07-23-2006, 12:09 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-sankara+Jul 23 2006, 01:18 AM-->QUOTE(sankara @ Jul 23 2006, 01:18 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->The idea of rebirths rests on man desiring and needing to perfect himself to the point of being able to become one with the divine. The stage which best prepares one for this union with the divine is the brahminhood. To be a brahmin is to possess those qualities and virtues that enable one to experience the divinity - to be disciplined, to possess self-control, piety, humility, honesty, strength of character, purity in thought and action, etc., It has nothing to do with the caste into which a person is born, but to do with the qualities that he or she possesses and acquires through the repeated birth cycles. Unfortunately, the guna-based varna system became the birth-based caste system as a result of historical, social and political factors, and not because it is sanctioned in the hindu scriptures. It is unfortunate though the christians have continuously and deliberately misrepresented the caste system as spiritually sanctioned by the hindu scriptures, and exploited it to the maximum for religious conversion reasons.
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I really find it astonishing in these forums that many writers can not stick to the point. In the span of 5 sentences usually at least 10 issues will be touched. That is confusing also. I was talking about just one point, rebirth in Hinduism. Conversion is not an issue here. Caste also is irrelevant here. Guna based varna or birth based catse has nothing here. Whether caste is sanctioned in Hindu scriptures also has nothing to do with rebirth.
If a person is born as a chandala, it is believed that he had commited some crimes or mistakes in his previous birth. That means he is responsible for his mistakes or SIN in a previous birth. The original sin belief in Christianity is an extrapolation of this concept. The first man commited a mistake or SIN. And part of that is passed from him to his generations. It is something like genes being transmitted into offsprings.
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I really find it astonishing in these forums that many writers can not stick to the point. In the span of 5 sentences usually at least 10 issues will be touched. That is confusing also. I was talking about just one point, rebirth in Hinduism. Conversion is not an issue here. Caste also is irrelevant here. Guna based varna or birth based catse has nothing here. Whether caste is sanctioned in Hindu scriptures also has nothing to do with rebirth.
If a person is born as a chandala, it is believed that he had commited some crimes or mistakes in his previous birth. That means he is responsible for his mistakes or SIN in a previous birth. The original sin belief in Christianity is an extrapolation of this concept. The first man commited a mistake or SIN. And part of that is passed from him to his generations. It is something like genes being transmitted into offsprings.