THE BRAHMIN

In his book Ramakrishna and His Disciples, Christopher Isherwood describes the caste system as it existed in India at the time of Ramakrishna (1836-1886 ). His discussion of the priestly caste, whose members were and are still called Brahmins, is particularly interesting.

Isherwood says that originally the Brahmin was much more than a priest.  According to the Bhagavad-Gita, he must be the seer of the community, the man through whom the community maintains its spirituality. 

In India, the religious ideal has always been to obtain knowledge of the Atman, the divine nature within man, through direct experience.  Such revelation has never been the property of a Church, as in the West.  It is not towards any religious body but towards the individual seer, the knower of the Atman, that the community turns for guidance. 

That enlightenment can actually be obtained by an individual, that the Atman can really be known in the sense of self-knowledge, is the fundamental proposition of the Hindu religion. 

How can the Atman be known?  By meditation and self-disciplines which open the eye of the spirit.  Therefore, Isherwood says, the Brahmin must be chaste, austere, truthful through and through, and compassionate towards all living creatures.

The Brahmin's faith in the Atman must be based on direct self-knowledge, not credulity.  He may be a scholar and interpreter of the sacred books, but his interpretations must be drawn from his own experience, not merely from academic knowledge of former commentators.