradually seek to learn veda pArAyaNa and move up in their spiritual ladder.

    Some laukika--worldly brahmins study prayoga after they retire from their jobs and practice it at their own homes and assiting the regular prayoga brahmins.

    • The third group of brahmins are the temple priests who are usually well versed in their pujas and mantras but have no time to venture beyond them.

    • The fourth group of brahmins comprise people who are in the family of the brahmins of the first three groups, but are unemployed due to lack of qualifications or opportunity in worldly jobs. They work as assistants to the first three groups, with only a few of them being inclined or getting the opportunity to learn beyond their tasks and errands.

    • There is a fifth group, who are destined to work in the institutions of funeral rites. They are rarely seen in auspicious ceremonies.

    • There is also a group of brahmin women, usually from the families of traditional brahmins, who render service as cooks in functions and ceremonies at homes.

    It should be noted that the income of all these groups of brahmins is only seasonal, although the priests in temples under the HR&CE department and other affluent temples are paid monthly salaries.

    • Vedic Brahmins in the first group are given sufficiently good sambhAvana--honorarium for their services of Veda-chanting in homes, temples, religious institutions, etc.

    • The prayoga bramins also have good income, since most worldly brahmin families are still in touch with tradition for their samskAras--Vedic rites of passage. Many brahmins in this group, specially in metros like Chennai have two-wheelers to go about their work, own an apartment and pay income tax.

    • The monthly salary of the temple priests is usually much less compared to income in other sectors, so they augment it with the money 'falling' in their Arati plates (which is mostly in demonimations of one/two/five/ten rupees). This is the reason that people like me would rather drop some decent money in their plates rather than in the temple hundies, where the temple is under HR&CE or otherwise affluent.

    • The assistant brahmins in the fourth group depend on their gurus, but they usually are fed in the functions and ceremonies. Many retired brahmins seek to work as assistants to have some independent income.

    • Brahmins who mainly attend to funeral rites have only meager income paid by their employers. They partake the funeral dinners and receive other last rites offerings such as clothes.

    • The cooking women in the last group are usually in demand and their 'rates' are rather steep for a day's work. Many of them have husbands who work as assistants.

    The anna-vastra-dravya dAnadi--charties relating to food, clothes and money, offered by native Hindus, therefore depend on and vary with the occasion and groups of brahmins listed above.
    रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
    ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥

    To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.

    --viShNu purANam

  6. #6

    Re: Giving to Brahmins

    This was a tradition followed to sustain Brahmins because they only performed sacred rites and taught to disciples from various classes of society in return of absolutely nothing because in ancient India teaching was not a trade. nowadays the situation is not the same so the giving ritual is performed with Brahmins who perform pooja and other rituals in temples.

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