The caste based system of priesthood in Hinduism is very
ancient. That day will be very unfortunate for the Hindus and Hinduism if the
caste-based hereditary system of priesthood is abolished. The day the
hereditary and traditional, caste-based priesthood system of Hindus ceases to
survive will be the beginning of the destruction of Hinduism. Regardless of all
the attacks, opposition, and criticism, Hindus must preserve and protect this
great system. It is all the more important in the light of some self-styled
leading figures and organisations within and outside who are almost reformist
extremists these days in the name of social justice and inclusiveness.
Secularists, socialists, communists, missionaries,
Dravidians, and Ambedkarites, etc, always criticize this system for grabbing a
higher position within Hinduism. However, they justify their rights to
freebies, quotas, and special laws in the name of social justice,
inclusiveness, and protection. They always speak very ill about the priests.
Priests are undeterred by the criticism. They keep working honestly and
piously in the temple system, religious rituals, and spiritual systems.
Every religion has a proper caste system; the nomenclature
may be different. Similarly, every religion has some core castes with a core
nature. If that system is lost, nothing remains. Religion will be lost,
identity will be finished. Many castes have hereditary specialization in some
skill or profession. The hereditary, or largely caste-based, priesthood system
is part of the core of Hinduism. Islam and Christianity also borrowed the same
system of priesthood from Hinduism.
It is the duty of the priests to preserve the fundamental
foundation of religion, the foundation stone, in the classical and Vedic form.
Some will call it a casteist system. Listen to all, but don't believe it, not
even by mistake. Priests must be protected; only then can Hinduism be
protected. It should be viewed like a plant that needs regular water and care.
Otherwise, the plant withers, so as the religion.
Muslim invaders attacked the temples and killed the Brahmins
and their families to conquer Hindustan and finish the Hindus and Hinduism.
Somnath Temple was attacked seventeen times by Muslim invaders, and all the
priests and their families were wiped out. But they failed to kill the idea and
spirit. The priests again revived the temple and the religion. The same is the
story about Kashi, Ayodhya, Mathura, Malabar region (modern-day Kerala),
Melukote (Modern-day Karnataka) etc, temples.
Religions that lack the proper system of priests perish.
Every religion has its own system. Islam and Christianity have the strongest
priest system, so they are the strongest and wealthiest religion.
For Islam, it's like a military system; for Christianity,
it's a power system; for Buddhism, it's knowledge and seniority-based; for
Hindus, it's hereditary and knowledge-based. All have different systems. One
system won't work for the other. Hindus are accustomed to a
Brahmin-hereditary priest system. This has been going on for centuries. It is
in their nature and character.
Famous journalist, activist, and atheist Dilip Mandal
supported this system relied on years of study and experience. Baba Saheb
Ambedkar was initially a harsh critic of Hinduism's Brahmin-caste-based priestly
system. In "Annihilation of Caste," he writes in detail about
abolishing this hereditary priesthood system, opening it to all castes,
conducting entrance examinations of the priesthood, granting priests a
government certificate or degree, similar to that of Charted Accountant.
He took twenty years to understand this hereditary system.
After growing older, mature and experiencing many experiences, in one of his
final and famous works, "Revolution and Counter-Revolution," he
supports and argues that the hereditary priesthood system protected Hinduism
from Muslim attacks. Its absence led to the decline of Buddhism in India.
Buddhism could not resist the onslaught of Islam.
Here, Baba Saheb views the hereditary priesthood system not
as a problem for Hindus, but as a boon like a long-term insurance scheme.
Unfortunately, his later works are less popular and less well-read.
These harmless and dedicated Hindu priests are the primary
target of every attacker and opponent of Hinduism and Bharat. The Somnath
temple was attacked by Islamic invaders seventeen times. However, with the help
of the kings and the Hindus, they constructed the temple every time. Priests
and the temples were the first targets of attackers. Temples were destroyed,
and the thousands of Brahmin priests were killed every time. But this could not
deter their determination and devotion. Kashi, Mathura, Ayodhya, Delhi, Mysore,
and many other places in the country have the same history of attacks and
destructions.
Temples were big centers of Dharma, culture, tradition, art,
education, dance, music, knowledge, trade and commerce, wealth, etc, due to the
dedication and hard work of hereditary priests who were custodian of all this
treasure and contribute to the economy of the nation and the society.
In Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, temples were
attacked first, and priests and their families were persecuted brutally. As a
result of this, Hindus and Hinduism were wiped out of these countries. The same
thing happened in Kashmir, and the result was the same. In Punjab, Nagaland,
Mizoram, Meghalaya, the system of hereditary priests were either very weak or
vanished. This resulted in the presence of a very powerful conversion mafia in
these states. For every opponent of Hinduism, that poor priest in his worn-out
dhoti is the biggest and ultimate enemy. There, they target him first to
eliminate Hindus.
These priests, on a meager income, often go kilometers on
foot or a broken bicycle to a deserted temple in some deep and dense forest,
worshiping the deity, lights the lamp, rings a bell loudly, and chanting the
holy prayers even if there is not a single person there to hear him. He is a
true protector of your religion and culture.
