Yoshindo Yoshihara is considered the best swordsmith in the world and he is a 10^th generation swordsmith. He makes the well-known Japanese Katana (swords) and each sword that he makes may cost upward of 40,000 dollars. Reportedly, at present, he has 10 apprentices in his workshop who study there for not less than 10 long years. Currently, there are about 300 swordsmiths who can make a Japanese Katana.
So in the interest of making sure that the art doesn’t die does he train people for free, or choose students from those recommended by Twitter specialists, Japanese government officials, or Japanese culture experts? Of course not! He decides on the selection of the student based on guidelines laid down by his ancestors and traditions which he follows till today.

Beautiful hand-crafted timepieces have been the ultimate luxury symbol and Swiss watches are known to charm the richest of the rich. Patek Philippe is the owner of the brand Nautilus, which was founded in 1839 and still operates under the ownership of the Stern family. Three Swiss luxury brands comprise the Holy Trinity of Watchmaking: Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Audemars Piguet. Rolex, Chopard, Seiko, etc. are among the other hand-crafted watch companies which make all the components themselves so that the secret of their making these unique timepieces doesn’t fall into the hands of commoners or large conglomerate watchmakers. Of course, becoming an apprentice or a worker in any of these companies is difficult; and unless you are known and trusted, you cannot hope to get any job in the craft section of these companies.

John Pemberton invented the famous drink Coca-Cola before his death in 1888. In 1891, Asa Candler purchased the rights to the formula from Pemberton’s estate, founded the Coca-Cola Company, and instituted the shroud of secrecy that has since enveloped the formula. He also made changes to the ingredients list and when in 1919, Ernest Woodruff led a group of investors in purchasing the company from Candler and his family, the collateral for the acquisition loan was that Woodruff place the only written copy of the formula in a vault at the Guaranty Trust Company of New York. On December 8, 2011, the company placed it in a vault on the grounds of the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, with the vault on public display. According to the company, only two employees are privy to the complete formula at any given time. This means that even if you are a major equity holder or the CEO of the company, you will not get to learn the secret recipe for making Coca-Cola.

In all of the above examples, the world honours the “Adhikara” of those who know the art, craft, or have knowledge of the “secret” and no one questions why such knowledge is not freely distributed to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wants to know about it. No one even complains when barriers to enter the trade or business are actively set up and everyone values the “rights” of the present person/company and the ancestors who invented/started the company. Why? Because it is a privilege bestowed only upon a few and zealously guarded by the people of the country where it originated. In fact, the “secret” has been raised into an art form by those minting money from it because they know the value of keeping such knowledge in the hands of few. And the citizens of the respective country take pride in the fact that knowledge is a closely guarded secret and hence, the value of such knowledge will always be more.

Now let us look at the most unique knowledge systems, crafts, and art forms of our Bharata. We have distributed every single knowledge system of ours for free to people of all races, colours, and gender. The esoteric Vedas, the Upanishads, the BhagwadGita, Mathematics, Logic, Grammar, making of Metals, Medicines, everything has been passed on to almost everyone who wants it, absolutely FREE. The knowledge has been translated into various languages, interpreted and misinterpreted in unbelievable ways, claimed and reclaimed by foreigners as their own, labeled in a multitude of ways, and then re-taught to us with their interpretations. We have been exceedingly benign about all these things and neither the indigenous people nor the Government has ever taken any steps to stop this flow of knowledge. No one ever cared about the opinion of the traditional Pujaris, Purohits, Acharyas, Upadhyayas, DharmaGurus, etc whether there existed any rule to keeping this knowledge a closely guarded secret. “Sarva Dharma Samabhava” and “Aham Brahmasmi” were used and misused to decide whether one should share the knowledge or not.

The Guru Gita, verse 314 exhorts, “O Dear one, this truth should be only told to one whose mind is mature and filled with faith and devotion”.

In the Chhandyoga Brahmana, it is written, ‘“Vidyā (learning) once came to the Brāhmaṇa and said, ‘I am yours; protect me, don’t give me to an unworthy and conceited fellow. Protect me, I shall be better in that way.’”

Manu says in Chapter 2:

* “If anyone wrongly asks to know and if anybody wrongly imparts knowledge, then both will be damned.” (Verse 110)

* “Where merit and wealth are not possible, nor is there an adequate desire to serve, there knowledge should not be imparted; just as healthy seed (is not sown) on barren land.” (Verse 112)

* “Expound me unto the Brahmaṇa who guards his treasures and is never careless,—and whom thou knowest to be pure, self-controlled and a duly qualified student.” (Verse 115)

* “If a question regarding the Veda is asked without due respect, it destroys the questioner, as fire burns straw; therefore the Veda should not be expounded to those who do not render proper respect.” Baudhāyana-Dharmasūtra (2.50)

 All of the above show very clearly that it is up to the Teacher or Guru to decide whom he wishes to teach so that such knowledge is never misused. This is true all over the world. Esoteric knowledge is never distributed freely or without any rules.

That is why it becomes even more hurtful when people write tomes to question the “Adhikara” of the traditional Priests (Brahmin or non-Brahmin) who still preserve and guard their culture, traditions, and rituals even at the cost of living a frugal life. Those questioning the Adhikara claim that Vedic Sanatana Dharma allowed everyone to have all knowledge at all times, and claim that no distinction was made on the basis of gender, varna, or jaati. Aravindan Neelakandan in his article writes that “Varna is a conception. Jaati is a social reality.” He goes on to say that Jaati is negative and discriminatory and Varna is not birth based and is a highly personal spiritual system. He also says that “Traditionalists, mostly from the upper strata of society, confused both and called it Dharma.” Further, he says that “such traditionalists usually hold child marriage as a healthy practice and also hold secular education of women a cultural degeneration.” This article was written in response to the various tweets which were put up by those holding the traditional views, in response to one Gaiea tweeting her recital of the invocation of the Taittriya Upanishad.

To say that pure traditionalists are those who support Sati or child marriage is pure conjecture aimed at insulting their intellectual faculties. One wonders why those who keep stating that Varna was interchangeable are never able to answer why all the people who are today considered Shudras did not rush to change their Varna to become Brahmins when they had the chance. Even today the great Rani Ahalyabai Holkar is introduced as belonging to the Dhangar Jaati – why did she not care to change her Jaati or Varna to Kshatriya? No one would have objected and factually, no one cares which Jaati or Varna she belonged to and everyone, more so the traditionalists, respects her for her accomplishments. It is only those who hate traditionalists who keep harping on her caste to show a “shifting Varna system”. Such people are also not able to answer why, though the Pandavas changed their Varna many times during their two exiles, they remained Kshatriyas. They are also not able to state why with all flexibility at their disposal, those who were non-Brahmins did not actively master the Shrutis or Smritis in an attempt to protect them throughout the 1000 years of invasions from the Sakyas, Huns, Christians, and Islamists. Why were the non-Brahmins the first to stop giving Arghya daily to the Sun, the most important ritual which every Hindu has the Adhikara to do? Today only Brahmins do the Upanayana (Brahmopadesha) and the Sandhyavandan and that number too is dwindling.

Coming to the Adhikara to chant the Vedas, the Upanishads, etc., it is pertinent to note that those who keep talking about uncurtailed Adhikara are the ones who will chant the Vedas without following rules like shoucha, sthaana, sandarbha or samaya. They want the right to chant it anytime, anywhere, with any interpretation, any intonations and they want the freedom to sing every Mantra or Shloka in any Raaga, as they see fit. They are the ones who want to have the freedom to learn but will not necessarily practice any ritual continuously as per the rules mentioned in the Shrutis and Smritis. They devalue the sacrifices of the Adhikaris who continuously practice every ritual as it existed 1000s of years before them, without thinking about whether they would be paid handsomely for it or not, without a day’s holiday or any incentives. These Adhikaris have done it because their ancestors did it and because they belong to the lineage of a person who was entrusted with the job of doing Seva to the Divine. Not all of them are from the upper strata of society and not every one of them is a Brahmin!

One of the best examples of misuse of the Adhikara to choose the rule as per one’s mental setup/desire instead of following the rule as exists in our Shastras is the ritual of Kanyadaana in a Hindu marriage. “Amidst the budding patriarchal societal order, the first woman Hindu priest of West Bengal, Nandini Bhowmik became the talk of the town for solemnising a wedding ceremony, without performing the “patriarchal practice” of Kanyadaana. “I want to do away with the patriarchal mindset where parents appear to be renouncing the custody of their Kanya (daughter), treating her like a commodity and giving her away as daana (donation),” said Nandini Bhowmik.”

Swami Vivekananda saw this condition directly during his wandering all over India and observed succinctly as follows:

‘The right and correct means is that of the Vedas – the Jaati Dharma, that is, the Dharma enjoined according to the different castes – the Svadharma, that is, one’s own Dharma, or set of duties prescribed for man according to his capacity and position – which is the very basis of Vedic religion and Vedic society. …
… Now, this Jaati Dharma, this Svadharma, is the path of the welfare of all societies in every land, the ladder to ultimate freedom. With the decay of this Jaati Dharma, this Svadharma, has come the downfall of our land. …
… I am not talking of caste as determined by qualitative distinction, but of the hereditary caste system. I admit that the qualitative caste system is the primary one; but the pity is qualities yield to birth in two or three generations….
… try to understand this, that if the Jaati Dharma be rightly and truly preserved, the nation shall never fall. If this is true, then what was it that brought our downfall? That we have fallen is the sure sign that the basis of the Jaati Dharma has been tampered with. Therefore, what you call the Jaati Dharma is quite contrary to what we have in fact. First, read your own Shastras through and through, and you will easily see that what the Shastras define as caste — dharma, has disappeared almost everywhere from the land. Now try to bring back the true Jaati Dharma, and then it will be a real and sure boon to the country. …’^[1]

In the same book, Swamiji further says, ‘This system of division into different Varnas is the stepping-stone to civilisation, making one rise higher and higher in proportion to one’s learning and culture.”^[2]

While explaining this in his Karma Yoga (Chapter V – We help ourselves not the world) he shows the mirror to the hypocrites by saying:
“You hear fanatics glibly saying, ‘I do not hate the sinner. I hate the sin’, but I am prepared to go any distance to see the face of that man who can really make a distinction between the sin and the sinner. It is easy to say so. If we can distinguish well between quality and substance, we may become perfect men. It is not easy to do this.”
In the same talk, he describes the essence of Rituals so well when he says:
“… Ritual gives to that philosophy a still more concrete form, so that everyone may grasp it — ritual is in fact concretised philosophy. This ritual is Karma; it is necessary in every religion, because most of us cannot understand abstract spiritual things until we grow much spiritually. It is easy for men to think that they can understand anything; but when it comes to practical experience, they find that abstract ideas are often very hard to comprehend. Therefore symbols are of great help, and we cannot dispense with the symbolical method of putting things before us.”

If we were to understand the importance and true meaning of what Swami Vivekananda tells us, one would accept that rituals are the life force of sustaining our ancient civilization and its practices. One would also understand that unnecessary interference in robbing the traditional Adhikaris of the knowledge and practice, of their right to continue doing so by various methods, is what is leading to the dissolution and the slow death of our ancient rituals and culture. When esoteric knowledge is treated as a Social Justice Project, it will get corrupted and diluted. If we continue to shame those who are working against all odds to protect the knowledge and rituals in their purest form, a day will come when our land where all this knowledge took birth, will not have Brahmacharis or Shroutas as Paatras to hold the knowledge. The “Reformists” need to understand that by demeaning the traditionalists who kept the culture, rituals, and traditions of the oldest civilisation alive, they are only aiding in the destruction of this ancient civilisation which worshipped Saraswati just as much as Lakshmi and placed knowledge over wealth. It is not for nothing that Kashmir is sought to be destroyed, because if KashmiraPuraVasini is demeaned, Bharata will not exist with Her head held high, but will become a vassal of the West. It will be the ultimate insult to Maa Saraswati and Ganapati, the givers of Wisdom and Knowledge.

References:

1. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (9 Vols.), Advaita Ashrama (Dec 2002), Vol V (Pg. 455-57)
2. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (9 Vols.), Advaita Ashrama (Dec 2002), Vol V (Pg. 537)